忍者龍剣伝 is an action-platformer developed by Tecmo that was released for the Nintendo Family Computer on December 9, 1988.

A preview of the game was published on page 144 of ファミコン通信 No.51, June 17, 1988¹⁾.

• The character sprites, their palette and position differs from retail. (Fig.1)
• The artwork used for the grassy field is different.
• There are less clouds in the sky.

Fig. 1: Preview Fig. 2: Retail

• An earlier version of Ryu Hayabusa's closeup. (Fig.3)

Fig. 3: Preview Fig. 4: Retail

• The status bar uses a different font and displays SCORE 012345 and STAGE 00. (Fig.5)
• Stage 3-3's boss is shown as the enemy here, and he's green instead of red.
• Some of the objects were repositioned and there are more of them.
• The checkerboard pattern on the floor is different along with some of the background's details.
• A shadow on the right side of the screen is shorter.

Fig. 5: Preview Fig. 6: Retail

Note: This preview may be from a mockup and not a sample of the game.

Fig. 7: ref.1