Ninja Five-O

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:21 pm

After wanting to play this game for years I finally found it for a decent price and ordered it. (Paid $26 for cartridge-only, I don't think I've seen it with the box/book for less than $70.) I probably should have asked -before- shelling out the cash, but has anyone here played this? It's supposedly really good. Hoping it actually is now.

If you haven't heard of this, it's a ninja-themed action game for the GBA that supposedly plays a lot like Shinobi. It appears to have been developed in Japan but not released there. (Not sure how true that is, but I'm not aware of a JP version at least.) It's a pretty rare game and thus goes for quite a bit - not Magical Chase-level rare, but still a lot for a GBA game.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:26 pm

I tried it some time back, and it's definitely worth a shot - as with many other titles that command such a price, though, I'm not sure I'd consider it worth what it tends to go for.

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:38 pm

Bionic Commando meets Spiderman.

kemical · Post by **kemical** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:39 pm

yea this is my favorite GBA game I've played.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:48 pm

Well, I'm feeling better about my purchase already.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 10:35 pm

It's a great game, you have nothing to worry about.

evil_ash_xero · Post by **evil_ash_xero** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:10 pm

I played this on an emulator, and thought it was fun. But I thought the graphics were pretty bad, even for GBA.

I guess Astro Boy, Metroid ZM and GSSH have spoiled me.

Chacranajxy · Post by **Chacranajxy** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:20 pm

I thought the game was decent, but nothing great. It feels like Shinobi + Bionic Commando, but nowhere near as good as either. But that said, it's certainly not bad.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 3:04 am

Great fucking game. It _is_ Shinobi meets Bionic Commando, and the result is neither but is absolutely perfect for what it is. I had the same craving you did, and bought the game from an extremely shady website a couple years after release or so for slightly more than I should have paid. Completely worth it in every respect.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:20 am

Chacranajxy wrote:I thought the game was decent, but nothing great. It feels like Shinobi + Bionic Commando, but nowhere near as good as either. But that said, it's certainly not bad.

I have to agree with this actually. A bit too twitchy and doing the Super Castlevania IV routine, except at Mach 4 and in 360 degree circles, is a bit silly. If you're really good you can do amazing things, but it feels a bit too centered around luck sometimes.

Another game I have two copies of for some reason >_>

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 2:43 pm

+ 1

amazing game!

Khan · Post by **Khan** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:35 pm

yea i downloaded the rom last year and it kept me entertained all the way thru! good game but i havent tried hard mode yet been busy trying other gba titles.

Zaarock · Post by **Zaarock** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:45 pm

Great game. I just got to the fourth location on normal difficulty and it's already getting pretty hard

The third boss was quite epic.

Ed: I found the spinning mechanics to be nicely controllable, you just need to time when you press jump again and its quite easy to get the hang of IMO. and for example if you want to jump to the right fast, move left first, then speed up to the right and release and so on.

Koa Zo · Post by **Koa Zo** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:53 am

Chacranajxy wrote:I thought the game was decent, but nothing great. It feels like Shinobi + Bionic Commando, but nowhere near as good as either. But that said, it's certainly not bad.

This is exactly how I feel.

The dudes over at TNL forum love hyping this game any chance they get, so I purchased it expecting something completely awesome. While it plays like a perfect 16-bit classic, I also felt like "been there done that" and got bored after a few levels.
I also had trouble with the "grappling-hook spin yourself up" mechanic while using the GBA-SP d-pad, but I eventually just played the game with a Hori pad on the Gamecube and had much better control.
My judgment is not fully fleshed-out though as I became bored with it and never played the whole way through.

Thankfully I only paid $20 for a new copy back in the winter of 2005. Supposedly the game was pulled after release because the American public couldn't handle a game with a hijacked plane so soon after the tragedies of nine eleven. So prices started to skyrocket on used copies. Then a few years later, online sellers got a hold of all the old sealed stock and prices plummeted to where you could buy a sealed copy for $20.

Fun Fact: while published by Konami, the game was actually developed by Hudson.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Tue Jun 16, 2009 4:34 pm

Koa Zo wrote:Supposedly the game was pulled after release because the American public couldn't handle a game with a hijacked plane so soon after the tragedies of nine eleven.

Seriously?

Zaarock · Post by **Zaarock** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:07 pm

Cleared the game on hard mode and have been doing some time trial. I wish the game had more levels, like ones which actually required good usage of the hook. using the hook well is a necessity in time trial of course, but I'd love some more levels

.

I think my best times are on the bosses, here are my times so far:

Bank boss: 00'18''45
Harbor boss: 00'14''08
Airport boss: 00'15''08
Cave boss: 00'15''41
Base boss: 00'42''91 (I dont really have an idea on how to do this one quick though)

I found bosses the most fun to time trial so far because they require the least memorization and they're well designed. For example the cave boss is much more fun when you're trying to kill it for speed, its very easy and boring to play it for survival.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:12 am

Zaarock wrote:I wish the game had more levels, like ones which actually required good usage of the hook.

lego block construction and superlolfast swing speed kinda makes that troublesome doesn't it?

more (also longer) electric pits to grapple across = good design

not hating just stating truths. TRENCHANT ones

FRO · Post by **FRO** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:45 pm

This just became the #1 most wanted GBA game on my list, after finally acquiring the Castlevania double-pack

maxlords · Post by **maxlords** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:23 am

Yeah...I bought Ninja Five-O when it came out and I absolutely LOVED it. The later stages are pretty damned tough...there's some nice precision swinging but it's definitely a fun game. Easily one of my top 10 GBA games.

Zaarock · Post by **Zaarock** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 3:16 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:
Zaarock wrote:I wish the game had more levels, like ones which actually required good usage of the hook.
lego block construction and superlolfast swing speed kinda makes that troublesome doesn't it?

You never need to swing fast until the final stage really, and even there jumping too high is punished by the lasers. in most scenarios you dont need to spin fast. say you want to go on top of the platform you are hanging from, all you do is swing to the opposite direction and then the wanted direction and press jump at the right point, no need to have insane reflexes or control the spin well. You never need to use the insane amount of speed you can get when spinning loops around those background grab points in the game either, so I fail to see your point about the spin speed.

AFAIK the few points you had to go over long spike pits you could extend the hook so it went through the wall things and on the long one before the airplane you just need to hold right and tap jump

the level was pretty evil there though as they put a boomerang guy right at the exit while you are above a spike pit. You should be able to kill him with jump swords before he gets two hits in though, if you dont want to kill him with projectiles.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:21 am

My copy came in but I'm too tired to play it today. It's a little more beat-up than I was expecting, but as long as it plays okay I'll be happy. Will post impressions when I finally get to play.

At least I have it. Finally.

ZOM · Post by **ZOM** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 6:32 pm

Zaarock wrote:...You should be able to kill him with jump swords before he gets two hits in though, if you dont want to kill him with projectiles.

Or just use Ninpo on that a**hole. (He caught me by surprise the first time around)

@Cthulhu
I like the game, I think the "Bionic Shinobi(TM)" approach works very well.
Also, I find the enemies' animations funny - somehow reminded me of elevator action returns.