Re-submitting time again (mostly same as the last time when I submitted her, but with extra stuff brought up by other users).
Job #106: New Arcade Character - Princess Kurumi (Ninja Princess - 1985)
Princess Kurumi is the protagonist of SEGA's Ninja Princess, also known as "SEGA Ninja" or simply "The Ninja" (on SEGA Master System), which focuses on her escaping from a traitorous retainer, Zaemon Gyokuro, after he took over her castle and ordered his men to carry away after being kidnapped, transforming herself into a kunoichi and sets about saving her home and putting a stop to Gyokuro's takeover. While obscure and not well-known currently, Kurumi is acknowledged as one of the first
female video game protagonists who was made before Samus Aran herself (alongside other examples such as Ms. Pac-Man, Papri from Girl's Garden by SEGA, Baraduke's Tobi "Kissy" Masuyo and Time Gal's Reika Kirishima), even also predating Joe Musashi as SEGA's first ninja hero by two years (who debuted in 1987), despite not being the part of SEGA Gals figure line-up.
According to a fellow friend and mentor in this website,
YoshiandToad
, Ninja Princess is among one of the best games in SEGA's earliest console, the SG-1000, which was made before the Master System console itself. In fact, Kurumi would also represent that console as well, as I don't think there's other noticeable games besides it and Girl's Garden (because it was Yuji Naka's first work in SEGA).
For some facts/info, consider watching
a playthrough of the original arcade game and
this video (people may have known this from Ready Player Two the last year as it's plot point and some spirit also lives on Pocky & Rocky such as run-and-gun shooter gameplay and a cute Japanese culture-based setting).
As a titular ninja/kunoichi princess, Kurumi can be seen as a counterpart to Zelda/Sheik (minus transforming) and maybe even The Mysterious Murasame Castle's Takamaru. For her playstyle/moveset possibilities, she is able to use acrobatics such as back-flip kicks, stealth techniques and her knives to attack opponents by slashing for melee combat or throwing them in eight directions around her towards opponents, like in the original arcade game. She also has throwing stars/shurikens as additional projectiles and can turn herself invisible for a short period of time, able to
bypass physical attacks and projectiles as well, which can be used for a teleporting recovery when aimed with a control stick.
Considering that one of her game's titles/names is the "SEGA Ninja", Kurumi may
borrow some moves from other ninja characters created by the big blue company themselves, such as Espio the Chameleon, Kage-Maru and those from Shinobi, specifically Hibana. This would also apply for her alternate palettes.