Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (がんばれゴエモン～ネオ桃山幕府のおどり～, Ganbare Goemon ~New Dance of the Peach Mountain Shogunate~) is a video game released by Konami for the Nintendo 64 on August 7, 1997 in Japan and April 16, 1998 in North America. It is the fifth entry in the Ganbare Goemon series and the second Goemon game released in North America, following Legend of the Mystical Ninja. Featuring elements of platform and action-adventure games, Mystical Ninja is a hybrid of Super Mario 64 and the Legend of Zelda series.
The story follows Goemon as he struggles to prevent the Peach Mountain Shoguns gang from turning Japan into a fine arts theatre. The journey takes Goemon through three cinematic musical features and battles between gigantic robots. Like other Ganbare Goemon games, it is peppered with surrealist humor and anachronisms.
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon was received well, selling nearly 200,000 copies worldwide. Reviewers praised its graphics, gameplay, and humorous plot. Critics considered the soundtrack and musical numbers engaging and memorable. Conversely, Mystical Ninja was criticized for localization issues, unintuitive camera control, and dull stretches of travel through Japan. It was followed by Goemon's Great Adventure in 1999 and Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku in 2000. (more...)