Goemon and Ebisumaru are back to save Japan yet again in episode 46 of Import Gaming FTW which is all about a Japan-exclusive Game Boy Color title from Konami called Ganbare Goemon: Seikuushi Dynamites Arawaru, an entry from the series known in the west as “The Mystical Ninja.” That title is a bit of a mouthful in Japanese, and it’s worse in English, something like “The Appearance of the Warrior of the Starry Skies, Dynamites.” Published in the year 2000 and developed by KCEK (Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe), it is the last of the 8-bit Goemon handheld titles and the only one that follows in the style of the 16-bit Goemon games, arguably the best games in the entire series. Here are some areas of similarity:
- Side-scrolling action stages with large sprites and colorful graphics
- A world map that acts as a hub for action stages
- 1st person giant robot Impact boss battles
- Towns to save, rest up, get info and play mini games
- An upbeat soundtrack that mainly pulls its tunes from the Super Famicom/SNES titles
- It’s super fun
If you’ve ever played a Ganbare Goemon game, this should all sound familiar to you. In addition to all of that, there are a couple of shooting stages and the ability to play mini games against a friend with the GBC’s system link function. Some of the key people involved with this title would go on to form the dev team Good-Feel, who has produced some charming games for Nintendo over the years, most recently Yoshi’s Crafted World for the Switch.
Overall, it’s a short but sweet adventure that fans of the series are sure to love, but I would recommend it to anyone who loves handheld action titles in general. There are no English translation patches available for the game yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one becomes available soon. There isn’t much text and the language barrier doesn’t prevent the player from advancing, so it’s playable for just about anyone. If you’re interested in the story, I talk about it in the video, but it’s pretty goofy and nonsensical, as should be expected from this series.
One last thing, thank you to Bob, not only for allowing me to post on this site, but for getting me the GBA Consolizer that I used to capture this marvelous game footage with. Oh, and I suppose he’s also a good friend, so I’m thankful for that, too.
