Mystical Ninja starring Goemon

"One Of The Best Games Ever. Period."

I rarely find a game that entertains me for a long period of time, and I rarely find a game that I actually like. Mystical Ninja is one of the few games that I've given a perfect score to. Clubbing random stuff with a pipe, beating down giant robots with your own giant robot, this game has it all.

Gameplay: 10/10

The main part of the game is a Zelda-Mario hybrid, in which you control one of four characters, each of which has their own uses. Goemon, the main character, can be used to cross pits that wouldn't otherwise be crossable, and can lift heavy objects. Ebisarmu, the big, fat sidekick, can shrink down and go through small holes. Yae, the female cop, can turn into a mermaid, allowing the party to go underwater. And finally, Sasuke, the robotic midget ninja, can jump REALLY, REALLY high. Basically, you go into dungeons, use the characters to get the keys to doors, and eventually fight a boss. Of course, the best part of this game is the Impact battles (Impact being a giant robot that looks sorta like the Bob's Big Boy, except modeled after the main character), where you pit your giant robot against others, and blast the living crap out of them by whacking them with an extremely oversized pipe. The battles alone give this game major points.

Of course, the overall look of the game is very... Japanese, which makes for some random Japanese craziness. The health-boosting items are things like sushi and dumplings on a stick, and you collect silver cat dolls throughout the game to raise your max. health. Not to mention Elly Fant and Mr. Arrow, the equivalent of a Dungeon Map and Compass.

The only DOWNSIDE to this game is that it's pretty short. You can beat it in a rental, but if I ever find a copy, I'm buying (it's an import, so it's pretty hard to find). Oh, and the camera angles can be kind of annoying, namely because you have no control over them. They do try to follow the character from the back, but you sometimes have to wait for it to adjust, which can ruin a lot of jumps.

Storyline: 9/10
This is the part of the game that, like a Terry Pratchett novel, does two things. One, makes you laugh until the point of tears, and two, makes no sense whatsoever. The villan of the game tries to kill the main character because he was called a ''weirdo''... making no sense at all. Of course, it doesn't really NEED to make sense.

Sound:
The sound to this game is truly amazing. The characters have some voice-overs, used mainly for when they've just killed a boss, or found a silver cat doll. The best part of the sound in the entire game is the Impact theme song, played before every Impact battle. With full voice-overs, and a really catchy Japanese theme song, the Impact song is probably the highest point of the game's sound (next to Ebisarmu saying something that REALLY sounds like ''Horny'' when he gets hit.. and Goemon going ''Ya!'' when he gets a cat doll)

Control: Pretty simple for the main game. However, with the Impact battles, the controls become more like Street Fighter, allowing for combo moves and specials (LASER BEAM!!!).

Buy/Rent: Buy if you can. If you can't, just rent it, and I guarantee you'll be able to beat it in the time you have.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/02/03, Updated 07/02/03