Ganbare Goemon Series with Project Goemon, Another Code: Two Memories, Nintendo Direct Predictions

[00:00:00] Welcome to Tokyo Game Life, a Tokyo-based video game podcast focusing on Nintendo and

[00:00:13] gaming culture in Japan's capital.

[00:00:15] Your host Mono here to bring you a slice of gaming life from Tokyo.

[00:00:19] On this episode, I'm joined by Project Gueemon to discuss the Ganbari Goyon series, better

[00:00:24] known as Mystical games in the Gomber Gohemon series. Thanks for joining me. Let's touch a bit on the basics before you really dig in. What is the Gomber Gohemon franchise?

[00:01:40] The Gomber Gohemon series is a video game series

[00:01:43] produced and developed by Konami from 1986 until 2005 they were in other places around the world and there was one time when I went to a video shop to rent out some tapes. At that time I was playing on a Nintendo I think Legend of the Mystical Ninja, the original SNES game is also one of the reasons why I decided to move to Japan because that's when I became interested in the Kiregana, Katakatanarouaji, and Kanji.

[00:04:23] And also all the more ones are very, very vague notes about him. Going on is a popular hero from the Edo era. He became known as a hero that stood against other evils and tyrannies of the world and was justice for the common person.

[00:05:41] And if you think about that and you think about the heroes

[00:05:43] around the Famicom era, the arcade games of that era,

[00:05:47] like maybe it could be a common trope, How similar is the first game to the rest of the franchise? Mr. Gohemon? Yes. Not a lot, actually, although there's one interview that was done about 15, 18 years ago with creators of the first Gambari Gohemon, which is Karakori Dochu, the producer Kazuisa Hashimoto talks about the had an arcade game, Mr. Gohemon.

[00:07:01] It was a side-scrolling action game and they got the word from Konami that either it was

[00:08:05] a lot of the familiar tropes and the first game, Karakuri then became the basis for the entire series. What really stuck out to me when doing research for the podcast is that,

[00:08:08] oh, Goemon used to look completely different. He was much closer to the Ukiyo A art style instead

[00:08:14] of his more famous cartoonish look. When did the franchise become what we know it as today?

[00:08:18] The image that we know today was really quote-unquote real Goemon game? It's difficult to say because I've played so many Goemon games now that I'm pretty much right now on at the PlayStation era. And at the

[00:09:42] PlayStation era you can see that they're trying I like a lot. My favorite game in the series personally speaking is Gomergomon 3 which is Zelda like with Metroidvania elements and the way tell the story how it plays how you find out things and the way it shows everything that's really amazing I was really impressed which

[00:11:02] also reminds me that maybe one of them game localized was actually the fifth game in the franchise known as The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. It then got two localized games on the N64 and then two Game Boy titles. Out of the localized games, which one stand out to you?

[00:12:22] Of course, I think for everyone, Legend of Legendary Mythical Ninja. It's one of my most treasured memories, which is interesting because later when it came to the N64, the Goemon team, the development team, they tried to put simultaneous two player

[00:13:42] action in the game, but they failed because of course, but it's really amazing. The thing is that people don't realize for example is that yes SNES had a dedicated sound

[00:15:00] chip and so they could create these amazing soundtracks with that sound chip.

[00:15:05] But the N64 didn't. I might say it's like a double edged sword. I was double edged Katana in some ways, you could say. Yes. In as much as. Yeah, it's that's what it's appeal and also that's why, for example, Konami apparently was very hesitant about bringing to the West. Konami, I think, a fantastic soundtrack guiding to the second RPG is really really good and One that a lot of people I think overlook because maybe it's a bit too simple But the first gameable game which had an official translation of sorts

[00:18:43] back in time and go through the series. One thing that stood out to me and I was in the series is that I think Konami did not

[00:18:49] really expect going on to last for so long that year when it was released in Japan.

[00:18:54] You get the feeling from all the documents that it was like Konami said, okay, this is

[00:18:59] where it stops.

[00:19:01] We have the SMES game, we have the Game Boy game, we have the last RPG and let's just

[00:19:05] end it really. It has not been a series that's been so popular outside of Japan. And also, I think there's some bitterness, there's some difficult things there, I think. Do you think Konami might one day put out a new Goymon game, or at least a collection of past titles?

[00:20:21] A new game, I think the chances are very low, to be honest.

[00:20:25] Because one thing that must be said, that was really appealing to a lot of people actually. You mentioned Goodfield. Last year they put out Mameta Nobakeru, which many have described as very Gueemon-inspired. Have you given this game a try? And if so, what did you think about it? Maybe as you can tell that I'm not so young. And I have a family with my own. I have a son. He reads Kurokoukoumex, a popular comics magazine here in Japan, that is aimed at elementary school-aged children.

[00:21:41] Right.

[00:21:42] And he was reading about Mameta Nobakeru,

[00:21:44] about everything that was happening. and when it didn't turn out that way. A lot of people, I don't know, can ignore it. And unfortunately, it's kind of reflecting the sales of the game it hasn't been doing so well. Maybe because, I don't know, maybe some of the people who were looking forward to it, I'll write reviews, but also I'll write about everything that was happening around them. That has been a really worthwhile, really interesting trip. Unfortunately, right now it's slightly on hiatus because of personal things, but I've finished up to all the Super Famicom games.

[00:24:23] And I'm right now into the PlayStation era,

[00:24:26] I'm going chronologically for all my information. Most of the useful information was on Project Goyman. So I really highly recommend listening to check it out if you want to learn even more about Goyman. So it's time to wrap up and I need to bring out my ultimate question. If Goyman became a playable character in Smash Bros, what should

[00:25:40] his move said be? Maybe I should say that he has become like an official playable character of sorts weapon is a pipe called the key set who which I've never seen any other video game character or any other character in fiction fight with a pipe. Does he ever smoke out of the pipe in the first arcade game? Yes, he does. And he kind of does in the Famicom games, but you kind of have to look very carefully because it is. Well, it's all very work one pixel.

[00:27:01] Okay.

[00:27:02] Yeah.

[00:27:03] Kids don't smoke if you're listening to this podcast and hopefully that was a very thorough collection, they reimagining of the original DS and Wii games from the late 2000s. Well, I cleared the first game, another code 2 memories, aka Trace memory in the States, so let's talk about it. This is kind of a strange one because unlike most game collections, another code recollection is both games merged into one continuous adventure, same graphics, same presentation, same UI, and so on.

[00:28:20] I didn't beat another code recollection technically, but instead the first part, which used to

[00:28:24] be its own separate game, the past of the ghost named Dee. This is where the two memories come into play. The house is filled with puzzles, secrets, and an absurd amount of keys. You can think of it like Resident Evil but without the zombies, which either sounds boring or sounds like a relief depending on what type of person you are. I am not a survival horror fan, so there is an appeal of doing all these weird puzzles

[00:29:43] in a cool looking house without the threat of getting my throat ripped out.

[00:29:47] Each puzzle is pretty much completely unique. nationally, plus reading all the diaries and notes scattered around the house. If you're a text adverse, maybe this game isn't for you. I can see some people jumping directly into the game, hoping for a lot of the Nintendo-style puzzles, but they are spaced out quite a bit and take a backseat to the story. But if you are here for the story, the one told in two memories is interesting enough to keep your attention. There's some twists, some obvious ones, but still twists, and I think the game has a surprisingly

[00:31:04] strong conclusion.

[00:31:05] I first might be thinking, okay, I'm from the ground up remake, where they completely knew perspective, new art style, and even the puzzles are wildly different. There are puzzles in the DS games that aren't in the Switch version and vice versa. And you might think, well, because the DS has such a unique input method, they replaced

[00:32:20] puzzle A with puzzle B, but no, it goes well beyond that.

[00:32:24] When you do the puzzles and what youack the motion puzzles await. Oh, I didn't mention it, but the actual Switch-related puzzles are fairly light. There's maybe two motion control puzzles in the entire game. I honestly would have preferred more whack-your-puzzles, centered around the Joy-Cons and the HD Rumble, the motion, the pointer, the I-R camera, since those open up a lot of gameplay possibilities

[00:33:41] for a puzzle-focused title.

[00:33:43] Just look at all the crazy things you can do in WarriorWare Move It. 39 million getting closer than not to that magic 150 million number or the PS2 and DS rest. Many assume Switch wouldn't get near those numbers, but it very well could outpace both those platforms and in a much more narrow window. It's hard to say if the Switch will cross the 150 million threshold considering we don't know about the Switch 2's strategy.

[00:35:00] But at least a 140 million is in the bag, something I'm sure Nintendo is very happy

[00:35:04] about. is at an absurd 60 million copies sold. Super Mario Party and Tears of the Kingdom both crossed 20 million. I've seen some discussion online about tears slowing down quite a bit. It sold 18.5 million in its opening quarter, which was about six weeks. Then under a million in the next quarter and under a million for Q4. I don't think this is anything to be too concerned about or that there's some backlash against the game. It took Breath of the Wild

[00:36:24] nearly four years to reach 18.5 million sold. You don't have to like the sports baits, but you will respect them. Some newcomers? The biggest shock was that Super Mario RPG sold $3.14 million in about six weeks, making it one of the best-selling Mario RPG games ever.

[00:37:41] It's behind Bowser's Inside Story, which is around $ Numbers are up and I'm pretty sure everyone's happy. Though I'm not looking forward to everything basically going back to zero once the Switch 2 launches. Whatever Mario Kart 9 debuts at, people will freak out despite it having the most meaningless launch sales for any game ever. I do expect the Switch software to keep selling even while Switch 2 is out, especially if

[00:39:00] there is a focus on backwards compatibility.

[00:39:03] And hey, rumors say that AIN isn't in a direct is a few days away. Hagi port similar to Pikmin 1 plus 2 and Sunshine. It doesn't make sense to have 2 and 3 on Switch but not 1, so yeah, it's coming. I do think it will be the GameCube game and not the 3DS version. But I wouldn't be surprised to see another 3DS upress. Kid Icarus is the dream, but I'm not sure they would just pull that out of nowhere and I can see Sakurai wanting to get involved with it.

[00:40:22] Triple Deluxe and Robobot are just sitting there waiting to be rem exciting, but I would rather the Legends team take their sweet sweet time on their next project. I do think that we might finally see Pokemon Jin's 1-3 on NSO, maybe even in their own special Pokemon app. You could really just fill out the year with a drip feed of the old Pokemon games and then maybe a spinoff I may or may not care about. I don't think you need to break out a Legends or Jin 5 remake this year, especially if we are getting Jin 10 next year,

[00:41:45] but Game Freak and the Pokemon Company are not interested in slowing down at all.