Ninja Five-O

My first instinct with Ninja Five-O was to check whether the legend matched the game, because the backstory is genuinely wild. This is a Hudson Soft action platformer from 2003 that sold so poorly at launch that original cartridges eventually became some of the most expensive loose carts in GBA history, routinely fetching hundreds of dollars in the secondhand market. Now Konami and Limited Run Games have dropped it on PC via the Carbon Engine, so the curiosity tax is finally affordable. The question is whether the game itself holds up, and the honest answer is: mostly, with a few rough edges you need to accept going in. At its core, Ninja Five-O sits in a satisfying intersection between Shinobi-style ninja action and Bionic Commando-style grapple traversal. You play as Joe Osugi, a detective-ninja working through five missions spread across interconnected, room-based stages, hunting colored keys, rescuing hostages, and fighting your way to Mad Mask bosses at the end of each chapter. The shuriken system upgrades through dropped power-ups, escalating from basic throws to piercing projectiles and screen-clearing fire shots, but taking a hit knocks you back a weapon level, so staying aggressive and untouched actually matters. A katana handles close quarters, and a spinning aerial slash is your best tool against enemies hiding on platforms above you. Two ninjutsu specials round out the kit: one grants brief invulnerability, the other wipes the screen clean. The grappling hook, activated by double-tapping jump, is the move the whole game is built around, and when it clicks, swinging through a vertical level while enemies shoot from ledges below is genuinely satisfying. Here is where the port splits reviewers. Some find the controls responsive and learnable, praising the grapple as intuitive once muscle memory kicks in. Others consider the lack of button remapping in the Carbon Engine release a serious flaw, noting that the melee weapon is locked to a button placement that differs from the original GBA layout and cannot be reassigned in-game. Steam Input can patch around this on PC, which puts desktop players in a better position than console users, but it is still extra friction that should not exist in 2025. The later stages also introduce heavy hostage-hunting that some find clever and others find maze-like and repetitive, particularly on Normal or Hard, the only two difficulty settings that let you see the full game. Easy locks you out after the opening trio of missions. The package itself is thin. Save states, a rewind option capped at a few seconds, an artwork gallery, a music player, screen filters, and the original manual round out the extras. Critically, the release includes both Ninja Five-O and its PAL counterpart Ninja Cop, which is a small but appreciated touch. The new animated intro adds little. A time trial mode lets you chase par times on cleared stages, which works well for boss fights and adds modest replay value beyond a Hard mode run. The whole main game clocks in around three to five hours depending on skill level, so the base content is short even by retro standards. Critics sitting around a 67 to 75 percent recommendation range on aggregate sites reflects that split accurately: this is a pretty good game that was mythologized by scarcity rather than genuine masterpiece status. Who should actually play it? Fans of GBA-era action platformers, Shinobi or Bionic Commando enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever stared at a $300 eBay listing and wondered what the fuss was about. If you go in expecting a hidden gem that punches above its era, you may walk away a little underwhelmed. Go in expecting a tight, well-designed, occasionally frustrating 2D action game with a great grapple system and a handful of genuinely creative boss fights, and it delivers.

Alex · Scout Team

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