Nintendo Character Profile | Goemon: The Mystical Ninja Page 1

Nintendo Character Profile | Goemon: The Mystical Ninja

16.03.2012

Goemon
The Mystical Ninja…

The legend of Goemon in Japan may not exactly seem the brightest of subjects to draw upon, yet that did not stop Konami from picking up the rights to bring the Robin Hood-like thief, alongside the bumbling Ebisumaru, kicking and screaming onto the gaming scene back in 1986. It was not until the Super Nintendo version, though, back in the 1990s, that the games hit stardom outside of Japan. Back in those days, though, Western gamers were treated as if they were children, so the idea of playing as what was deemed to be a nefarious crook was not particularly favourable in the eyes of the publisher. Ultimately Goemon was re-named Kid Ying and his partner became Dr. Yang. What made Goemon such a threatening figure, though, that his name had to be changed?

Statistics

Age: Going off the source of inspiration of the Goemon character, by today's reckoning it would have him reaching 417 years old. Clearly the videogame version is nothing like that, and despite the box cover of the Super Nintendo original depicting a fierce-looking, possibly middle-aged character, the in-game representation was much different, with Goemon looking much younger.

Species: Human through and through, although some would debate that thieves, and criminals in general, are not worthy of being classed in the same group as regular members of society.

Location: Japan, travelling around carrying out his unscrupulous deeds.

Birth: Legend has it, Goemon was born in the old Iga Province of Japan in 1558 under the original name of Sanada Kuranoshin…which possibly translates into English as Kid Ying…but probably does not!

Main Features: Goemon is quite the man of mystery, with numerous different depictions of him over the years, and nobody quite knowing what is entirely true or not. In relation to Konami's The Legend of the Mystical Ninja series, though, Goemon is a strong, but short, warrior with bright blue hair who can jump around, fending off the attacks of incoming enemies with his special pipe, the traditional Kiseru.

Clothing: Not one to fit in with modern fashion trends because of his upbringing 100s of years ago, Goemon wears what appears to be a type of traditional Japanese male garment, with red sleeves and yellow lapels, white socks and sandals, whilst also donning what appears to be tiny flecks of red lipstick and eye makeup for standout effect. No doubt his dress sense was far beyond his years. Give it time and it would not be that surprising to see the youth of today starting to dress in the same way…

Concept

In Japan, Goemon is seen as a legend with special ninja skill, or simply a villain with deft skills in thieving. Whatever the case, his role in Japanese folklore is somewhat akin to that of Robin of Sherwood, also known as Robin Hood, mainly due to Goemon also taking money from the rich and sharing it amongst the poor. What Konami did was take the likeable elements of Goemon's historical records and craft a colourful and highly enjoyable action adventure around the concept, thus creating the Ganbare Goemon series, which translates as Go for it, Goemon!. Eventually, however, Goemon very quickly grew into an everyday videogame hero, teaming up at first with the bumbling old man, Ebisumaru, and in later games a young woman called Yae (not his girlfriend) and Sasuke (a small robot). Goemon's love interest in the series is Omitsu, who always works at an Izakaya (Japanese Inn/Tavern). Omitsu is dubbed "The best looking girl in Japan" in one of the localised episodes.

Appearances

Most people will simply know Goemon from his Western outings, such as The Legend of the Mystical Ninja on the SNES, and his Nintendo 64 adventures. However, his gaming antics stem right back to 1986 in the arcades. Below are a sample selection of his rise to fame and glory in the gaming world:

Mr. Goemon (Arcade, 1986)
[li] Ganbare Goemon 2 (Famicom, 1989)
[li]The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES, 1992)
[li] Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shogun Magginesu (Super Famicom, 1993)
[li]Ganbare Goemon 3: Shichijuurokubei no Karakuri Manji Gatame (Super Famicom, 1994)
[li]Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Nintendo 64, 1997)
[li]Mystical Ninja 2 Starring Goemon (Nintendo 64, 1999)
[li]Goemon: Toukai Douchuu (Nintendo DS, 2005)

Best Appearance:

Whilst some older games suffer from a case of nostalgia making gamers view what is actually a badly aged product through rose-tinted spectacles, Konami's first SNES version of its long-running 'homage' to Goemon, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (or Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyuushutsu Emaki in Japanese) still holds strong to this very day, with its focus on Goemon (Kid Ying) and Ebisumaru (Dr. Yang) travelling across various locations, first of all trying to abolish the threat of a ghostly vixen, before becoming completely embroiled in a much larger plot. Picking up his trusty Kiseru pipe, Goemon can charge around in a top-down viewpoint, knocking enemies left, right and centre, all the while upgrading his weaponry to a special, longer Kiseru, and then a yo-yo, as well as being able to hurl coins like Shuriken. The action switches between top-down and traditional side-on platform sections filled with large quantities of obstacles and opponents. The beauty of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is how impressive the level structure is, the fantastic boss battles, and the heaps of extra modes to add extra value, such as unlocking mini versions of other Konami greats, like Gradius. With The Legend of the Mystical Ninja widely available on the Wii Virtual Console, there is really no excuse for missing out on this piece of gaming goodness anymore.

Do Not Mention:

The ridiculous 'Kid Ying' moniker he was lumped with for the Western release of The Legend of Mystical Ninja. So enraged was he that it is rumoured that his ghost came back to haunt the European and US publishing teams, which is why his true name was restored for future releases, such as a brilliant Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon on the Nintendo 64 and its sequel.

There are several areas of disappointment in the Goemon series' history, be it in the way that only one out of three SNES editions of Ganbare Goemon arrived safely at their destination, or that the original quirky style of the 16-Bit adventures and fun approach of the Nintendo 64 games has been dropped since the Japanese-only Nintendo DS edition. Hopefully, though, Konami is busy working hard on an iteration for the Nintendo 3DS to keep long-term fans placated.

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RudyC3 16.03.2012#1

While on one hand I hope for a new episode, at the same time I'm sorely angry at Nintendo for region-locking the 3DS, which means that even if one episode would come out, I wouldn't be able to play it through normal ways :/...

only one out of three SNES editions of Ganbare Goemon arrived safely at their destination

There are 4 Ganbare Goemon games on SNES (3 numbered and the unnumbered 4th. That's not counting the puzzle game spinoff, but that one hasn't the "Ganbare Goemon" mention in the title anyway)

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer

jesusraz 16.03.2012#2

Yes, I always remember there were four 'main' entries, but the fourth one wasn't Ganbare Goemon 4, which surprised me. I only found out about the fifth game, the spin-off, after researching for this article!

I really wish there was be Goemon 3D. Could you imagine those big battles? They could play in a similar way to the Big Bowser fights in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story! Smilie

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

UNITE714: Weekly Prayers | Bible Verses

RudyC3 16.03.2012#3

Funny to note though that Ganbare Goemon Kirakira Dōchū: Boku ga Dancer ni Natta Wake, the one that's pretty much Goemon 4 on SNES, uses the exact same voice clips that went on to be used in Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon on Nintendo 64... which was first shown in beta form to be titled... Ganbare Goemon 5 !!!

I wouldn't be surprised if 4 and 5 were in development alongside each other, hence the fact that they share some audio assets, and since there was to be a 5, perhaps the 4th SNES entry was supposed to be properly numbered as well...

( Edited 16.03.2012 23:56 by RudyC3 )

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer

jesusraz 01.04.2012#4

You know how MonkeyPaw and Gaijinworks are using Kickstarted to bring over Class of Heroes on PSP, hopefully using it as a stepping stone to bring over more Japanese games to the US and Europe, wouldn't it be fantastic if they picked up Konami's Goemon DS?! Smilie Smilie