During yesterday's Arcade Archives Livestream for Konami's The Final Round, Hamster announced in advance that it will be bringing Taito's puppet-based beat 'em up The Ninja Kids to PS4 and Switch later this month (on August 22nd).
The Ninja Kids was originally released in arcades in 1990 and uses Taito's F2 arcade system (which was also used on games like Final Blow, Dino Rex, and Gun Frontier, among others). It has often been referred to online as Taito's answer to Konami's 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game and follows four cute puppet-like characters (Hanzo, Sasuke, Akane, and Genta) as they battle a satanic cult across a modern city.
The original game could be played with up to four players, with each of these characters having their own weapons and ninja kills to set them apart.
Hanzo, for instance, is equipped with a Ninjato and can summon the power of water, Sasuke wields a kusarigama and can take advantage of the power of wind, Akane carries shuriken and can perform fire arts, and Genta owns a Sansetsukon (which is essentially a three-part staff) and can draw on the power of the earth.
Since its original release, The Ninja Kids has only been reissued on a small number of occasions, including as part of the West-only compilation Taito Legends in 2005 and the Japan-exclusive Taito Memories II Joukan in 2007.