Konami’s Ganbare Goemon franchise never got the recognition it deserves in my opinion. Some of this is because most installments weren’t released outside of Japan. This has a lot to do with the bizarre take on Japanese folklore which obviously most gamers aren’t going to understand. The first installment was released in Arcades, and the second debuted on the Nintendo Famicom. Ganbare Goemon 2 was the third game in the franchise, and it too was a Famicom exclusive. It’s where most of the franchise’s conventions began. Today we’re going to take a look at this Japan only classic.
Ganbare Goemon is more about setting than it is story. The same holds true for this second installment. This adventure begins with Goemon and his partner in crime and best friend, Ebisumaru, are discussing massive amounts of treasure in the Karakuri castle. The two decide to go lighten their load of gold because as we know they’re Robin Hood figures that steal from the rich and give to the poor. Ganbare Goemon 2 is very similar to the prior game but with some major quality of life changes. We’ll get to those later. You guide Goemon (or Ebisumaru if you’re playing with a friend) throughout a series of different environments. The camera sits at a semi-overhead perspective and you can move in all eight directions.
At its heart Ganbare Goemon 2 is an action adventure title. You wander throughout the very large multi-screen environments fighting off foes, gathering items, and more. Your ultimate goal is to find three Pass items so that you can move on to the next stage. Unfortunately these are hidden, and in some cases, quite well. The original Ganbare Goemon was a bad game because they required you to jump around at random to find hidden staircases. This element returns, but it makes more sense here. The environments do a fair job of indicating there’s something hidden in these situations. It’s not nearly as frustrating here. In addition, you will find passes in caves, buildings, and hidden in a few other locations. What’s nice is the fact that if you get tired of searching you can simply buy them, but they’re plenty expensive.
Basic gameplay has you wandering around in each outdoor area of this game (divided into levels of sorts) searching for the aforementioned passes. Enemies constantly spawn in, and getting hit by them or their projectiles results in losing health. This is restored by food items, but when it’s completely depleted you lose a life. Ganbare Goemon 2 is more forgiving than its predecessor in that you actually have continues. It’s a huge quality of life improvement if you ask me. Littered amongst the enemies are various innocent people. If you strike them with your weapon you lose money which is annoying. Sometimes it’s tough to avoid them when the action gets chaotic.
Money is a surprisingly big part of this game. Littered in every stage are numerous shops that sell a wide variety of items. These include armor to make your character more resilient, an item which allows you to run significantly faster, food to restore health, video game cartridges for easter eggs, and more. You can even participate in mini-games such as a 3D maze with items littered throughout. There’s also gambling where you bet on dice rolls, and this is actually the best way to make money. My only issue is that sometimes it’s difficult to remember which stores offer which wares. Sometimes when you need a specific item it can be frustrating.
The game itself is a lot of fun. Ganbare Goemon 2 shines best in multiplayer though. It is the first game in the franchise to offer simultaneous play in the form of a co-op mode. Both players share the same item pool and money, but they do have separate life bars. While playing with a friend does help as far as dispatching foes goes it can make some of the more platforming focused areas more difficult. You have to stay within screen length of each other, and considering how large the environments are this is quickly frustrating. This sort of game is a bit difficult to work together on, but multiplayer is still the best way to play.
If there’s one complaint I have it’s that the levels are too big. With how large they are it’s incredibly easy to get lost or confused. What’s more is that the scenery just doesn’t change enough. I had a hard enough time finding the exit to the stage, and you want me to locate three well hidden passes in addition to that? Get out of here with that. Each area is far too maze-like. This makes exploration far less fun than it would otherwise be. Konami should have cut the levels in half, and just included more of them. Ganbare Goemon 2 requires too much memorization and blind exploration if you ask me. The game is also lacking in boss encounters. There are a few, but for the most part the end of each stage is super disappointing and anti-climactic.
Ganbare Goemon 2 is a big upgrade in terms of graphics. The game features significantly more detail than the previous iteration with some really nice backgrounds and more varied characters. This is also one of the first games in the franchise to make use of Goemon’s off the wall humor. This means you’ll see a lot of bizarre sights here. It’s a very charming game in terms of art style. I also really liked the 3D mazes. These don’t animate particularly well but have a lot of detail in the still images. It’s also nice that it offers a different perspective which cuts down on the visual repetition. The soundtrack is okay. It has that classic Japanese flair to it which is par for the course with the Goemon franchise. It’s nothing particularly special here but it fits well enough.
