Burai Fighter Deluxe

The Good
I'm a big fan of the original NES shooter Burai Fighter made by Japanese studio KID. It stands as a testimony of an era when a small Tokyo based studio could develop a hardcore cult gem of a game, without even thinking who are we making this for?
But frankly even in the easiest mode, by the late levels Burai Fighter becomes unplayable.

This Game Boy down-port is amazing.
Everything here is a bit slower, with fewer enemies, and thus gives you enough time to explore the wonderful and original shooting mechanics this game has.
To change the direction you are shooting, you first move where you want to shoot then hold the B button and as long as you are holding it you can move around and keep shooting on that direction.
Here the mechanic even feels better. And even the power ups for your weapons, they are all good enough and you don't really have to worry about avoiding any items.
Still is a one hit death, but now when you die in a Boss fight your character re-appears right there and not at the beginning of the stage as it used to.

They've even cut down the two "top view" levels that were quite boring and a bit disorienting in the original. Is for the best.

We still have the three difficulty modes and the fourth one, which is unlockable! But now instead of feeling like a chore, it greatly improves on its re-playability (thanks to the Password system).

Graphically the Game Boy doesn't disappoint, back is the simplistic but original style with lots of care put into enemy, bosses and level design. The scrolling also feels very smooth and it's great the way the game plays with it in the secret rooms.

The Bad
In the sound department we just have a couple of nice heroic tunes and that's it. They repeat them over and over, but they are quite easy to the ear.

The final boss fight is a little bit too long, a bit boring... a small price to pay...

The Bottom Line
Burai Fighter "Deluxe" is the perfect title for this Game Boy port because it improves and refines everything that was great about the original shooter while fixing its main problem: the difficulty.
I find this to be true with many "down-ports" in the GB library, while their originals - though exploring some great ideas - are insanely difficult, because of the Game Boy limitations the ports suddenly become playable.
The NES game will always be considered more "hardcore" and revered as a cult classic, but I believe that of the two this is the better game.