Getting your hands on a copy of Ninja Five-O for Game Boy Advance would normally cost you hundreds of dollars in 2024. And that’s just for a loose cartridge; complete copies of Ninja Five-O have sold for $700 (or more) on eBay in recent months. But there will soon be a much cheaper way to play Konami and Hudson Soft’s beloved GBA action side-scroller, thanks to a re-release from Limited Run Games.
Konami and Limited Run Games announced Wednesday that Ninja Five-O is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 later this year. Ninja Five-O is running on Limited Run’s Carbon Engine, the same tech that will run Konami’s Felix the Cat and Rocket Knight Adventures collections — which go up for pre-order March 3-10, by the way.
Limited Run hasn’t specified when we can expect Ninja Five-O’s digital and physical versions, nor what extras players can expect with the re-release outside of a rewind feature. But for budget-conscious fans of action-arcade games like Bionic Commando, Rolling Thunder, and Shinobi, a legit copy may be all they need.
Ninja Five-O (known as Ninja Cop in other territories) was originally released for Game Boy Advance in 2003. Players take on the role of ninja cop Joe Osugi, who is tasked with taking down a terrorist organization that’s been superpowered by artifacts known as the Mad Masks. According to the game’s original description, “Ninja Five-O features authentic ninja swords, shuriken throwing stars, ninjutsu magic and a unique Kaginawa grappling hook system to create spectacular acrobatic moves and an innovative fighting style.” That’s right: authentic ninja swords.
Ninja Five-O was well received by fans and critics at launch. GameSpot’s Ryan Davis said the game featured “faux-nostalgic fun [with] some good, challenging ninja action,” while IGN’s Craig Harris praised Ninja Five-O as a “surprisingly great game that almost came out of nowhere.” The game’s “quiet” release “with relatively no previous hype,” Harris notes in his review, probably has something to do with the game’s current rarity. It appears the Konami of the early aughts did not have much faith in the game, which may explain why Ninja Five-O never got a release in Japan.
Regardless, someone at Konami appears to have more faith in Ninja Five-O now, and thanks to Limited Run Games’ involvement, it will finally find a bigger audience.
Limited Run Games’ physical edition of Ninja Five-O will be revealed and become available to pre-order this March.
