The Mystical Ninja Returns (Tribute To The N64 WRITE-OFF)
Written: Oct 21 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great Graphics, Good Control, Wacky Story...
Cons: Small Graphical Glitches, Some Levels Are VERY Difficult...
The Bottom Line: Just get the game!
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| jeremy1456's Full Review: Goemon's Great Adventure for Nintendo 64 |
Back In Elementary School everyone thought I was a little strange, I liked school, and I could play a game called Mystical Ninja for hours. I tried and tried to get my friends to like this game, but they all thought that it was a little different for their tastes, it was like no other game on the market. Mystical Ninja was a side scroller that allowed 2 players to trek through ancient Japan, while battling comical enemies and playing fun mini-games. But the best word to describe this game with was Funny, it was very cartoonish and some parts had me giggling like a school girl. Well I was very disappointed when my Super Nes broke and I could no longer play it, that I even went so far as to purchase a new one in hopes that a sequel would come out, but part 2 was never released outside of Japan. So just a few years ago while I was browsing through an issue of EGM I came upon a nice little preview for a game called Mystical Ninja: Starring Goemon. But I was broke, and when I could afford it I couldn't find it, so the second the sequel was released for Mystical Ninja 64 I pounced on it, and this my friends is the game that I am reviewing right now: Goemon's Great Adventure.
Goemon's Great Adventure offers so much more than the original Mystical Ninja, but at the same time loses one of my favorite aspects: the mini games. For all you that have played the original you know just how fun it is to take your coins to the lottery, or even engage in a game of break down the wall. But now these diversions are gone! But the game sure does make up for it, Goemon's Great Adventure contains hours upon hours of non-stop fun.
Unlike the original Mystical Ninja game for the Snes, Goemon's Great Adventure offers more than 2 characters that you can play as:
Goemon
Goemon is the star, and in my opinion he is the best character in the game. Goemon deals his damage out with a lead pipe, his double jump move allows him to get to higher areas than the other characters.
Ebisumaru
Goemon's trusty sidekick and the comic relief of the game. Ebisumaru is a fat guy that uses a spoon for a weapon. He has little jumping skills, and has somewhat of an obsession with James dean.
Sasuke
Sasuke is a tiny robot that joins Goemon in his quest. Sasuke is armed with a ninja sword that can slice enemies into 2 pieces. Sasuke has average jumping skills, and I would recommend him over Ebisumaru. Sasuke also has the swimming advantage, he has a propeller built onto him later in the game that allows him to swim deep into the water.
Yae
Yae appeared in the Super Nintendo Mystical Ninja, but she was a non playable character. Like Sasuke, Yae uses a short sword to kill opponents. Yae has above average jumping skills, and can morph into a mermaid to swim deep into the water and battle enemies.
Some parts of the game require you to play as Sasuke or Yae, namely the underwater levels that can't be tackled by Goemon or Ebisumaru, and it is a personal guarantee that you will have to play as every character at least once in this game.
Similarly to Zelda this game has both day and night. The game has it's own clock built into it, whenever that clock reaches a certain time the sun sets and a lot of night oriented creatures come out, namely ghosts and goblins and stuff. This is a great feature, some entry passes can only be aquired at night.
2 1/2-Dimensions?
The best way to describe this games visual format would be to call it 2 and a half dimensional. It is a side scroller at heart, but your character can go on branching paths that can either take them into the background, or the foreground. But that's not all the evidence I have that leads me to this answer, enemies also loom in the background and come forth to try to kill you.
Sometimes the branching paths mess up the game, I was playing the game with my brother, but we accidently took seperate paths and the game froze. It's not that big of a deal, in fact I think it was worth it just to see this cool glitch.
But while the action in the levels takes place side scroller fashion, the villages are 3-D. This means that your characters can travel more than just left or right, they can travel up and down too. When playing with another player this can often be very confusing, especially when entering houses and the like.
This game is very... well... Japanese-ish. Tons of Japanese humor has been implemented into this game, everything from Ebisumaru insisting that he is the descendant of James Dean, to the transvestite that you are forced to pay 100 Ryus to in order to proceed. Speaking of Ryuos, the currency in this game is the Ryuo, enemies drop them when killed and they are used usually for buying food, and sometimes even to advance in the stage.
This game is about average length, there are 5 areas that contain a series of stages, but like Mario 64 to progress in this game you must gather entry passes that are hidden in each level. At the end of each area you are forces to fight a mini-boss. And at the end of each mini-boss you are forced to enter Goemon's own robot called IMPACT. Impact is very reminiscent to the Zords in the old school power rangers, Impact is huge and is used to take out huge enemies. Impact comes with a set of moves, you can kick, punch, pummel, or even shoot your enemy with a powerful laser. When in two player mode Both players get to participate in the battle, player 1 controls impact and player 2 controls Mrs. impact. But player 2 has a tough time, as they can only see their robot in the background, but the player currently in control can toss their baton to the other player and switch places.
Konami has implemented a very cool feature into this game, to benefit beginners players have the option of giving each other piggyback rides. The player who is riding controls the attacks, the danage they can deal out is doubled, and the player who is giving the piggyback ride is given control of their movement. This is a fun feature, and often makes for some frantic gameplay!
My Ratings
Graphics 5/5
Wow, I never thought a side scroller could be so pretty! And not to mention the polygon count, the large amount of polygons in this game makes for a graphically diverse world and ups the detail. Konami catches the mood perfectly in this game, the haunted forest levels are dark and gloomy, while the oceanside mountains are bright and cheery. The colors set the mood perfectly, and there sure are a whole lotta colors in this game! This game puts Goemon back into his side scroller roots, right where he belongs, and also still offers awesome visuals to appeal to all gamers.
When asked about how the characters look in the game I can offer you this one word description that fits all of them, and that description word is "Wacky". It's not all that bad, in fact it gives this game a lot of attitude, and I cannot prevent myself from laughing whenever Ebisumaru says his usual stupid joke. Just by looking at Ebisumaru you get a sudden urge to laugh!
The textures in this game are great, yet something else that I don't have a single complaint in. And everything even looks like it should, the grass is green, and even looks like it should when it turns to night in the game. Everything from Goemon's face, to the underwater sequences are done almost perfectly.
Story 4/5
The story is good, but I couldn't give it a perfect score simply because it's way to weird for my tastes. Each character, and their motives fit nicely into the game, but what really cracks me up is just seeing Bismaru, Bismaru looks exactly like Ebisumaru except she is his female counterpart. It's almost hard to believe that she's a girl, and with all the tranvestites in the game it kinda gets me wondering.....
Warning: This Paragraph Contains Spoilers!
You are Goemon, Goemon lives in ancient Japan with his friend Ebisumaru. Goemon and Ebisumaru are called over to a wise man's house to see his latest invention, but this particular wiseman is known for making faulty stuff. So what is this invention? It can bring back celebrities! Ebisumaru wants to bring back James Dean, whom he swears is his ancestor, but the wiseman, being the wiseman that he is, wants to bring back Marilyn Monroe. But the invention is stolen by Bismaru, so it's your job to get it back before she can revive the pronce of Darkness! One thing got me wondering, since this game is set in ancient Japan these people wouldn't have been born yet, right?
Control 5/5
The controls to almost any side scroller are simple and effective, and this game is both. The A button jumps, the B button is used to throw a ryou, and Directional Pad and Joystick are used to move around. Those are the basics, meaning that that's about all you need to know when you first start the game. One thing I really liked about this game was the fact that you can use the directional pad instead of the joystick if you want to, this saves wear and tear on any joystick!
Sound 4/5
The music is everything it should be, but I just wasn't impressed enough to land it a perfect score. The music can switch moods real quick, it can go from funny, to mystical, or happy to tragic. My personal favorite is the nighttime level track, it's surprisingly creepy. All in all the music is pretty solid, most tracks are enjoyable, and it does an awesome job of setting the mood for any event.
The sound effects really give this game character, it's so cool to walk into a shop and be greeted in Japanese by the store keepers. Each character has a unique voice, and have their own list of sayings, in Japanese of course. For example whenever you select a level on the map and push the the A button your character(s) will shout out something in Japanese. But since I don't know Japanese, I just have to guess in the dark what they are saying.
MultiPlayer 4/5
Almost perfect, except for the sheer confusion of everything as you frantically avoid obstacles and destroy enemies. I didn't think that this factor was good enough to earn 5 points, so I gave it a respectable 4. Now if Konami had made it possible for 4 players to run through the levels killing enemies together then I probably would have given this a 6, and I have only once rated off of my scale for anything. All in all the multiplayer mode is a bit more entertaining then solo mode, but far more confusing.
Fun Factor 5/5
I gave the 5 rating to the whole package, if there was no multi player mode then I would have rated this a 4. This game is just a fun game, with few to no lagging points (Well except for when you have to retrace to look for entry passes). I think that this game would be fun for almost anyone, it has all the elements of a rock solid side scroller.
Total = 27/30
Grade = A-
Final Recommendation
I say that this game is worth a try, what have you got to lose besides time? I hope that you enjoy this game as much as I do!
Recommended:
Yes
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jeremy1456
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Member: Jeremy
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Catching Up On Retro Game Reviews In the Near Future.
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