What is it with ninja's and sidescrolling? They can't get enough of it. And they all seem to be good ninja's, too. This time around, you're a ninja cop, which probably raises quite a few questions regarding police brutality, come to think of it...
Anyway, Ninja Five-O sees Joe Osugi putting the smackdown on whatever criminals cross his path, in an actioner platform for everybody's favourite handheld console, the Game Boy Advance. Why does there need to be another ninja-centric action platformer on the 1001 list?
Fun Times
After a short hype reel showing off what Ninja Joe might be getting up to in the future, we're given a mission select screen and little else. There doesn't need to be anything else. You're a ninja cop, and a bank is getting robbed.
It doesn't look like much, but Ninja Five-O has just enough going on to keep you engaged. Your jump and attack buttons are likely to be the first you stumble into, as Joe leaps abnormally high and fast, and flings shuriken like there's no tomorrow - and no shortage of shuriken in his pockets.
It's not until you play around with the buttons that you see how capable he is compared to video game ninjas of sidescrolling past.
You have access to a rather swish grappling hook, capable of swinging you around at all kinds of speeds. Getting used to it will see you smack into walls with all the grace of a regular cop, but when you pull it off just right, you sure do feel rather ninja-y, flying through this bank like nothing ever has before.
Frustrations
The aim of the game seems to be to find the exit of the level, dispatching enemies and saving hostages along the way. That's not a bad goal to have in a platformer, I suppose, but the first room I walked into in this bank was an abomination of architectural design.
It also marked the moment where I couldn't figure out how to pick up a suitcase, which would seem to be an essential life skill for a ninja and a cop, let alone a ninja cop.
Further Fun Times
It was then that I remembered this was a GBA title, and that the GBA had shoulder buttons. The left button seems to show you whether you can move off the screen or whether there is an invisible wall, but the right button brings out your blade in a viciously fiery melee attack - the kind that can smash open suitcases to reveal keys and powerups and generally useful level stuff.
With that knowledge gained, I headed to the exit and marched on into this labyrinthine bank.
Right at the end of the first stage, I defeated a grunt and levelled up, and now my shurikens are fireballs, and my uniform is pink. Obviously.
Immediately after burning the first bank robber to death, I levelled up again, this time in a swish black outfit with a damn laser beam of some kind.
Moving through the stage, losing and gaining levels after getting hit and hitting back, I dared to press A and B together. I saw my energy gauge (or the bottom one, whatever it refers to) drain to unleash a screen-clearing attack - very convenient for getting rid of the monstrous robbers who are twelve feet tall and look like they come from another realm.
Further Frustrations
As the game goes on, there were more and more times when I found myself annoyed at the stage layouts. This time around, I'm not just complaining about all these walls in the middle of the bank, requiring you to crawl on the floor to get past.
No, this time, I am also complaining about not even knowing what is and isn't a part of the stage that will block your progress, and therefore catch you out. Why can't I attack this guy? Oh, because I can't walk past these drawers. Or that case. Or that cabinet. But I can't walk in front of the tree. But not the crates. Good to know...
Further Fun Times
But, despite all that, this is a well-made game. You can grapple and throw shuriken. And get shot and fall back down, but the point is that you can pull off some cool ninja things. Like saving hostages. You can't just run in like an idiot. You've got to time your attack so that you hit the villain and not the hostage. Dead hostages aren't good for high scores, let me tell you that.
Getting caught on yet more scenery doesn't help either, and Ninja Joe's run came to an end. The bank robbers will have an easy time of things now that the only cop trying to stop them go shot in the leg while stuck on a suitcase.
Final Word
There's not much to Ninja Five-O on the surface, but it apparently has much more going on under the hood. I read that it's a game that could be rushed through, but could equally be explored. I'm not sure how - the stages so far looked to be set up in such a way that you have to go to one place for one key to open a door that leads to the key you need for the exit door... I mean, how much exploration could you get out of that?
It plays smoothly, though. With all kinds of attacks and upgrades and approaches, you can probably be every kind of ninja you could imagine - slow and careful, dashing and daring, swinging and smacking into the scenery...
Anyone could pick Ninja Five-O up for a good time, and if you stick around to get the most out of it, maybe you'll see why it finds its way onto this 1001 list. I'll have to play it some more to find out why, but at least I see a solid entry here. Not sure if it's an absolute must-play, but yes, it's one for the shortlist, definitely.
Fun Facts
IGN called this 'the best game nobody played', and is apparently 'extremely rare' to find these days.
Ninja Five-O, developed by Hudson Soft, first released in 2003.
Version played: Game Boy Advance, 2003, via emulation.