Goemon's Great Adventure

"Not as good as its prequel, but great nonetheless"

OK, so I'm looking through this NP magazine and I see something for this game called Goemon's Great Adventure. I thought, ''Hey, this looks alright''. Not too long after, my friend dropped by with a copy of Mystical Ninja starring Goemon. I loved it. Around that Christmas, my other friend called and told me that he got Goemon's Great Adventure. I played it the next time I saw him. It really wasn't all that bad.

Goemon's Great Adventure is a 2-D-ish side scroller in which you control Goemon and his friends Ebisumaru, Yae, and Sasuke to get back the Wiseman's Summoning machine. On the way, you earn Entry passes by beating stages and playing quirky little mini-games, like putting hats on statues in 12 minutes or less. The game also features a slew of new enemies, and a few cameos, like the giant skeleton from Castlevania 64 on the bridge in one stage. All in all, a good game.

Graphics-8/10 The graphics on this game are pretty good, but not good enough to make your mouth water. The sprites on the heroes are kin to Mystical Ninja before it, and aren't as shocking as something you would see in a Zelda game.

Sound-7/10 Basically, the only talking in the game is some Japanese talking by the heroes, and entering shops. Everything else is good, but slightly overused.

Music-10/10 One of the basic strong points of this games is the great music, like the Frog Mountain theme (my favorite), though they could've used some of the tracks from Mystical Ninja (like the Impact song). Oh, well.

Control-9/10 The controls are easy to use. Walk, jump, attack, all that is in there, but that's basically it.

Challenge-10/10 This game is very hard, especially when you can only get hit three times, and start with three lives. The fact that your weapon power ups go away after getting hit also adds to the challenge, all in all making the game a little harder and adding to the fun. The dungeons are also tough, and require great skill.

Replayability-5/10 Sure, you could play the game again, but you'll just be playing it the same way every time. Well, I guess the same applies to Mystical Ninja, but I play that game at least three times in a row everytime I rent it.

Overall-8/10 A good game, but not as good as its prequel, Mystical Ninja. But hey, play it a few times! It's a real buzz!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/19/02, Updated 04/19/02