 Snatch drunk. Ninja Cop is one of the best names of any game I've ever seen, but sadly this game is only referred to as Ninja Cop overseas and in North America it got the lame ass title Ninja 5-0, presumably a play on Hawaii 5-0. This game did not sell worth a damn and that's really too bad because this is definitely a case of a great game that just fell through the cracks. That's right, this is one of those 2D platformers where you're given a ton of abilities. You can slash with a sword, throw fireballs, use a grappling hook to reach places, cling to ledges, upgrade your weapons to even more powerful stuff, fill up the bar up top and unleash a clear screen attack, on and on. Ninja 5-0 was developed by Hudson Soft, who developed a Super Nintendo game very similar to this, Higane, another game where you're overpowered to the gills, but this time around you're allowed to be a bit more deliberate and explore a bit. You search around sizable levels defeating enemies, some of which are badass ninjas in their own right, and you have to find these colored keys to unlock doors so you can move on to the next level. Not only that, but you can't just hack and slash like crazy on some of these enemies. Occasionally you have to rescue hostages without harming them, match the pattern here and take out the enemy carefully. And even without hostages in the way, some of these bad guys are pretty tough. They block your attacks and have some crazy ass moves of their own. The grappling hook is a huge part of the game as well, as it's tricky to be able to reach certain areas without taking damage, and that's what helps make this game stand out from other 2D platformers. Take this segment here where you have to use the grappling hook to get up onto this ledge while avoiding enemy fire, then be careful enough to take him out without hitting the hostage. That's what makes Ninja 50 seem like an upgrade over the stuff that influenced it. It's subtle, nuanced stuff like that. But not only that, you get 20 levels of this too. Now that's awesome. And while this game is challenging, it's not to the point where you want to throw the controller. Of course it helps that the game looks and sounds great as well. The story totally doesn't matter because who cares, but it does provide some nice visuals in between the stages. The music also gets the job done by matching the action appropriately. So yeah, Ninja 50 is a great frickin' game because not only is it able to fluidly combine elements from many games before it, it's able to stand out with great level design and even better enemy design. So it's not just another replicated derivative game. But if you're familiar with how I structure these videos, you know what's coming next. Yes, that's right. It's the depressing news that this game goes for an average of $66 on eBay. But still, if you're able to find a way to play Ninja 50 or Ninja Cop, I highly recommend you do so. It's like the next evolutionary step in old school NES action platforming, and I really wish it got a sequel.