Welcome to Modojo, 
The Golden Age of Ninjas
Written by Philip Jones on Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Modojo's resident ninja Philip Jones laments the death of his species and reminisces about the glory days...
...Continued From Page 2 Ganbare Goemon / Mystical Ninja - Konami
Over at Konami, an entirely different kind of ninja action was taking place. The Legend Of The Mystical Ninja games, known as Ganbare Goemon (literally, Go for it Goemon!). spanned right from the Game Boy all the way to the DS, with a mixture of action RPG, RPG and platform games.
The first two games, for the original Game Boy, Goemon: Saraweta Ebisumaru and Ganbare Goemon: Kurofune Tou no Nazo, were two quite different games. Goemon: Saraweta Ebisumaru was a simpler action game, with Goemon on a quest to free his companion Ebisumaru, who went and got himself kidnapped by Yagyu Jubei (a real-life 17th century Japanese swordsman, I'll have you know). The game itself was graphically excellent for the time, with pleasant backgrounds and detailed characters. It's not a particulary complex game, just a nice romp around feudal Japan, whacking people in the way only Goemon can. The game never received a US release but bizarrely, it did surface in Europe in a colorized form in 2000, a whole 9 years after its original release, as a part of the Konami GB Collection Vol. 3...where it was pretty much ignored. Poor Goemon.
The second Game Boy Goemon came along in 1998 and did make it to the West intact as Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. Problem was, it was far from being a good representation of the fun usually inherent in a Goemon game. I remember looking forward to it so much, then when I finally got my hands on it, being the most disappointed I'd been in an age! They had tried to turn Goemon into an action RPG, but made the game repetitive, frustrating, and awkward to control. BAD Konami... Baaaaad Konami... Maybe some of you out there really enjoyed this, but either way, the game didn't do too well, and after this, Konami decided we wouldn't get to see any more of Mister Goemon and friends in the west.
In Japan there were three more Goemons for the Game Boy Color, a new adventure plus a couple of retro Goemons for the Game Boy Advance and in '05, a beautiful DS appearance.
The Game Boy Color titles consisted of two RPG's, Ganbare Goemon: Tengu-to no Gyuakushu! and the Pokemonesque Ganbare Goemon: Mononoke Douchuu Tobidase Nabe-Bugyou, both of which are impenetrable without knowledge of Japanese. There is however an excellent platform game in the shape of Ganbare Goemon: Hoshizorashi Dynamites Arawaru!! The graphics were bright and bold, taking full advantage of the limited power on offer. Go for it indeed!
Along came the Game Boy Advance, and with it Goemon: New Age Shutsudou! Which, as the name implies, was a re-imagining of Goemon, transplanting him into the present day as a weapon equipped crime-fighter of sorts. As action platformers go, it was fine kiddie fodder. Just not classic Goemon as we knew it. Luckily, the next Goemon releases for the Game Boy Advance happened to be retro re-releases. The original 1986 Famicom title found itself a member of the Famicom Mini retro catalog, followed by Kessakusen! Ganbare Goemon 1+2, which consisted of the first two SNES titles. Excellence in cartridge form! It was a crime against humanity that this cartridge didn't get a western release!
The final portable installment of Goemon came in '05 on the DS. Despite never seeing our shores, it is an artistically outstanding work on Konami's behalf. Taking its cues from traditional Japanese art (a good year before Okami too, I might add). Ganbare Goemon: Toukai Douchuu Daiedo Tenguri, to give it its rather full title, is a return to the game's roots. You meander around, completing sub-quests and stylus-based minigames. After the lack of silliness in Goemon: New Age Shutsudou, the game features the welcome return of classic Goemon humor. Silly costumes and farting, yay! Ninjas are ace, but farting ninjas? Now we're talkin'.
posted April 26, 2007