#ganbaregoemon

Go! Go!... the Gallant Ninja?

I'm not a huge fan of Yu-Gi-Oh but when I learned of this I had to add these to the ol' Goemon collection.

When Konami developed the Duel Monsters manga card game into an actual card game they decided to throw in a few cards based on their own properties. Along with Goemon they also made Gradius, Castlevania and GetsuFumaDen cards!

Today marks 37 years since January 4, 1989 (Showa 64), the release date of the Famicom game Ganbare Goemon 2, a sequel that played a key role in shaping the identity of the Ganbare Goemon series.

This entry is especially notable for introducing Ebisumaru, Goemon’s partner. The blue clad ninja with a Kansai dialect brought a stronger comedic tone to the game, supported by enemies designed to look playful and humorous, giving the series a lighter and more approachable atmosphere.

Gameplay remains a classic side scrolling action experience, following Goemon and Ebisumaru as they travel across Japan in search of treasure hidden within a mechanical castle. Despite featuring only 10 stages, each area is packed with regional references, from famous landmarks to local foods such as castella and uiro.

One of the most talked about elements is the ending, which reveals a surprising truth about Ebisumaru, becoming one of the most memorable moments of the Famicom era.

Because Showa 64 lasted only seven days, very few games were released that year, making Ganbare Goemon 2 a particularly rare and historically significant title.

Go for it! Mameda no Bakeru!

Okay so bad news is... this isn't a Goemon game. Good news? This is the god damn spiritual successor to it!

A tanuki boy named Bakeru, disguised as a human, uses taiko (drumming) actions to defeat a festival army wreaking havoc throughout a fantasy version of Japan!

Mameda no Bakeru is made by the company Good-Feel... The company of Etsunobu Ebisu, who directed and produced a ton of Goemon games when he was at Konami.

...and that's about all I know.

As far as comparisons to Goemon go? Obviously the look and design of the enemies and worlds. All the thick Japanese lore. As far as a cast goes, I think we might have 4 main characters? (but I'll admit I'm stretching)

Bakeru (Goemon) Small bowl head girl (Ebisumaru) the pink character with the fairy wings (Yae) wood robot looking into the sunset (Sasuke) Like I said... probably stretching.

It also looks like we have Impact style bosses! The tea kettle you fly around in transforms into a giant robot!

Although we're not in the cockpit this time around, we still get to have giant robot fights!

Goemon references aside, it appears that Mameda gets several powers!

The abilty to Shrink! Power Armor! Dumpling Popgun! and Grappling Fishing Rods!

Special mention to using REAL pixels...

Despite the screen static effect you can see they drew everything out in real pixels before implementing them into the game... I know I may sound crazy here to celebrate this, but it's pretty rare to see pixels properly used in modern games.