Ninja Five-O
Ninja Five-O, known in the PAL region as Ninja Cop, is a 2003 action-platform video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Konami. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in North America and Europe in April 2003. Players take the role of Joe Osugi, a ninja who must stop a terrorist group influenced by mystical masks.
Ninja Five-O
- Date
- 2003
- Publisher
- Konami
- Genre
- platformer
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Documentary summary
Ninja Five-O, known in the PAL region as Ninja Cop, is a 2003 action-platform video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Konami. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in North America and Europe in April 2003. Players take the role of Joe Osugi, a ninja who must stop a terrorist group influenced by mystical masks.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q7038903 · wikipedia · Ninja Five-O
In this article
The object
The object
It was first announced at "Konami Gamers' Day" in early 2003. The game received generally positive reviews from video game critics, but it failed to garner sales and is often regarded as one of the most sought-after handheld games. The original version was re-released on February 25, 2025, for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Ninja Five-O • Developer — Hudson Soft • Publisher — Konami • Director — Gen Suzuki • Producer — Hitoshi Kimoto • Designer — Gen Suzuki • Programmer — * Hajime Hosokawa • Katsuhiko Hosogai • Yasukazu Majima • Artist — Osamu Ōe • Composer — * Aya Tanaka • Hiroyuki Tsuboguchi • Genre — Action, platform • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Game Boy Advance
Gameplay
Gameplay
Ninja Five-O is an action game centered around Joe Osugi, a ninja tasked with stopping a terrorist group influenced by the Mad Masks, masks that give the wearer obscene power. As Osugi, the player must defeat the terrorists and rescue hostages through five missions with three levels and a boss battle.
Development
Development
The game was developed by Hudson Soft. Ninja Five-O was first announced in January 2003 during "Konami Gamers' Day", where they announced along with fifteen other games they would publish in 2003. Despite being developed and published by Japanese video game companies, it was never released in Japan for reasons unknown. The US box art was illustrated by Julie Giles, who designed other Konami packaging such as the Castlevania and Metal Gear franchises. Ninja Five-O was released in North America and Europe in April 2003. In February 2024, it was announced that Limited Run Games will develop a version in cooperation with Konami for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
History of the object
Dated record
History of the object
The full dated record · 2 entries
2003
Ninja Five-O published.
2003
Ninja Five-O is recorded as published in 2003.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Japan
Named but not plotted · 1
Ninja Five-O is associated with Japan.
Country
Reception
Upon release of the game, Ninja Five-O received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. It was chosen as runner-up for "GBA Game of the Month" by IGN for the month of April 2003, behind Golden Sun: The Lost Age. In a retrospective review from Nintendo Life, Perry Wild praised its level design for having a balance between the platforming and combat aspects in the game. Ninja Five-O received awards and nominations from several gaming publications. GameSpy named it the third best Game Boy Advance game of 2003, as well as the Best Platform Game for the system. It was also chosen as the "Best Game No One Played" by IGN. IGN later listed it at number 23 in their list of the top 25 Game Boy Advance games of all time. In 2008, CraveOnline featured the game among top 10 Ninja games of all time, calling it "weird, fun, challenging, and a great homage to another awesome ninja game from the 8-bit era, Shadow of the Ninja". According to GameFan, "Ninja Five-O was one of the biggest sleeper hits of 2003. Given lackluster sales it's unlikely to spawn a sequel, but with everything it got right the first time one can only imagine what might have been." Ninja Five-O is now seen as one of the most sought-after games for the Game Boy Advance, with IGN listing it as "Extremely Rare". By 2013, Pocket Gamer listed it as one of the most expensive handheld games, noting that a copy of the game was being sold on eBay for £70 while a boxed copy went for £200.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Ninja Five-O”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q7038903: Ninja Five-O
General reference · Wikidata
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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