Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, or Ganbare Goemon: Neo Monoyama Bakufu no Odori for short, is a wonderful little game for the Nintendo 64 Entertainment System.

[Before we get any further, how many of you people wonder how to pronounce his name? If you think it's pronounced 'Goy-mon' you'd probably be right! (I mean, I never would have guessed because I have a habit of pronouncing things, strictly North American.)]

I don't know what triggered the effect of wanting to play such a game. Perhaps it's something that Glentennis once wrote. ( probably about 5 reasons why it's the best N64 game ever.) Let me tell you, Glen has a lot going for him if he makes such a claim, because he's right. He makes a lot of the points I would probably make, (it plays like Zelda, it's hullarious, Giant robots, etc) So I don't know what I can say that hasn't been said already... only if you've read it?

It IS first and foremost a reason to get an N64. Er, it was a reason to get it on the N64. I would argue that the system itself was probably the biggest mistake that was ever conceived. But I can't argue that because I have a decent size collection of N64 games, and would probably continue to expand the roster. It's just hard to look at the system without thinking about all the better games on other systems. As 64 bit as the thing touted to be (in a world of 32) it really did look like ass, and most if not all games for it looked the same, and the textures were all blurry and barfy-face. We're not here to complain about the system though, we're here to make it look good.

But, Mystical Ninja is the right game to pick up for the N64 because of the series itself. It's quirky and fun! Sometimes even presents itself to be quite the challenge. (well.. this game is actually pretty easy. But then a game like “ Goemon's Great Adventure” comes along and kicks your asssss.) it has an air of a simpler time when games were just all about the fun of it. The terrible(y awesome) jokes, the energetic soundtrack! It kind of makes me wonder to the series as a whole.

The plot revolves around a mysterious group known as the Peach Mountain Gang, who's only aspiration in live is to forcefully entertain the world. I can't blame them, because that musical number is FABULOUS. Goemon and Ebisumaru basically take it upon themselves to stop the gang, and happen upon a series of weird circumstances in the process. Half of the weirdness definitely comes from the NPCs in each and every town that you meet along the way. You get this feeling that the developers knew how unnecessary to talk to all of the townsfolk all the time, so they really came up with some great, and quotable moments.

That's it for us! If only the title to this game was "*Starring Gate keeper*" rather than "*Starring Goemon*". Then, we'd have a lot more fun! Awww!
We'll just keep standing here until you clear the game. ... ...kinda painful... ... ...kinda depressing...

At roughly 10 hours it would be a shame not to give this ago, my only regret is that there were no side-quests to really do in this game so I couldn't exactly give myself the excuse to prolong the game time. But it serves as the perfect game to just play whenever the mood strikes. The ending of it definitely has an amazing pay off, may even be a little “epic?”

Currently the Goemon fever is trying to continue, as I'm trying to play through Goemon's Great Adventure. As I alluded to before though, that shit is HARD. Gone, is pretty much most of the elements that made the first game so enjoy able (Don't worry, the humour is still intact.) while I do appreciate it's “ 2.5D” style. It's 3 hit points only and terrible jumping mechanic can quickly turn it from enjoyable to really frustrating. That's not to say that you can't stock up on supplies to give yourself more hit points, but skill definitely has to be an asset if you want to make it through. (The first area alone will probably toughen you up, if anything.)

So what have we learned? Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, is a Wonderful Action-RPG that is worthy of anyone's N64 Library. It's Zelda-ish, funny, and Bumpin' while still managing to look like an N64 ass N64 game. Goemon's Great Adventure on the other hand... not so much.

What I also find myself playing for some reason is the 'other N64 classic' (totally subjective.) WINBACK! Cover based shooting at it's worst... OR BEST?!?... tune in next time... maybe? Hilariously, I do not like that the team is called S.C.A.T... That just feels like a lot of foreshadowing of being shit on by the bad guys. you know? you get it? you guys? RIMSHOT?

So way back in the day I used to play with MTV music Generator (back when it was good) and my notion for wanting to play around with samples and all that came into fruition.
Fast Forward to years later, I'm sitting on a mac and barely scratching the surface of what I can do with Garageband.
Usually when it comes to mixing and all that, I always have a habit of making the kind of music I would want to hear in a video game, This is one of those things. (Also, is helps to give it a silly name like I just did, to get you into that mindset.)
Halfway through I decided this should be a rap about Castlevania, but then I decided not to, and just put it up as is. I still think it's neat and I wanted to share. So ha.