Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, known as Ganbare Goemon: Neo Momoyama Bakufu no Odori (がんばれゴエモン～ネオ桃山幕府のおどり～?, lit. ”Go for it, Goemon: Dance of the Neo Peach Mountain Shogunate”) in Japan, is a platform/action-adventure video game released by Konami for the Nintendo 64 on August 7, 1997 in Japan and April 16, 1998 in North America as the fifth entry in the Ganbare Goemon series. The second Goemon game released in North America, it follows The Legend of the Mystical Ninja and features hybrid elements of platform games like Super Mario 64 and action-adventure games like The Legend of Zelda series.[1]
The story follows Goemon’s struggles to prevent the Peach Mountain Shoguns gang from turning Japan into a Westernized fine arts theater. The plot calls for three cinematic musical features and battles between giant robots; like other Ganbare Goemon games, it is peppered with surrealist humor and anachronisms.
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon sold nearly 200,000 copies worldwide.[2] Reviewers praised its graphics, gameplay, and humorous plot. Critics found the soundtrack and tunes memorable and moving, but criticized the localization, unintuitive camera control, and dull stretches of travel through Japan. Goemon’s Great Adventure followed in 1999 and Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku in 2000.
