Konami’s Rare GBA Classic Lives Again

As somebody with a love for retro gaming and handheld oddities, Konami porting Ninja 5-O to fashionable consoles was music to my ears. In case you’re not acquainted, it’s an especially uncommon Sport Boy Advance sport that could be a actually stable motion platformer within the vein of Shinobi and Shadow of the Ninja (which not too long ago bought its personal PS5 model). Now far more inexpensive with fashionable trappings, corresponding to save states and the power to rewind, it’s a worthwhile port of a basic Konami sport that deserved to be seen by extra gamers.

Gameplay is fast to study because it’s a Sport Boy Advance title and solely makes use of a couple of buttons. You possibly can throw shuriken, use your sword to slice at foes, and even use a grappling hook. The grappling capability is definitely the sport’s most enjoyable ingredient, as you possibly can actually get momentum and swing round areas. Phases revolve round rescuing hostages, which forces you to watch out as you possibly can by chance kill them and sometimes discover keys to unlock new components of the extent.

The boss fights that cap off every space are the place the sport actually shines as they’ll pressure you to place your entire ninja strikes collectively and use the grappling hook to get out of the best way. There’s a enjoyable selection starting from a kabuki-clad warrior, a large frog that spits fireplace at you, and a vampire that appears straight out of Castlevania. These moments make certain the sport ends with a bang and the ultimate boss battle is sort of an intense one (though made simpler since you possibly can rewind for those who make a deadly mistake)..

If there’s one disappointment it’s that the sport is sort of quick. You’ll roll credit in round three hours. Fortunately, there’s a laborious issue that unlocks and a time trial mode that provides some replay worth (you’ll need to beat laborious for the Platinum trophy). An extra good contact is that the PAL model of the sport — generally known as Ninja Cop — can also be accessible to play.

There are additionally some good bonus additions to this port, as there’s a music participant that means that you can take heed to all 12 of the totally different tracks. There’s additionally a museum, which options the sport’s field artwork, unique instruction guide, art work for the sport, and a few cool animation sketches for the sport’s opening. It’s good to see some additional effort put in, particularly for a sport that has aged in addition to Ninja 5-O has.

Ninja 5-O Overview: Remaining Verdict

Ninja 5-O was an awesome sport when it was launched in 2003 and it stays one right now. Fortunately, this underrated Konami basic is now broadly accessible and might be skilled by all. It’s one among Hudson Comfortable’s hidden gems and it is a beautiful port of it that has some cool options and quality-of-life upgrades.

Disclosure: The writer supplied a PlayStation 5 copy for our Ninja 5-O evaluate. Reviewed on model 1.000.100.