(Originally posted on June, 2015)
(1993, Super Famicom)
Ganbare Goemon 2 is one of the many games from the series to never make it to the West. Taking place directly after the events of The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, you begin with a scene of Ebisumaru weirding out Goemon on the beaches of the Ryuu Kyuu islands. Suddenly, former foe Sasuke shows up to inform them that Japan is now being threatened by a foreign invader. The three join up for a much more refined (if a bit less ‘mystical’) adventure that the rest of the world surely would have welcomed.
One of the bigger changes to GG2 is the introduction of a Super Mario World style world map. While the game’s map of Japan isn’t as engaging or wondrous as SMW’s Dinosaur Land, it now enables you to revisit most past areas and offers clues as to where alternate paths are located. The majority of the game takes place over nearly two dozen action levels. Short but sweet, their physics and overall design are noticeably improved compared to the previous game’s offerings. While each stage features detailed backgrounds, larger sprites, brighter colors, more background layers, effects and some sort of new gimmick, the atmosphere is lacking and many of the levels aren’t particularly memorable. Excluding the fun and ridiculous castles, the beach/woods/hillside/cave themes are nicely detailed but repetitive. Maybe I’m just biased because of my lengthier past with the other games I’ve played, but in this one the set pieces lack a feeling of exoticness and importance. Regardless, there are always lots of strange sights to see in the world of Ganbare Goemon:
- One of the crazier levels will have you riding a dragon over a storming, hazard filled lake. This level contains a rare moment of frustration in an otherwise fair but challenging game, as one part will require you to perfectly time your dismount from the dragon onto land before getting crushed by a stone wall.
- The castle levels all have a strong vibe and amusing themes to them. Sumo wrestling, kabuki and of course food! There’s a slight eeriness to the crowds of bunny soldiers motionlessly watching you progress through one of the castles.
- Many stages offer fun Megaman X style weaponized vehicles to ride, but blowing up enemies with fireballs or bubbles while under the protection of a vehicle means no item drops.
The series’ imaginative boss fights satisfy yet again. Set in a darkened room lit by a single candle, you’ll defend against a dutiful karakuri who attacks with shadow puppets. An agile Megaman-style boss has a different form accompanying each of the three Noh masks he’s brought to the battle. Without spoiling anything, the final battle is appropriately strange, epic and at the perfect level of difficulty. You no longer have to be too nervous during a boss fight, as you’re now given unlimited chances to resume from the beginning of the fight. The well-known Impact bosses of the N64 games got their start here, where they’re a bit faster paced and more challenging. When timing your attacks and defense, the radar helps make up for the SNES’ less convincing sense of 3D.
The town design doesn’t quite bring the immersion or spectacle of other games in the series. Everything feels cut and pasted from the same sprite set, then slightly edited to match the theme of that particular world. Not helping is their smaller size and a lack of integration with the outskirts. You’ll actually revisit the first town of the previous game, only to find it’s now devoid of it’s spark despite running on an improved graphics engine. While slightly less exciting, it’s still loads of fun to visit each location, stopping by people’s houses for information, visiting various businesses and discovering a surprising amount of cameos from other Konami games.
Of course, there are more mini games and even another theme park to hold them all. Among others I didn’t even try, there’s a mildly amusing foosball style Oni-demon shooting game. The final boss from the previous game is your opponent in the surprisingly addictive Mario 3 style tile card-matching puzzle. Racing only against the clock, Goemon attempts to clean the road rather than collect coins in a Super Mario Kart clone. Even if the demo level of Xexex is too hard for you, the heroically energizing music will keep you coming back for more. There might even be a rather huge secret waiting within the park after you complete the game…
While everything is above average, I found the sound track to be a step down from the consistently rich and varied moods of its prequel. Too many of the tracks struck me as overly comical and goofy. That doesn’t stop the music from being amazing overall, though. Kishuu Pass inspires with its haunting flutes. Electric guitar solos dominate Ryuujin Lake, feeling far more like a Megaman game. In what must have been a tribute to Stevie Wonder, Hagure Mountain sounds almost exactly like Higher Ground. Mutsu Road captures the enigmatic-ness heard in The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. The groovy underground passage track sounds almost exactly like Marvel vs. Capcom 2’s Cave stage. The castle music is enjoyably tense and exciting. Known for being on fire with music during all of the 8/16-bit era, Konami knocks it out of the park once again.
My main complaint is that while everything actually plays better, particularly the platforming, it was done at the cost of partitioning the gameplay elements. The unique, more seamless mishmash of gameplay found in The Legend of the Mystical Ninja and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is hugely compelling to me, even if it’s not pulled off perfectly. Another somewhat trivial complaint is that I found the comedy a bit too over the top, especially in the music and enemy design. All the bunny soldiers and wacky, but quality cartoon music was a bit too much. The game often felt more like a self-parody rather than a quirky, cool game full of strange, humorous overtones. No Goemon game I’ve played is perfect, but the series is more about stunning the player with its unique genius and unpredictability than meeting anyone’s particular expectations. Goemon 2 for the Super Fami is a fair challenge, tons of fun and easy enough to figure out without knowing Japanese. If you’re a platforming fan, it’s easily worth the $10-$15 to fend off General Magginesu.
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