Sure - any low gain (hfe<500) NPN should work. If you get any ringing, try ferrite beads on the base and collector leads.
I built my 2N2222A inverter on a double sided PCB, with the bottom as a ground plane, and "Manhattan" style construction on the top. The circuit I used was in "Circuits Cookbook" from 1967....
The whole circuit takes advantage of the common emitter configuration for inversion - and - the common collector configuration gives you the non-inverted video on the emitter. Two in one!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_emitter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_collector