Goemon’s soundtrack is a major selling point. Taking music with traditional Japanese instruments, and infusing it with more modern themes creates one of the most memorable soundtracks of not only the N64 era, but also, I’d wager, the history of gaming. I would defy anyone to find even one track from the game that is not a joy to listen to. As such, it was a little tricky picking a favorite track with which to regale your ears, but I eventually decided to go with one of the tracks that plays while out in the wilderness:
Aside from the usual 3D platforming action found in the game, there are also a few interesting set pieces peppered throughout the game. These take the form of battles between giant robots, with players taking control of the battle robot, Impact. Before any fighting, however, players are treated to this amazingly awesome intro:
These fights proceed in two stages. First, players must make their way towards the battlefield in something like a shmup stage; attacking enemies and dodging obstacles to build up oil. Oil basically acts as Impact’s health. The more oil players can build up in this first section, the better off they’ll be for the main fight. After completing this section, players begin the boss fight proper, taking on a first-person view while punching, kicking and shooting the opponent.
Impact has a number of combos at his disposal during these fights, though these will have to be discovered by the players themselves without the use of an instruction manual. I found that the most useful attack, generally, was Impact’s Super Punch, which was good for stopping incoming attacks, as well as trapping the enemy with a series of punches. Impact can also fire a powerful laser at the opponent after building up enough energy, though it takes some time to charge, so players will need to wait until the opponent pauses or rushes in for an attack before firing.
Maybe it isn’t too professional just sitting here gushing, so I better spend some time talking about Mystical Ninja’s flaws. Even the best of games aren’t perfect. During the course of the game, Yae eventually receives an item that will allow the team to fast travel to major landmarks around Japan. While convenient, every time players use this item, there’s an unskippable cutscene that plays out showing the team traveling to their destination. This scene takes a good 20 seconds every time fast travel is used, and can get pretty tiresome after a while. Additionally, while I mentioned earlier that the world is made up of several large areas, this can be a hindrance at times. Around the midpoint of the game, players will encounter some pretty big areas that are little else. They will be required to traverse fairly barren grasslands and deserts that have few defining features or landmarks, making traveling through them somewhat boring. Fortunately, these areas are exceptions to the game’s norm of interesting and lively spaces.
Probably the most glaring problem, though, is how the camera, at times, seems to have a mind of its own. This is especially noticeable in enclosed spaces when the camera doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room, and can spin out of control, making platforming difficult. A lot of glitching can happen at these times, as the camera will try to force itself through walls to move into a position it deems more advantageous. It was also takes any opportunity to change the view back behind the player, which can be frustrating when jumping between platforms when a side view is more helpful. Fortunately, this problem only occurs a few times, as the areas are usually large enough to not constrain the camera’s movements.
Despite these few flaws, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is a gem of a title from the N64 era. The memorable cast of characters, simple yet fun combat and goofy storyline will be sure to keep players entertained for the eight or so hours it takes to complete. Two more Mystical Ninja titles made it to the US around the same time as this one– a Game Boy title of the same name, also in 1998, and Goemon’s Great Adventure the following year. After that, nothing more from the franchise has ever materialized outside of Japan. It’s a real shame, too, as this is certainly one of the best titles in the N64 library. If ever there was a game that needed to be brought to the Wii U Virtual Console, it’s this one.
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Review copy purchased by the author. Screenshots captured on an emulator.
