The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
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The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, known as Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyūshutsu Emaki in Japan, is an action-adventure game by Konami, and was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. It was also ported to the Game Boy Advance along with Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shōgun Magginesu only in Japan.
Plot
After noticing some odd occurrences in their hometown of Oedo, involving a Ghost Woman at the local temple and ghost animals that come from the temple at night, Goemon and Ebisumaru decide to investigate.
Why It's Legendary
- The graphics are really good, with much more detailed sprite and graphics than the NES adventure game; they are also very beautiful for an early Super Nintendo game released in 1991; they are also very colorful, which helps to make them so good.
- The soundtrack is great and fits very well with the universe and environment; the music sounds so good that you will want to stand on a higher level just to listen to it; they are also very impressive for a 1991 SNES game and sound as good as Super Castlevania IV.
- In some places, you can play some mini games like Gradius, which is a nice touch and rare for a game at the time. Due to that, this game can be considered ahead of its time.
- Due to that, the game has a decent number of replay values.
- The gameplay is still very fun and even more fun than the NES duology due to having some satisfying sound effects when hitting enemies; it's also an improvement over these two mentioned games, and Goemon (or Ebisumaru) controls as smoothly as the NES duology. The gameplay is also still challenging and even more so this time as you can have only four hits before dying; the 2D platforming levels are also extremely fun; and it's the first time that Goemon is a 2D platformer (see WIL#5).
- The 2D platformer levels are extremely fun and one of the best things that the game has to offer, with mostly a great level design and some of the best levels of any Goemon game. The sequels like Ganbare Goemon 2 improve the formula to the next levels and make it even better, so if you love these 2D platformer levels, you will love Ganbare Goemon 2, 3, and 4.
- The controls are very tight, solid, and responsive at the same time, so much so that you won't have any trouble playing the game, especially in the adventure part. Due to that, the game is beatable even if it's pretty hard.
- The cutscenes where you go to another region of Japan can be either funny or hilarious; they were also well made for the time the game was released.
- The intro cutscene is also pretty funny and tell more about the personnality of both Goemon and Ebisumaru, which was not really explained in the NES duology.
- There are a lot of mini games to play during the game, which is not only a good thing but also makes the game have more replay values.
- There are a lot of stores that can make you buy some health or sandals for going faster (which is one of the best things of all the stores) or pizza that prevents you from dying and gives you one more life, which is incredible because the game is pretty hard, especially in the end.
- There was a translated version of the Japanese version, which is more faithful than the official North American and European versions.
- The plot is very good, even by Goemon standards, as after Goemon and Ebisumaru defeated the ghost woman, Goemon and Ebisumaru would travel to different regions to see the cat boss, but they would know by Koban that the Princess Yuki was kidnapped and they had to rescue her. This was innovative for the time where it looked like it's trying to be a movie but in a game that you play.
Bad Qualities
- The international translation is very poor, even for a game release in 1991, instead of Goemon and Ebisumaru being named like that in the international versions, they got some unnecessary name changes, and a very bad one, which are Kid Ying and Dr. Yang, which don't even fit their names as Ebisumaru is not a doctor. Thankfully, their names were not changed in the Nintendo 64 games that were released in the US and Europe.
- The hitbox can be hit or miss sometime due to being weird in general, but that doesn't make the game bad.
- The Yo Yo upgrade is unbalanced and broken as it's very overpowered and has a bad hit box. Due to the bad hit box, it's somehow better to stick with the first upgrade.
- The passwords are very long and have some issues:
- To get it, you have to go to a specific building on each level to get your password. The building isn’t labeled. It also isn’t at the beginning of the level; you have to look for it.
- To make things worse, sometimes the passwords will not work, which is not only annoying but also very frustrating and unfair.
- Each level has a time limit, which prevents you from grinding cash to make the game easier. Even though you can do it in the first level more easily since it's a pretty short level,
- Some of the boss fights are poorly designed, such as the one in the second level, for example, where you can die by getting hit by him in only two hits, which is not only difficult but also unfair.
Reception
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja receives critical acclaim from critics and players alike; it's also appeared in the magazine 1001 Games You Must Play Before You Die.
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Categories:
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