Ninja 5-0 (aka Ninja Cop) qualification!

[Ed Oscuro]

A few hours ago I spent maybe twenty minutes playing Ninja 5-0 on my Game Boy Player. The game's quite short (at least Normal is), but the Time Trial mode potentially adds quite a bit of extra playtime to the game.

Actually, the person I got it from had apparently already unlocked Time Trial, but were pretty awful (just tried the first Bank mission once, and got a horrible time), so they didn't qualify (i.e. get the "minimum" high score - I don't know what it does except put a shuriken icon next to that level's listing in the record table). I sat down and got four in maybe 20 minutes, including the Airport's boss fight.

Yes, I know not a *lot* of people have this game, but if you do, share your times!

So far I've got:

Bank:
Stage 1: 26.46 seconds (out of 40, - I managed 24 seconds or so on an emulator a while back, so I'm striving to shave a number of seconds off, but that'll have to be later)
2: 54.20 out of 1 minute (again, will do better later)
3: Didn't bother yet
4: 20.11 (out of 45!)

Harbor:
Eh, nothing. Tried the boss fight, need practice.

Airport:
4: 31.48 (out of 45)

The GameCube's controller is alright for the game, but I'm using the joystick as a d-pad, and that makes getting into doors hard at times. Any diagonal movement will cause our Ninja Cop to shuffle to one side or the other, and you can lose half a second easily this way.

[DarkStraw]

This game rocks, i havent played the time trial mode but i will in a sec :)

Did you play the game on normal, easy, or hard?

[DarkStraw]

This will be my score post
Ones in bold are my latest time.
BANK
1-26.46,24.95
2-49.68
3-1.58.20,137.13
4-17.41(boss), its going to be hard for me to get any better than that, i tried and tried to get a better time agh.

Harbor
1-1.32.10 (all hostages safe and sound)
2-2.02.23
3-
4-19.55(boss)

Airport
1-
2-
3-
4-18.46(boss)

Launch Site
1-59.68 out of 40 to qualify, oh man this stage is gonna be so hard. i tried and tried and got 59.68 dam. i tried really hard too.

[Ed Oscuro]

Holy cow Darkstraw, all of those (but one) lay my scores to shame O_O *plays more and more*

Anyhow, just got a few more qualifications, so here they are:

Bank 3: 1'46.65 / 2
Harbor 1: 1'37.28 / 1'50 (hint: lay waste to the hostages on either side of the red door at the end of the round; works for me!)

[DarkStraw]

yea bank 3 is kinda a long one that was my first completed try, i plan on giving it another go soon :)

[Ed Oscuro]

Good luck! Actually started writing a strat for it, eh, it's easy enough to figure out :P

[DarkStraw]

I just beat the frog boss 19.55, have you tried beating hard mode yet? ive only played the first stage but its pretty hard.

[DarkStraw]

Got 1.37.13 on bank 3, but i think ive figured out a way to get a second or 2 off, maby even 3.

[sirhansirhan]

Funny about this thread popping up today; I just bought the game late last week, and tried the time trials today for the first time. I only tried the first Bank one and got 41.something out of 40 after a few tries, so I can't compare to you guys yet, but still, it's a sweet game.

[DarkStraw]

Ive got some new times :)

Harbor
1-1.32.10 (all hostages safe and sound)
2-2.2.23

[Ed Oscuro]

Funny about this thread popping up today; I just bought the game late last week, and tried the time trials today for the first time. I only tried the first Bank one and got 41.something out of 40 after a few tries, so I can't compare to you guys yet, but still, it's a sweet game.
I don't know how much of this you know already, but here's some general hints:

You'll need to have your route planned exactly. My first dozen playthroughs in Time Trial mode are for this purpose, though I start 'refining' it as soon as possible.

Use the grappling hook whenever possible, i.e. to swing up around an unsupported or "floating" ledge quickly.

Instead of letting Joe Osugi slowly haul himself up over a ledge, hit the Jump button a second time to thrust yourself up and over it.

Spin sword attacks are very fast, for when you must kill an enemy. Running past them is slightly faster, however.

Try to get over obstacles in as few jumps as possible - in one of the Bank stages (I think it is 3) there is a spot where you must slide under a low wall, and then there's a green gunner hiding with two boxes on either side. You should be able to kill him with a spinning sword attack and land on the closest of the far two boxes, instead of landing in the hole where he was hiding. Saves a bit of time.

Lightning Marks (power levels) can be helpful, but don't go out of your way to get them unless you absolutely need them. The large armored (robotic?) samurai may be beaten easily with your sword or from a distance. For the green type with a grenade launcher, you can kill them before they can get a shot off if you rush them when their back is to you - six fast slashes and they are done. Generally avoid these enemies, though, unless they have a key you need.

You can't leave a level until all the hostages are saved. You might have to sacrifice some hostages, then: if you can take the damage penalty for killing a hostage, consider doing it...

The grappling hook lets you create a platform from which to hurl shuriken, and you can raise or lower yourself quickly to avoid incoming shots.

[DarkStraw]

man i love this game, im gonna try beating hard mode soon, ive got some cool tips too i think

1. if your using the grappling hook, you can press the L or R button and it will zip you up super fast, not sure if thats the same thing as what ed was talking about.
2.you can use the jump slash move 2 times in the air before you land, comes in handy :)
3.i think you can slide under bad guys, like the red haird boss dude because i see them do it in the intro video, but i havent tried.

[Ed Oscuro]

1. if your using the grappling hook, you can press the L or R button and it will zip you up super fast, not sure if thats the same thing as what ed was talking about.
Nope, I didn't know about that LOL

I will definitely check that out, might be able to save some serious time.


2.you can use the jump slash move 2 times in the air before you land, comes in handy :)
Absolutely, though not against bosses. Mostly if you slash too soon, you can slash again :)


3.i think you can slide under bad guys, like the red haird boss dude because i see them do it in the intro video, but i havent tried.
I haven't tried that against the frog boss, as I don't think you can slide far enough. That would be useful there.

Also, a new time:

31.32 seconds for the Sniper (frog boss) battle! Huzzah! I believe sub-30 is quite possible, even for me.

[DarkStraw]

also, when your at the select mode screen theres a score at the bottom, i guess its your score for the entire game you played maby? mines 882600.
well, in the intro video, the ninja guy slides under the red haird boss, i think he's the first boss, he had that reaper blade and does the fireball attack.

[Ed Oscuro]

882600's pretty good; when I played through on emulation and tried to get everything/kill all the baddies/save all the hostages (do everything correctly, essentially), I ended up with a 900K+ score. So that's pretty good.

You can also see the score at the Continue screen. I don't know if Continues will wipe your score, however.

[jajaja]

This game is pretty cool :)
I gave up on the time trail tho, too hard. I managed to do all 4 levels on the bank and level 1 & 4 on the harbor mission. I might by able to do most of the levels if I try enough, but then I probly get stuck at some level and wont be able to make it, even after 200 tries hehe.

The last mission on time trail is damn hard. I cant understand how you can do it in 40 sec.

[DarkStraw]

Well it was my first time playing through, but i figured out it would be better if i finished the first 3 levels with all the power ups, that way ill have them when i start the next level, and since the next level is generally harder, well you get the picture, of course after the boss fight you lose all your powers so it dosent really matter.

[Bratwurst]

Just a note I want to add on top of what everyone else has said so far that might be helpful. While you're swinging and hit the shoulder button to zip up really quickly if you jump you soar into the air like a chimpanzee on cocaine.

[jajaja]

Well it was my first time playing through, but i figured out it would be better if i finished the first 3 levels with all the power ups, that way ill have them when i start the next level, and since the next level is generally harder, well you get the picture, of course after the boss fight you lose all your powers so it dosent really matter.

True that, but unfortunatly it doesnt work in time trail mode. You loose all the power-ups after finishing a level.

[Xexyz]

I completed every time trial back during the summer of 05 so here they are:

BANK

Stage 1: 00.30.15
Stage 2: 00.50.06
Stage 3: 01.51.06
Stage 4 (boss): 00.24.10

HARBOR

Stage 1: 01.48.70
Stage 2: 02.02.30
Stage 3: 02.08.95
Stage 4 (boss): 00.32.61

AIRPORT

Stage 1: 01.50.65
Stage 2: 02.41.56
Stage 3: 01.47.85
Stage 4 (boss): 00.26.85

CAVE

Stage 1: 01.55.60
Stage 2: 02.26.46
Stage 3: 02.31.71
Stage 4 (boss): 00.29.81

BASE

Stage 1: 01.04.41
Stage 2: 00.37.71
Stage 3 (boss): 00.42.46

LAUNCH SITE

Stage 1: 00.36.86

All qualifications were first timers. At the time, I was only motivated at making the qualification for each mission. Due to the extreme frustration some of these trials cause, I doubt I'll ever put much time into improving any of these times.

[jajaja]

What happends when u qualify for all stages?

[Xexyz]

If you manage to get qualifiying times on all the time trials you get...

*SPOILERS*































Nothing...

[DarkStraw]

Wow, i had no idea....instructions dident come with my game, but about 1/3 through i figure out how to use the special attack when the green bar is full....ive already beat the game on normal... was beating it on hard and ive figured out, that if your green bar isent full... you can still use it to make you invernable, depending on how much green you have, wow this will help out alot...so far on hard move ive beat the 4 bank levels without getting hurt and getting everything, going for a perfect, but i bet that will be pretty hard.... but hell with invurnabilty i just might pull it off :)

[Ed Oscuro]

Yeah, I usually try to save Invulnerability up, but in time trials...there's really no point (unless you're slashing through enough enemies to get a full bar, which isn't often), might as well use it! :)

[DarkStraw]

Just beat hard mode, new mode high score is

1074800 i think i got everything except one powerup
finished all the levels with the highest with the highest ninja power possible ie: black in most cases, except for the boss stages, dosent really matter there because it gets reset next stage anyway.

now im gonna try and qualify on all the levels.