Okay, so the girl's name was Miko apparently. By the way, it's crazy that we found out at the end of Ebisumaru's debut game that they are actually a girl who were cursed, and it literally never comes back again in the series. Other than some mild references in Ebisumaru having some girly abilities very rarely.
@DjinnFighter I would rank them similarly, but I would put Great Adventure a bit further back. The platforming in that one was arguably the worst of the "main" games, and it had some unforgiving and fetchquest-y parts. It's still great though.
For 4, wasn't only Goemon's planet sports themed? Also the thing about enemies only giving money when you hit them with that ball thingy was just super weird. And I'm horrible at Puyo Puyo as well, but I still found the variety pretty nice.
Also here's my opinion on the others: -Mr. Goemon was pretty fun if not amazing, I was quite addicted to the high score chase some years back, I was even very high (like top 3?) on the scoreboard. -1 and 2 on the Famicom I found to be very good if a bit repetitive, and while 1 was a bit less varied and a bit more hard, its higher consistency and more simplistic charm was a bit better for me. The MSX version was pretty bad for its incredibly slow speed and randomly warping gates. -Gaiden 1 and 2 were alright RPGs with better than average visuals and music. Tengu-tou was pretty meh, but Mononoke douchuu was a surprisingly fun monster catching RPG, but nothing amazing. -Sarawareta Ebisumaru would be a pretty top tier Game Boy game if it wasn't for the stage where you play as the girl (I forget her name) and you have to precisely platform between small islands for half an hour. Still a great game though. -Kurofune-tou is just horrible in pretty much every way. -Seikuushi Dynamites Arawaru is pretty much just a Goemon 2 wannabe on the go. It's still pretty nice and ambitious for a GBC game. -Soreyuke Ebisumaru is an alright puzzler. I beat it in one sitting like 10 years ago, and I never really wanted to return, but I still had some fun. -Mononoke Sugoroku is an alright card fight-board game combination. It's not exactly well balanced, and luck has too much to do with it, but I still had some fun. -Uchuu Kaizoku Akogingu is kinda like a better version of 3 on the SFC. -Kuru Nara Koi is poorly made and enemies have way too much HP. The cutscenes are nice though. And it's still a lot better than the second GB game. -Ooedo daikaiten is 2 again with lots of recycled content. It's still mostly well made, and in a vacuum, it's a good game, it's just not really original. -Shin Sedai Shuumei was surprisingly fun for me despite its futuristic theme, and it had a great soundtrack (with songs mostly from the N64 games). New Age Shutsudou however felt really rushed for me with some bad decisions. -The other GBA ports were fine. 1+2 had pretty bad sound and no multiplayer, but at least you could play the mini-games freely in the main menu. -Bouken Jidai Katsugeki is too large for its own good, content is really spread out, and it's not balanced well in any way or in any sense of the word. There is still some fun to be had, but it's very rough. -Toukai Douchuu is one I played a long time ago, and what I remember is that it looked really nice, and it played like a better 3/Akogingu.
@DjinnFighter I'm pretty much in the same boat. I wouldn't say it's my favorite series ever, but it's up there. And I have all the games as well (including the GBA ports), and I have beaten all of them on original hardware (except for the PS2 one, I had to use emulation there, I don't have a Japanese PS2... yet!), so I could vote on all of them.
And I would also say that Legend of the Mystical Ninja on the SNES is probably my favorite with Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon being my second favorite. I fell in love with the series with the N64 entry, but it has quite some smaller and bigger problems (even if it's still a 10/10 game in my heart), the first SNES one is pretty much perfect aside from a few unfair platforming sections. The article says the sequels are arguably much better, but I don't really agree. -2 comes the closest easily, but I think the Impact fights are not ideal, the soundtrack (while stellar here) is better in the first game, and I like that half of the game is basically in the style of the Famicom originals in the first one, while 2 is "just a platformer" with some towns. Still a fantastic game though. -3 is a step down, because while the exploration is nice, it's too small and linear for a proper Zelda-like experience, and the sidequests are not great. -Kirakira douchuu is like 2, but has less well designed stages in my opinion with a less good soundtrack. The mini-game bosses are a fun idea though.
The first SNES one is the one that feels most like a whole, well rounded game which was made with the most love.
@GravyThief Yes. There were actually 2 Goemon games for the original Game Boy, and what we got originally in the second one. The one on the GB Collection is a colorized, translated version of the first game, that only came out in Japan originally, with the subtitle Sarawareta Ebisumaru.
Yeah, most of them are Japan-only, there are less than 9 Goemon games available in the West overall, even if we count Mr. Goemon. There's the first SNES one, also available on the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS VC, the horrible second Game Boy one, also available on the 3DS VC (with built in turbo buttons, perfect for those horrible button mashing bosses), the two N64 ones that are not Mononoke Sugoroku (never re-released sadly), and one that not many people seem to know about: a colorized version of the first Game Boy game, only available in Europe on the Konami GB Collection Vol. 3 cartridge for the GBC.
Which is really sad, because it's a really fun series. Sure, it has some lesser games, but I really like it overall. Has some great characters and atmosphere, and some incredible sountracks.
Good-Feel, the company made of mostly old Konami staff that were actually responsible for Goemon games, put out some teaser pictures for a new project they were working on that looked incredibly Goemon-esque... but it was supposed to come out in 2021, and we never heard from it since.
I just bought a PC Engine mini two months ago, and I'm absolutely loving it. The whole catalog has such an old Japanese obscure game vibe, and it's wonderful. Most of the games are pretty great too.
Comments 7
Re: Poll: What's The Best Ganbare Goemon / Mystical Ninja Game?
Okay, so the girl's name was Miko apparently. By the way, it's crazy that we found out at the end of Ebisumaru's debut game that they are actually a girl who were cursed, and it literally never comes back again in the series. Other than some mild references in Ebisumaru having some girly abilities very rarely.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Ganbare Goemon / Mystical Ninja Game?
@DjinnFighter I would rank them similarly, but I would put Great Adventure a bit further back. The platforming in that one was arguably the worst of the "main" games, and it had some unforgiving and fetchquest-y parts. It's still great though.
For 4, wasn't only Goemon's planet sports themed? Also the thing about enemies only giving money when you hit them with that ball thingy was just super weird. And I'm horrible at Puyo Puyo as well, but I still found the variety pretty nice.
Also here's my opinion on the others:
-Mr. Goemon was pretty fun if not amazing, I was quite addicted to the high score chase some years back, I was even very high (like top 3?) on the scoreboard.
-1 and 2 on the Famicom I found to be very good if a bit repetitive, and while 1 was a bit less varied and a bit more hard, its higher consistency and more simplistic charm was a bit better for me. The MSX version was pretty bad for its incredibly slow speed and randomly warping gates.
-Gaiden 1 and 2 were alright RPGs with better than average visuals and music. Tengu-tou was pretty meh, but Mononoke douchuu was a surprisingly fun monster catching RPG, but nothing amazing.
-Sarawareta Ebisumaru would be a pretty top tier Game Boy game if it wasn't for the stage where you play as the girl (I forget her name) and you have to precisely platform between small islands for half an hour. Still a great game though.
-Kurofune-tou is just horrible in pretty much every way.
-Seikuushi Dynamites Arawaru is pretty much just a Goemon 2 wannabe on the go. It's still pretty nice and ambitious for a GBC game.
-Soreyuke Ebisumaru is an alright puzzler. I beat it in one sitting like 10 years ago, and I never really wanted to return, but I still had some fun.
-Mononoke Sugoroku is an alright card fight-board game combination. It's not exactly well balanced, and luck has too much to do with it, but I still had some fun.
-Uchuu Kaizoku Akogingu is kinda like a better version of 3 on the SFC.
-Kuru Nara Koi is poorly made and enemies have way too much HP. The cutscenes are nice though. And it's still a lot better than the second GB game.
-Ooedo daikaiten is 2 again with lots of recycled content. It's still mostly well made, and in a vacuum, it's a good game, it's just not really original.
-Shin Sedai Shuumei was surprisingly fun for me despite its futuristic theme, and it had a great soundtrack (with songs mostly from the N64 games). New Age Shutsudou however felt really rushed for me with some bad decisions.
-The other GBA ports were fine. 1+2 had pretty bad sound and no multiplayer, but at least you could play the mini-games freely in the main menu.
-Bouken Jidai Katsugeki is too large for its own good, content is really spread out, and it's not balanced well in any way or in any sense of the word. There is still some fun to be had, but it's very rough.
-Toukai Douchuu is one I played a long time ago, and what I remember is that it looked really nice, and it played like a better 3/Akogingu.
...I didn't leave anything out, right?
Re: Poll: What's The Best Ganbare Goemon / Mystical Ninja Game?
@DjinnFighter I'm pretty much in the same boat. I wouldn't say it's my favorite series ever, but it's up there. And I have all the games as well (including the GBA ports), and I have beaten all of them on original hardware (except for the PS2 one, I had to use emulation there, I don't have a Japanese PS2... yet!), so I could vote on all of them.
And I would also say that Legend of the Mystical Ninja on the SNES is probably my favorite with Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon being my second favorite. I fell in love with the series with the N64 entry, but it has quite some smaller and bigger problems (even if it's still a 10/10 game in my heart), the first SNES one is pretty much perfect aside from a few unfair platforming sections. The article says the sequels are arguably much better, but I don't really agree.
-2 comes the closest easily, but I think the Impact fights are not ideal, the soundtrack (while stellar here) is better in the first game, and I like that half of the game is basically in the style of the Famicom originals in the first one, while 2 is "just a platformer" with some towns. Still a fantastic game though.
-3 is a step down, because while the exploration is nice, it's too small and linear for a proper Zelda-like experience, and the sidequests are not great.
-Kirakira douchuu is like 2, but has less well designed stages in my opinion with a less good soundtrack. The mini-game bosses are a fun idea though.
The first SNES one is the one that feels most like a whole, well rounded game which was made with the most love.
Re: Random: Check Out These Adorable Konami-Themed Gashapon
These are really cute. I, too, would love to have the Goemon one, but the others are pretty nice as well.
Re: Wii U And 3DS eShop Closure Is Removing Access To The Wider Goemon Series
@GravyThief Yes. There were actually 2 Goemon games for the original Game Boy, and what we got originally in the second one. The one on the GB Collection is a colorized, translated version of the first game, that only came out in Japan originally, with the subtitle Sarawareta Ebisumaru.
Re: Wii U And 3DS eShop Closure Is Removing Access To The Wider Goemon Series
Yeah, most of them are Japan-only, there are less than 9 Goemon games available in the West overall, even if we count Mr. Goemon.
There's the first SNES one, also available on the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS VC, the horrible second Game Boy one, also available on the 3DS VC (with built in turbo buttons, perfect for those horrible button mashing bosses), the two N64 ones that are not Mononoke Sugoroku (never re-released sadly), and one that not many people seem to know about: a colorized version of the first Game Boy game, only available in Europe on the Konami GB Collection Vol. 3 cartridge for the GBC.
Which is really sad, because it's a really fun series. Sure, it has some lesser games, but I really like it overall. Has some great characters and atmosphere, and some incredible sountracks.
Good-Feel, the company made of mostly old Konami staff that were actually responsible for Goemon games, put out some teaser pictures for a new project they were working on that looked incredibly Goemon-esque... but it was supposed to come out in 2021, and we never heard from it since.
Re: Best Mini Classic Consoles
I just bought a PC Engine mini two months ago, and I'm absolutely loving it. The whole catalog has such an old Japanese obscure game vibe, and it's wonderful. Most of the games are pretty great too.