 In early 1988 advertisements from "Nintendo Fun Club News", Tecmo used "Ninja Dragon" as a tentative title for the U.S. release.They decided to use the title "Ninja Gaiden" (its original working title) when the game was released in the U.S. in March 1989.The title literally means "Ninja Side-Story", but the game was not intended as a spin-off of any prior work.