Ninja Five-0

Nostalgic Reviews: Ninja Five-O

Rating: E

Score: 9.5/10

“Nostalgic Reviews” is a series I started where I review older games. Why? Because there are some games that received less credit than they deserved. Some games were not appreciated as they were considered minor characters in a minor game. Ninja Five-O is fifth in this series.

I bet you never heard of this game before in your life, have you? This game got absolutely no fame, which is sad because of what an amazing game is it. It’s even made by Konami, a big name in gaming for old-school games. Why didn’t it get any fame which such a huge developer name behind it? Lack of advertising, I’d say, which truly shows how much ads run humanity. This classic is only available for the Gameboy Advance.

With the Gameboy Advance’s limited system capabilities, you’d suspect that it’s a side-scrolling game, right? Well, right. It’s a side-scrolling action game featuring ninja cop Joe Osugi, who fights against other ninjas and terrorist to save the world! The world needs more ninja cops, because Joe is very effective at taking down the bad guys. It might be his perfect variety of weapons: A katana, shuriken, ninjutsu magic, and grappling hook!

While you’re swinging around kicking butt, you have to locate and rescue hostages. The villains that hold them hostage are possibly the most predictable villains ever, using them as a shield and then shooting at you some in a nice, timed pattern.

With the normal bad guys carrying guns and the ninja are bosses at the end of the level. These bosses usually have obvious weak points, but are nonetheless a challenge to take down.

Speaking of challenge, this game has some (in the later levels). At first, it draws you in with smooth, fluent controls and addictive gameplay, and continues to suck you in with more and more difficulty building up as you get better with the controls. Soon enough, you’ll be masterfully swinging around with the grappling hook, slice a bad guy in mid-air, land, and toss a shuriken at another bad guy before he can turn around and shoot.

Speaking of that, this game also has some stealth, should you choose to be stealthy. You can make the game that much easier by waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and kill without a siren going off. You should also just run in throwing shuriken everywhere, your choice.

They can be more than shuriken, thanks to being able to “level up”. To level up, you just grab a lighting symbol and your suit changes color, and you get a new projectile attack. Level 1 is shuriken, level 2 is fireballs, and level 3 is energy blasts, if you can even hold your level up that long. You see, anytime you get hit, you lose your level ups. Kind of annoying, but only the amateur ninjas take damage.

It’s not a perfect game, but it’s the reason you love the Gameboy Advance. It’s a simple, easy-to-learn-hard-to-master type of game with excellent controls and little care on a story. “You’re a ninja cop, there are some evil ninja terrorists, go stop them” is the story in a nutshell. Too bad no one ever even heard of this game, it could’ve been a hit series in no time.