Ninja Five-O was a game boy advanced game from 2003 that was re-released by Konami. It didn’t sell very well in 2003, so why do it? It is awesome! Yes, the game was, and still is a great action platformer that can be tough as nails, yet extremely fun to play. You play a ninja cop(also the tile of the Japanese Version which has been released with the NA version in this package) who grapples and slides through levels killing bad guys and rescuing hostages. There are six missions in total, only the first three are available in easy mode. In each mission, you have three stages and then a boss stage. The bosses are weird, like a dude who transforms into a fire dragon and a short dude riding a giant frog.
Ninja Five-O is easy to control. B is jump, A is melee, y is ranged. Down and B is slide. Up and B unfurls a grappling hook that you can swig with. ZL is a very handy rewind button(new to this version), which you’ll see in the forthcoming video. It really doesn’t make things any easier. Rewind just allows you to correct mistakes that would mean game over, such as shooting a hostage. There are orange lightning bolts that increase your level, making your range powerful, up to level 3. One hit and its back to level one. The blue meter is activated with B+Y. If it isn’t full, you get temporary invulnerability. If full, you can kill all the enemies of screen(or do massive damage to a boss). And now the Ninja Five-O video:
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Important disclaimer: I owned at one time the GBA Ninja Five-O… actually I still do!
I’m showing the cartridge as proof I remember the GBA game. Ninja Five-O was great then, and is great now. However, this will not a get a Must Play. While it is fun and challenging, some aspects of level design and the challenge itself feel dated, like I was playing an NES game. The rewind button helps, but sometimes things feel unfair and/or unpolished. That’s definitely what the original developers were going for, but it may turn some off. Still, Ninja-Five-O gets a Recommended with an eight back-end score. You cannot go wrong here, and if you’re looking for an old-school action platformer, you’ll find no better example.
Overall: Ninja Five-O is an excellent old-school action platformer that was great on the GBA, and is mostly still great now.
Verdict: Recommended
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P.S. For more ninja action, try Ninja Saviors!
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