is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

produced by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

. It is the second game in the ''

Ganbare Goemon , known as ''Goemon'' and ''Mystical Ninja'' internationally, is a video game series created and produced by Konami. Etsunobu Ebisu is the joint producer of the franchise. These games revolve around the main character, Goemon a ...

'' series (sometimes known in English as ''Mystical Ninja'') and the first to be released on a video game console and home computer. It was initially released for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...

on July 30, 1986 and later released for the

MSX2 MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Cor ...

a year later. The Famicom version was re-released in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

only for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

under the

Famicom Mini This is a list of games that are part of the ''Classic NES Series'' in North America, in Japan, and ''NES Classics'' in Europe and Australia. The series consists of emulated Nintendo Entertainment System, Family Computer, and Family Computer ...

label and for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

and

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...

under the

Virtual Console The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...

service. A direct sequel, ''Ganbare Goemon 2'', was released for the Famicom on January 4, 1989.

Gameplay

The game revolves around the main character, Goemon, and his exploits. As the name suggests, his character was based on

Ishikawa Goemon was the leader of a group of bandits during the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan. Over time, and especially during the Edo period (1603-1867), his life and deeds became a center of attention, and he became known as a legendary Japanese outlaw h ...

, the noble thief of Japanese folklore. Unlike its sequels, this game still doesn't feature the comic situation and strange characters that define the series, and Goemon is portrayed as a noble thief rather than a plain hero. The game plays as a top view action/adventure game (similar to ''

The Legend of Zelda is a media franchise, video game series created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo; some portable installments and re-releases have been outsourced to Flags ...

'') though it is separated by stages. In each level, Goemon must find three passes in order to advance. Some of these passes are found in boxes, secret passages or can be bought. The player will be presented with a new Japanese province (there are eight altogether) after completing all the stages, but the levels will stay the same. The ending, however, will be different. Like the rest of the series, Goemon can be powered-up if certain items are found and/or bought, which can be lost after a few hits. The

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

version has the option to be played in turns by two players, with the second player playing as a ninja named

Nezumi Kozō is the nickname of , a Japanese people, Japanese thief and folk hero who lived in Edo (present-day Tokyo) during the Edo period.Goodman, David G. (1986). Pg 256-257. "After Apocalypse: Four Japanese Plays of Hiroshima and Nagasaki", New York: C ...

, which is the basis of Goemon's sidekick Ebisumaru. In addition, unlike the

version, the game has six more provinces with completely new levels after finishing the game once.

References

External links

''Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Dōchū''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

''Ganbare Goemon 2''
at

1986 video games Game Boy Advance games Ganbare Goemon games Japan-exclusive video games MSX2 games Nintendo Entertainment System games Single-player video games Video games based on Japanese mythology Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Michiru Yamane Video games set in Japan Virtual Console games for Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console games for Wii U Virtual Console games for Wii {{konami-stub