The Ganbare Goemon series, known to many in the West as the Mystical Ninja series, is one of Konami’s longest-running and most iconic franchises…but since most the titles never made it out of Japan, this fact is largely unknown to the average gamer.  The Mystical Ninja games in North America and Europe saw releases on the Super Nintendo, Game Boy, and Nintendo 64…but the series has seen entries from as far back as the Famicom,  and as recently as the Nintendo DS.

In the early 2000s, Konami attempted to reboot the series for whatever reason, and resulted in two games–Goemon: Shin Sedai Shuumei for the PS1, and Goemon: New Age Shutsudou! for the Game Boy Advance.   In episode 2 of Import Gaming FTW!, I take a look at the latter…does it re-invent the series with new concepts and innovative design, all while retaining the charm that made Ganbare Goemon one of the most successful and prolific gaming franchises of all time?  Well, if you want to know…there’s a link to the video…CHECK IT OUT!

At the time of this episode’s release, my editing and overall video-making skills were still quite a bit rough around the edges, but overall I am pleased how it turned out.  I love the Ganbare Goemon series, and to me, Goemon himself is an icon of the import gaming scene.  To all Goemon fans, I hope you’ll enjoy this video!  And to anyone new to the IP, I really hope you’ll play some of the games and become a fan!

  • Media Breakdown

    Informative; thorough; a great joke/pop culture reference here and there. I realize it’s an old video, and you’ve made plenty more since then, but keep up the good work!

  • Rizzard Core

    Cool looking game, Jimmy. I’ve always wanted to play LotMN on SNES…guess I finally have a reason to get around to it ;)

  • Tom Badguy

    You know how you expand on how the girl’s voice was annoying(which was hilarious with the Kindergarten Cop clip)? I would have liked you to expand on that with how stiff the controls are, like show clips from the game with voice over showing an example of how it is tough. The same for when you showed disgust for the sidekick being a woman. You said, No, No, No, but I would have liked to hear why that’s a bad thing, seeing as how I am very unfamiliar with this game series. Aside from that, I felt the vid was edited well and the voice over sounded clear and I could understand everything you’re saying. You did a really good job.

  • Jimmy Hapa

    @Media Breakdown: Thank you very much! Yeah, this is a pretty old video, when I was still learning the basics of video-making, and looking back at it, I can’t help but feel frustrated/embarrassed with how certain things aspects turned out…but I’m glad you still enjoyed the video, and I’ll keep on posting these older episodes every week, as well as continue to make new ones!

    @Rizzard: It’s a pretty cool game…but definitely one of the worst entries in the series. I hope you pick up LotMN for SNES, as it is one of the best games for the system, and one of my favorite games. If you do procure the game, please let me know your thoughts on it! It’s a ways off from being posted here, but I recently reviewed the sequel to LotMN that never came to the States, and I hope you’ll watch the video as soon as it’s featured at GR! :)

    @Tom: Thanks for the feedback/suggestions, and for the compliments as well! I agree that I should have expanded on my critique of the stiff controls, and I’ll be certain to give examples in any future episode. And as for the Ebisumaru/Ebisu change…yeah, I came at this video assuming the people who would watch it would be familiar with the Goemon series, so I tried to keep it short. To sum up briefly why the change is such a “travesty,” it’s that the character of Ebisumaru is so iconic in Ganbare Goemon, maybe even more so than Goemon. He is a fat, oafish comic relief character who is hopelessly dimwitted, but has that heart of gold. Changing him to a demure, cutesy, weak-willed, and humorless little girl who is secretly in love with the protagonist just feels like a forced and cheap attempt to lure in the anime crowd.