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Don't judge a book by it's cover

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When you first look at Ninja Five-O, you might think it's a silly simple game. However, when you first pop it in and play, you will have a change of heart. Owing a big debt to the Shinobi games of the 16-bit era and the Ninja Gaiden series, you play a ninja cop taking on enemy ninjas and terrorists. Gameplay wise the game is very difficult and challenging, which is perfect for fans of the aforementioned games. The graphics are typical 2-D side scroller fare, but that's not such a bad thing with some nicely animated characters and textures. All in all, Ninja Five-O is a great action game that those who yearn for the days of Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden will love. This is the game that THQ's Revenge of Shinobi for the GBA should have been.

Gameplay the way it should be!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I miss the old style platformer games. Games like Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Bionic Commando, and Ninja Spirit used to occupy a lot of my gaming time. Ninja Five-O contains the best elements of all those old games. The graphics won't knock your socks off, and the story is simplistic, but N5-O will beat you down if you don't stay on your toes. That's right, it's going to take some skill and practice to succeed at this game. However, the elements that compose this platformer are so well integrated, you won't feel frustrated, just an overwhelming desire to get better. This game is a joy to play. It's a shame that Konami is not marketing it better.

If you like legend of kage, shinobi, ninja gaiden........

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Then you will love this game .. this sleeper hit will be in your library for time to come. it definitly got this old-school feel to it... graphics are top notch, sound is great, and most of all GAMEPLAY is Sick.... you can use a choice of stars and sword. and like in "legend of kage" you change color and power up your throwing stars ... you also have this grappling hook thing that you can zip up, or swing it to catch an enemy from behind (kinda feels like a spidermanish feel if you know what i mean ) ... to sum it up...if you like old-school classics like Shinobi, legend of kage, ninja gaiden ... then chances are you will do flips over Ninja 5-ohhhh!!!! (also check out "castlevania aria of sorrow" , advance wars 2, sega arcade pack, warioware, crash nitro kart, and blackthourne coming out in the next few months....

A rare gem, and a MUST-HAVE GBA game!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Perhaps you haven't heard of this title, and I wouldn't be surprised. After three months of production, Konami ceased further manufacturing of the game...because it is a terrible game....HARDLY!

Ninja Five-0 is a rare treat. Quite possibly the most overlooked title on the system, and certainly one of, if not THE best Action games to hit the GBA. Old-school gamers will love the winning combination of Shinobi, Ninja Gaiden, and Bionic Commando. Theyr'e all here with Ninja Five-O's fresh new graphics and rocking gameplay.

Pick it up....you won't be dissapointed!

Pretty good game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Though it's an original game for the Game Boy Advance that's being released for the first time in 2003, there's a lot about Ninja Five-0 that feels rather familiar. The game has the look and feel of a Sega Genesis game released circa 1991, from the funky synthesized soundtrack to the level design. The gameplay is reminiscent of countless 16-bit action games, and the game is difficult in a way that most games haven't been for years. Ninja Five-0 is classic gaming in the purest sense, creating an experience that will truly challenge your skills while delivering some of the most satisfying straightforward ninja action seen on any platform in a while. The game gets straight to the action with the minimal amount of necessary exposition. According to the manual for Ninja Five-0, you play as Joe Osugi, a ninja that has decided to supplement his ninjitsu skills by becoming a detective. This makes sense, since again, according to the manual, it's the ninja's duty to protect the innocent from within the shadows. The manual is rich with absurd and amusing tidbits like this, which arguably add to the overall charm of the game. The story is as much of a story as a game like this needs; you're a good ninja, they're bad ninjas, and it's your job to stop them. The game gets straight to the action with the minimal amount of necessary exposition, such as letting you know at the beginning of a level that "hijackers have taken over the airport!" before cutting you loose. The gameplay is pretty simple and straightforward, but it's by no means easy. The action remains largely the same from level to level and has you collecting color-coded door keys, rescuing hostages, and, of course, wasting lots and lots of bad guys. Joe's a pretty adept ninja and can do just about all the stuff a ninja should do. He's got a standard shuriken that can be upgraded to a fiery spread shuriken and then a laser shuriken. He also has a sword for when you want to get up-close and personal with your enemies, as well as a screen-clearing ninja magic super attack. The most unique ability you'll have in Ninja Five-0 is a Bionic Commando-style grappling hook, which you'll use to grapple your way up walls and swing your way to otherwise out-of-reach platforms. The level design stays pretty fresh from beginning to end and pulls out all the 16-bit action-game stops. It starts off with some simple left-to-right walking and fighting and gets progressively more wild with moving platforms, timed jumps, and punishing environmental hazards like laser beams, spiked pits, and gigantic jets of fire, with each level punctuated with a challenging boss fight. The whole game leaves very little room for mistakes--accidentally killing hostages will take off a quarter of your life bar, many enemy attacks will knock down your life bar by half, and you're given only one life to complete a stage, though you are given an infinite number of continues. Indeed, the unforgiving nature of Ninja Five-0 may prove to be off-putting for those who haven't maintained their twitch gameplay chops, but the action remains so satisfying that you'll keep coming back regardless. At only five levels long, Ninja Five-0 probably won't take more than a week or two of casual play to beat, though an even harder mode is unlocked upon completion, and you can go back and replay any level you've already beaten in the game's time challenge mode. It's short, but it's a good deal of fun while it lasts. Joe's a pretty adept ninja and can do just about all the stuff a ninja should do. Ninja Five-0 isn't an incredible-looking game, but the graphics are serviceable, and, to its credit, each level has a unique look, with a minimal amount of reused level elements, and you'll fight a decent variety of enemies. Both of these factors help keep things fresh all the way through. One of the most unique levels, and coincidentally one of the most fun levels, takes place on a 747 filled with passengers and has you fighting swarms of ninjas and thugs that pop into the aisle and grab the closest hostage. The game has some nice little visual flairs, like the screen-clearing ninja magic super attack, which slaps a big kanji character on the screen while your ninja races around the screen taking care of business, and the boss fights have some nice touches too. The character models look a little chunky, but their animation is pretty smooth. The music in Ninja Five-0 is reminiscent of a second-rate 16-bit platformer, though in a good way, as it does a solid job of conveying a sense of urgency. Unfortunately, you'll hear the exact same tune through most of the game, save for the boss fights and the last few stages. The rest of the game's sound design is pretty standard fare, and it gets the job done. The saying "They don't make 'em like they used to" is totally applicable to video games, and Ninja Five-0 is a great throwback to how they used to make 'em. The game isn't terribly long, and the brutally difficult gameplay will keep it from appealing to players who didn't grow up with the three-life limit and no continues. But if you're up for some faux-nostalgic fun and some good, challenging ninja action, Ninja Five-0 is well worth your time.

The BEST Game Boy Advance Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Wow! You need to pick up this game, Ninja-Five-O for the GBA. It is soooooooo much fun. It feels like an old school 16-bit platformer from the late 80s and early 90s. The gameplay is like Bonic Commando meets Rolling Thunder meets Shinobi. Very addictive. Great graphics and sound. This has to be the most over looked game on this system. I took a chance and got this one and I am so happy to have bought a copy

Old School goodness at its finest.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I saw this game at Sam's for six bucks and thought, "What the heck...I'll pick it up. If it sucks, I'm only out six dollars." Then I played for the first time and was AMAZED.

If you like old school action, and if you used to enjoy games like Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi, you will LOVE Ninja Five-O. Sweet gameplay, awesome graphics, and even a decent soundtrack. Be warned though: it is INSANELY hard. Expect to die several times over before completing a level.

If I could do it all over again, I'd pay 20 bucks for this game. But I'm glad I didn't. :)

Book `Em Sumo

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Yeah, well, you don't actually play as a sumo (which is a crime), but it fit better than "ninja." No one's going to get that joke...

Anyway, this game has a very "classic" feel to it. I don't know exactly why, but it does. Maybe because of the beautifully simple music, sound effects and action; maybe it's because you fight snakes and bats. Or maybe it's because it's so darn hard. The plot seems to be (I stress seems) that the police in Tokyo are often too lazy to stop bank robbers themselves, so they hire a ninja. While the cops dunk doughnuts, the ninja rescues civilians and locates giant multicolored keys.

Story aside, the graphics are quite nice. All the characters on your little screen, from yakuza thugs to enemy ninjas to robotic samurai with bazookas, are very detailed and what not. Each swing of the blade it animated with much more style than plenty of other ninja video games, Gameboy and otherwise.

Now, the enemies and traps can be a trifle hard, occasionally to the annoying point, but the controls are tight enough to see you through. In fact, half the fun of the game is figuring out ways to use the grappling chain. It can stick to any surface and be used for both attacks and evasion, allowing you to swing through traps and maneuver around foes with a fair amount of ease. I was quite impressed by how it worked (unlike some games, but I won't mention any names, right Red Ninja, End of Honor?).

Of course, there are flaws. For one thing, I still cannot figure out exactly how to free hostages. Nine times out of ten it'll work, but every now and again you'll kill the hostage by accident (and, to be perfectly fair, that hostage was getting in the way).

And yes, the graphics are nice, but the developers often put pretty-to-look-at boss introductions at the start of each battle that cannot be skipped. Because of the game's difficulty, it can get annoying to see that Fat Guy say "Yo!" or the Dragon Dude to brandish his broadsword for the thirtieth time.

Also, the translation could be, uh, better. If it was, then we wouldn't get transcripts like: "Our agents infiltrated into the suspicious cave. But all of agents are still missing..." But hey, I like that sort of thing, so that's bonus points for me, and all the more reason to buy the game.

Ninja Five Star

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is perhaps one of the most under-rated and overlooked games for the GBA. It is without parallel the swiftest moving action gave worthy of the title "ninja" within its appellation. No need for Pulitzer storyline or garish cut scenes, this game delivers precisely ninja action with addictive simplicity and speed with its hawkish grappling hook, enticing music and razing swordplay.

Hearkening back to the original ninja game, Shinobi, wherein you play a cool footed ninja who rescues baby hostages, Ninja employs the same system of rescue (of adults, this time) within labyrinthine settings. There is thankfully no one way of assault to rescue hostages, insuring welcomed alteration to the intransigence of usual one-way hack n' slash in the same genre.

Notwithstanding the tantalizing fighter's atmosphere skillfully designed by its programmers, the substantial improvement of shurikan powers, movement and sword capabilities, the winning element is by far the sinewy grappling hook. Very similar in role to the bionic arm of NES's Bionic Commando but greatly updated, the grappling hook of this game just feels so much better with physics; your player isn't just meaninglessly swinging back and forth but like a gymnast sets himself up for amazing feats. It is this flow of motion that allows your character to implement either a surprise ambush or frontal assault onto the enemy. If it weren't for the ninja, the grappling hook would be the protagonist of the game, for its use is ubiquitous in the game.

The only drawback is the invariable ninjitsu which replicates the mass onslaught of hundreds of ninjas on the screen from the original Shinobi, except here it is only executed with only the one ninja's alacritous sweep around the screen killing every enemy in sight. While the bosses no doubt are capable of much more diverse and seasonal ninja magic, it would have been better to equip the ninja with a more elemental assortment of fail-safe demolition. Even so, the favoritism of the grappling hook excuses all faults in this game.

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