My first experience of ridiculous hair
I think that youths in the west who played games in the 80's and 90's developed an affinity and appreciation of Japanese idioms and culture in a significantly different way than filmgoers and avid readers might have at that time. Goemon is a good example of this. This game is an unashamed celebration of Japanese culture with few compromises. In a way it feels like a crude Miyazaki film, that falls far on the disney side story wise, but brings excellent caricatures of myths and tall tales from Japan and some fantastic caricatures of geography. However it is the absurdity and bizarro nature of the game that sets it apart
I would be the first to sing high praises of Mario 64 but this game has a metric ton more personality( and admittedly worse play mechanics), I think in fact this may be one of the first games I ever played that let me accept gameplay failures in exchange of great ideas and presentation( something I think has to be accepted sometimes, I find it hard to agree that a game must be fun to play to be a worthwhile experience like so many critics.)
Mystical Ninja starring Goemon was a huge shock to me as a 13 year old starting secondary school in Ireland. Never had I seen anything like it and I had been avidly playing games since 7 years old, now maybe I just didn't know the right people and games but that is why this game is important to me. Obviously the first thing to enjoy is the hilarious translation of the game's theme song that was subtitled for the western version. This was my introduction to the vast differences in mine and the Japanese language....and there was much rejoicing! After that there is the introduction to the hyper-camp characters and wonderful take on traditional japanese music featuring kotos and other staples of japanese compositions. This was a wonderful world that can simply not be enjoyed in the same way I did back then again, perhaps partly because of a developing appreciation of skewed japanese culture in the west that is beginnning to border on psychotic.
This is a fragmented review that has gone on too long for its lack of quality (sorry bomb, must try harder!) so I will make my final point. If you are a western youth who has never seen any anime or played any overtly japanese games( congratulations on your media blackout! in fact this proviso is more for the parents reading this piece) You could do a lot worse than being indoctrinated by this game. Some may see it as a simple Mario 64 clone but this game gets a lot right and has personality in spades. Follow it up with a bit of Miyazaki and once you're into proper teens, Earthbound and you will have created the recipie for some wonderful memories!
