This Week In Retro: Ninja Five-O (Patreon)

April, 2003: All ninjas are bad-ass

by Diamond Feit

Has any Japanese cultural export shined brighter on the global stage than the humble ninja? Sushi can be enjoyed in any nation all year 'round, anyone who's ever sang in the shower loves karaoke, and Retronauts might not exist if Nintendo hadn't given the world Mario, but the mythical masked shadow warrior transformed from a historical footnote into an action superstar in the latter 20th century. By the 1980s, children in the Western world were just as likely to know the word "ninja" as their counterparts in Japan, and when American anti-Japanese sentiments grew vitriolic around that same time, ninjas became generic villains capable of appearing in any Hollywood production.

Yet for all the nameless, faceless goons that Chuck Norris beat into submission, ninjas also managed to become popular in their own right. The late Sonny Chiba famously portrayed a series of ninjas on television in Shadow Warriors. Actor Sho Kosugi became a B-movie star in the 80s thanks to his on-screen ninja performances as well as his behind-the-scenes work as a fight choreographer. The revival of G.I. Joe in 1982, as much a celebration of American exceptionalism as it was designed to sell toys, introduced not one but two ninjas; both Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow remain popular characters to this day.

Whatever their success in film, television, cartoons, or comic books, ninjas and video games proved to be the ultimate match. SNK’s 1980 vertical shooter Sasuke vs Commander may have been the first game to let players control a ninja, but by decade’s end multiple franchises had sprung up entirely centered around ninjas. Action games, beat-em-ups, fighting games, RPGs…ninjas proved adept at appearing in just about any genre, for their appearance had become so iconic and their abilities so mythic, they seemed capable of performing any task, no matter how fantastic.

20 years ago this month, one ninja took it upon himself to moonlight in law enforcement, as Konami and Hudson produced Ninja Five-O for the Game Boy Advance. Released as Ninja Cop in Europe, the handheld action game recalled an earlier era of the medium, one where storytelling and characters took a backseat to adventures built around action and little else. Like the legendary warrior starring in the game, Ninja Five-O proved hard to put down.

Promotional materials tell us that Ninja Five-O stars Joe Osugi as the eponymous protagonist fighting against the Mad Mask gang, but these names are nowhere to be found in the game itself. Indeed, Ninja Five-O features so little text, one wonders if developer Hudson stitched the story together at the last possible minute. Players have their choice of three missions which they may complete in any order; clearing the Bank, Harbor, and Airport unlocks the Cave followed by a final confrontation with the terrorists' leader. However, since Ninja Five-O lacks any permanent upgrades or unlockable abilities, players have no strategic incentive to embark on the missions out of sequence.

Regardless of location, each mission breaks down into a series of stages where Joe must find his way to the exit, all the while keeping an eye out for hostages. Captives may not be left behind—the exit will not open if any civilians remain in enemy hands—but they can be killed if Joe acts recklessly as gunmen often use hostages as human shields. The exit is also locked, requiring Joe to search for the right key. Early stages have only one lock to bypass, but before long Joe will need to collect a rainbow assortment of keys in order to escape.

While the hostages and backtracking add an element of complexity to Ninja Five-O, Joe's offensive and mobility options make traversing these stages a joy. Joe carries an unlimited supply of shuriken for handling foes at a distance; grabbing power-ups transform his throwing stars into balls of flame and, at maximum level, lasers that effortlessly cut through enemies. For close encounters, Joe's sword will dispatch most threats in a single slash, especially when he swings it as he somersaults through the air.

Joe's most important tool, however, is his grappling hook. Tapping the jump button whilst airborne launches the hook upwards, where it can latch onto just about any surface. Once attached, Joe can freely retract or extend the chain as needed and defy gravity as he spins himself to the left or right. With his free hand, Joe can also toss shuriken mid-swing, allowing adept players to eliminate enemies without losing momentum.

Given Joe Osugi’s choice of lifestyle and his use of a wire to scale walls and suspend himself from ceilings, many writers have compared Ninja Five-O to classic arcade games like Shinobi or Bionic Commando, but I find these connections superficial at best. True, the original Shinobi stars a ninja who rescues hostages, but with his methodical movement, his sprite could easily be replaced with a regular cop or soldier. And as famous as Bionic Commando is for its grappling mechanics, the hero uses his equipment to make up for his utter lack of agility. Ninja Five-O might be the first ninja game I can recall that makes the most of its gimmick, as Joe Osugi has all the speed and skills to let players really feel like a ninja themselves.

What impresses me the most about Ninja Five-O is how it encourages experimentation which in turn feeds into replayability. Take the Bank, the first mission listed on the menu screen that most players will likely select by default. The first stage looks like a straightforward march from left to right, and while enemies and doorways up high suggest an element of verticality, there’s nothing stopping players from reaching the exit without exploring any hard-to-reach catwalks. Should they try jumping and grappling, however, they will immediately discover how much faster swinging is than walking. The game also does not allow Joe to climb up through floors as in Bionic Commando, forcing players to learn the art of swinging from underneath a ledge to reach the top.

I had so much fun checking out Ninja Five-O for this column, it makes the game’s fate all the more difficult to swallow. Konami released it with next to no fanfare; even contemporary reviews express surprise at its unheralded arrival. What’s more, Konami declined to release it at all in Japan, even though ninjas hold just as much sway in their home country as they do abroad. These factors combined to sink Ninja Five-O commercially, despite a glowing critical reception. IGN even highlighted it as the best game of 2003 that “no one played,” and years later included it on their list of the 25 best Game Boy Advance games of all time.

The failure of this excellent if unambitious game seems to come down to a matter of poor timing. With its simple controls and brief length, Ninja Five-O would have fit right in at video game arcades in the 90s. Alternatively, had Konami sat on the assets and released it digitally circa 2010 for a budget price, it could have stood out on home consoles as a downloadable novelty. Instead, the forgotten cartridges became sought-after collectibles, making Ninja Five-O an extremely expensive game to legally acquire two decades on.

Needless to say, Konami never re-released Ninja Five-O on any other platform and I wouldn't hold out hope on that changing any time soon. I also doubt anyone at Hudson is itching to bring back Joe Osugi for another adventure. Fortunately, the best elements of Ninja Five-O are in its gameplay which any developer has free reign to imitate or iterate upon; so long as the movement and combat feel good, the name on the title screen does not matter.

So let us consider this column my open plea to any and all indie studios out there: Instead of trying to make the next Vampire Survivors or yet another Metroidvania, why not give the world a new version of Ninja Five-O? Ninjas remain just as popular today as ever before, and while the same cannot be said for cops, that aspect of the narrative is wide open to change. Just turn the ninja into a freelancer, that will make him both more respectable and relatable to modern audiences.

Diamond Feit lives in Osaka, Japan but is forever online, sharing idle thoughts about video games, films, and dessert.