03/29/00

Goemon's Great Adventure

Konami for N64

The Goemon series has long been popular in Japan, but American audiences never warmed to the games because, well, they’re simply too Japanese for many gamers. The first game, re-titled "Mystical Ninja" for the U.S. SNES, was a moderate success, but not enough for Konami to bring over the second, and best, game in the series, Ganbare Goemon 2, also for SNES. However, with the N64 they decided to give Goemon another try, and released Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. That game, a 3D action/RPG, suffered from some camera problems but is generally thought to be a decent example of the genre. Goemon’s Great Adventure (GGA), the sixth game in the series and third to see an American release, takes Goemon back to his side-scrolling platform roots. The game features the same one or two player action as earlier titles in the series.

Similar to Playstation’s Klonoa, GGA features 3D polygonal characters and backgrounds in a 2D scrolling environment. This makes for all kinds of graphical niceties, such as objects flying into and away from the screen as well as a general "solidness" to the levels. Unfortunately, thanks to N64’s patented Blur-O-Vision(, the polygonal characters and enemies lack the crisp edges and detail seen in the previous (Japan only) Super Famicom Goemon titles.

In fact, everything about Goemon’s Great Adventure seems toned down from previous games in the series. The music, in particular, never seems to even come close to the masterful tunes in Goemon 2. Neither do the sound effects. The towns (where you buy items, save your game and talk to people) actually suffer from the 3D nature of the game, making it difficult to line your character up to initiate conversations, and also sometimes hard to negotiate the 3D space of buildings. Finally, unlike Goemon 2, you can’t beat on innocent townsfolk and bring the town guard running after you, meaning that you’ll basically be trying to find your way out of every town you encounter to get on to the next platform section.

The real meat of the game, of course, is the pseudo-2D platform action, and is for the most part fun. There are some general snafus that detract from the fun factor, though. As I mentioned before, the general fuzziness of the graphics seems even more prominent here than in other N64 titles, and manages to sap some of the wow factor from the game. And, of course, that horribly designed controller takes the fun down slightly as well. Luckily, you can use either the analog or digital pad for control (if you’re like me, playing a side-scrolling platformer with the analog stick simply will not suffice).

It’s sad testament, though, that a seven year-old Super Famicom title (Goemon 2) is still more fun to play than a brand new, state of the art N64 game.

Graphics: 7 (Konami meant well, but the N64 hardware just drags the graphics down)
Control: 8 (It’s generally okay, if a touch slippery)
Sound: 8 (Sound effects are good, music is nothing memorable)
Replay: 6 (It’s hard… you might not want to go through it again after beating it)
Overall: 7 (The Super Famicom second, third and fourth titles in this series are all superior to this game… but this is the best Goemon title released in the states)

- Pat Reynolds

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