#ganbaregoemon — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #ganbaregoemon, aggregated by home.social.
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So, I am now officially finished with Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon.
If you were wondering, why I insisted on using the game's full legal name, instead of just shortening it to Mystical Ninja... I guess it was force of habit...After getting all the fortune dolls, you unlock an Impact boss battle boss rush, which was fun to do as Impact battles are weirdly entertaining.
Anyway, I don't know how I feel about this one truth be told. The game itself is good, like, it is fun... But, after playing Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishi Juurokubei no Karakuri Manjigatame for the SNES, this game just felt empty and half-baked. Lots of sub-areas in the world map are just passed through with minimal effort and challenge.
A lot of abilities are obtained super late, and barely used.Personally, when the Goemon games play in this Zelda-esque adventure style, over the pure platformer style, the games really shine.
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It's a mighty shame that Yae gets her signature bazooka ridiculously late in Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon.
In fact. She gets both her Bazooka and Mermaid magic in the last quarter of the game... Skills that are criminally underused compared to how much you end up using them in Ganbare Goemon 3
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Wait... What's this?
We're going to Kyushu in Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon?!Quids in! Let's go! The beaches of Fukuoka are calling me, let's say hi to Sakurajima, let's...
Wait... What's happening.
You god damn maniacs! You stole Kyushu from me!
This just got deeply personal.(Hokkaido is still MIA, I am less concerned there)
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Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon Geography lesson!
The Inaba region is a desert filled with sand dunes!I would question it, but the game did say I could become an expert in Japanese geography by playing the game!
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Perhaps it is because I have done a fair number of Impact battles this year...
But i remember the Impact battles (at least the first one) in Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon to be harder than it was...Though. As a kid, I can imagine i was just overwhelmed by all the nonsense that was happening and Impact fights are more about patience and countering your opponent.
(He says this, but I did play super aggressively using my chain pipe and Super laser frequently).Anyway, after defeating my first opponent, there was this fantastic, very aesthetic shot of Impact just watching his opponent explode off screen.
I ALSO forgot that Impact speaks. It's honestly the weirdest part of the entire #GanbareGoemon experience in my opinion.
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And people told me that playing video games would rot my brain. Little did they know that this silly anachronistic Japanese action adventure game was making me an expert in Japanese geography!
Hang on... I am pretty sure there is something missing off this map...
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So, I thought I had shot myself in the foot and jumped the gun when it comes to Goemon vocal songs, having showcased 『I am Impact』 a few months back during that particularly Goemon phase.
Imagine my surprise when I discover that there are more songs crammed into that little gray cart. 『Gorgeous, my Stage』but more importantly for this #VGMWednesday we have 『The Theme of Mystical Ninja』, what? No fancy name? That's disappointing... At least i couldn't find one in my 5 minutes of searching.
This song feels lifted straight out of an 80s anime. In fact, if you told me the opening was a crudely rendered facsimile of an existing opening for a Goemon anime, i'd believe you.
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It shouldn't come as any surprise to me that Mystical Legend starring Goemon is a weird game... I played the SNES games earlier this year, why would the N64 one be any different?
I think the difference here is, three of those games were fan-translated, with less pressure to make it commercially viable for an English speaking audience. With Legend of the Mystical Ninja being translated and Goemon's name changed to Kid Ying.
So, we need to look at Mystical Ninja starring Goemon as a game that was being physically sold in stores. I actually played this game as a kid, why do I not remember just how bizarre it all was?!
Within the first few minutes of the game we get a good taste of the humour and strangeness of the series, especially from the NPCs.
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#IshambardPresents Ganbare Goemon Kirakira Douchuu (SNES)
Folks, I don’t want to alarm you, but the zany is off the charts.
Goemon and crew finally go to space, and Impact can speak now!The Sparkling Journey is similar to Goemon 2, being predominantly stage based, but this time the game is split into numerous planets with each character going to separate ones. Towns have more functionality, usually involving a quest and skills to unlock.
Traditional Impact battles are gone, which for a game where Impact is a main character is a little odd. Instead we get minigames that function as boss battles, such as a Puyo Puyo minigame, or a button mashing track and field like sprint. It's odd, but not in the same charming way as the rest of the series.
There is also a sports theme which kinda overshadows the space setting for the most part.That being said, the climax of the game is absolutely peak and definitely worth experiencing just for the spectacle alone!
4/4
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#IshambardPresents Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijūrokubē no Karakuri Manji Gatame (SNES)
Upping the ante even further, Goemon 3 involves time travel! I would have figured space would be the next step, but oh well.
This game plays more like Mystical Ninja on the N64 and if you love that game, I have some great news!
Split between top-down world exploration amd side scrolling dungeons, the gameplay here is almost faultless. I do find the mech suit gameplay (Not Impact) to be a little frustrating in places, especially when mounting and dismounting.
The Impact battles in this game are much easier, but not without challenge, making them significantly more enjoyable than the previous game.
Progression signposting can be a little wonky at times, but thankfully there is a fortune teller who can keep you on track.
Honestly, this is possibly one of the best SNES games I have ever played, combining Zelda-like world map traversal with tried and tested Goemon platforming
3/4
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#IshambardPresents Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shogun Magginesu (SNES)
Compared to the first game, the strange General Magginesu is, by and large, a straight forward platformer. Towns still feature in the game, but they are more like RPG Towns, with opportunities to restock supplies and talk to NPCs.
Similar rules apply to this game as the original. You can power up your weapon but it de-powers when damage is taken. You can expand your HP in the stage by finding gold cat statues.
Okay, so, all quite familiar. Well the Game has a trick up its sleeve.
During certain stages you will engage in giant mech battles in Goemon Impact. These fights can be incredibly challenging, playing like Punch-Out, relying on a mix of pattern recognition and reflexes. I found these to be more frustrating than enjoyable, let's chalk that up to skill issue
Thankfully the game has infinite continues and even continues from checkpoints, making the lives thing a bit superfluous
2/4
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This last week has been an interesting week.
I can honestly say that the Ganbare Goemon series on the SNES, in its entirety, is absolutely worth playing.
Each game plays differently, but with a sense of familiarity.
Kiteretsu Shogun Magginesu and Kirakira Douchuu have the most similar game flows, but it only in that they are predominantly stage based 2D platformers.
The games get progressively more zany, in the best possible way and escalate in the silliest ways. I'll be doing a bumper presents on the other 3 games I haven't covered because each game deserves so much spotlight on them, and that isn't because I have spent the better part of nearly 48 hours playing these games!
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So, when I say that the Ganbare Goemon games are weird, in a good way.
I need you to understand, this is a screenshot from Ganbare Goemon Kirakira Douchuu (the 4th SNES game)
I remember walking into this area, and saying to myself this ISN'T happening...
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The Long Play of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is now live on my channel.
A relatively streamlined run, with only a couple of moments of grinding and frustration. It's funny, there are some moments of genuine skill and great gameplay, and then some nonsense where I fail thing i really shouldn't have failed... But that's just how life goes sometimes.
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#IshambardPresents The Legend of the Mystical Ninja - SNES
Don't be surprised, you knew this was coming.
I wish I played this game as a kid, I would have eaten this up. One part beat-em-up and one part 2D platformer, layer with a co-op mode, coat with minigames and sprinkle with a couple of brutal boss fights and you have The Legend of Mystical Ninja.
Silly anachronistic Japan is probably my favourite Japan, and the series only gets sillier from here.
The game can be downright unfair, punishing sloppy gameplay by downgrading your weapon when you take damage and requiring you to save up nearly 2,000 coins over the course of the adventure.
Graciously, the password system is robust, tracking progress like a save file, and the game retains the last password when reset. A battery save would be better, but I can live with this.
There is way too much to enjoy here that you might forget that it has beaten you up and stolen all your pocket change.
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I am so glad I am putting in the time to play the SNES Ganbare Goemon games.
I will be pop back to do the NES ones in time, but I still have two more SNES ones to complete.
What I will say, the games have this fantastic sense of world to them. Cameos, throwbacks, references, whilst all games being fantastically unique (Sure, I am only on Ganbare Goemon 3 right now, I should withhold that statement until I have played Kirakira Douchuu)
I was worried that if I did this series back to back if I would hit burn-out, a bit like what happened with Choro Q. But, delightfully, all three games i have played so far have mixed up the genres a little bit.
Anyway, something I found super endearing was when I went to Horo shrine in Goemon 3 (Stage 1 in Goemon 1), I met a familiar character complete with the sprite essentially being the same despite the games having very different styles.
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Holy crud. Not going to lie, still shaking.
I was getting ready to give up on this and use save states (i had dropped two at the hardest moments of this run).This probably took in excess of 12 attempts, and it wasn't even, with each attempt I got further. No. My 2nd attempt got me to stage 8 out of 9 and I fluffed a jump, it took about 5 more attempts before I was able to get back to stage 8. On that run, I fluffed a reasonably easy jump...
Eventually I made it to the stage 8 boss, who, is the biggest challenge as he can kill you in a single hit.
But it is done now, and I can finish off the mastery with some significantly less intense and stressful challenges.
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So, I was curious and this has been part of my on-going spleunking.
They're releasing a Ganbare Goemon collection, which includes the Famicon, Super Famicon and GameBoy games. That’s pretty cool.
Shame the collection doesn't include the N64 titles!
The likelihood is that this won't get a translation and released outside of Japan, just because of the number of games that would need to go through the translation process.
Still, it is great to see Konami still acknowledge the series!
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Due to numerous factors, I had dropped the ball on #VGMWednesday last week.
My attention has been divided all over the place admittedly.So, whilst I was casually listening to stuff at work, something came up, and it was like a gorgeous gut punch. A, charming, full bodied impact into my soul.
Is everything I said above a lie, and just an opportunity to reference something lyrics? Yes. But, it is true that 『I am Impact』from Mystical Ninja starring Goemon for the N64 just snuck into my recommendations and I was smacked with some funky nostalgia.
https://youtu.be/GvfFIfbEHHI?si=2m8AN_tYJELMEcz9
When this song plays in-game, you are transported into a giant mecha to engage in mecha on mecha boss fights. It is awesome and absurd in equal measure. Ichirō Mizuki's performance here is fantastic, and unashamedly silly in the best possible way.
Do I need to play Goemon again? Yes. It is on the list. I'm getting to it, I promise.
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Gratitude. Games celebrating their anniversaries on January 4-6🙏✨ 本年も敬意を…1/4〜6発売記念ソフトたち🙏✨ 4日は #ツインビー ベルを鳴らす！ 5日は #がんばれゴエモン外伝 きえた黄金キセル 。ボスの笑う口調が好きでした。 6日には #アドベンチャーズオブロロ も36周年に！ 本年も引き続き、敬意を🙏 #TwinBee #GanbareGoemon #AdventuresofLolo #games