, known as ''Goemon'' and ''Mystical Ninja'' internationally, is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

series created and produced by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

Etsunobu Ebisu (stylized as GoödFeël) is a Japanese video game developer. Good-Feel started in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, in 2005 and opened a production facility in Tokyo in the same year. Their main focus had been educational games for the Nintendo DS, whic ...

is the joint producer of the franchise. These games revolve around the main character, Goemon and his exploits. The games are notable for their humorous tone and parodies of many aspects of pop culture, as well as of other video games. The main character is loosely based on

Ishikawa Goemon was the leader of a group of bandits during the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan. Over time, and especially during the Edo period (1603-1867), his life and deeds became a center of attention, and he became known as a legendary Japanese outlaw h ...

, the noble thief of Japanese

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

. While the early games emphasized Goemon as a noble thief, he eventually becomes more of a standard video game hero character. His trademarks are his blue bushy hair and weapon of choice, the

kiseru A is a Japanese smoking pipe, traditionally used for smoking ''kizami'', a finely shredded tobacco product resembling hair. History The word ''kiseru'' is said to have originated from the Khmer word ''khsier'' around the 16th century, while it ...

. The games are set in a cartoonlike, mystical

Feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC whe ...

, with many references to Japanese folklore. Although the series has its roots in action-adventure, the ''Ganbare Goemon'' series has features from genres including

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

puzzle video game Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, Sequence, sequence solving, Spatial ability, spatial recognition, ...

s and

board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...

s. ''Ganbare Goemon'' is popular in Japan. The series consists of video games, with its success spawning a wide series of merchandise and an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

and

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series. Konami has generally regarded the Goemon games as too specific to the Japanese market to be released worldwide, but five of them have been released overseas: '' The Legend of the Mystical Ninja'' for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

, ''

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon ''Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon'' is a 1997 platform action-adventure game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka and published by Konami for the Nintendo 64. The second ''Ganbare Goemon'' game released in North America and Europe, ...

'' and '' Goemon's Great Adventure'' for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

and two titles for the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

. In 2002–03, a mobile phone was released for the titled ''Ganbare Goemon: Tsūkai Game Apli'' series. The latest original game of the series was '' Ganbare Goemon: Tōkai Dōchū Ōedo Tengu ri Kaeshi no Maki'', released in Japan for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. Since then, the series has been used primarily as themes for Konami's

pachislot A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

machines. The series is represented in ''

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeeding ' ...

'' with a purchasable Goemon costume for Mii fighters.

Related media

Anime

Original video animation

* A single-episode thirty-minute

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

was released in Japan in 1993 titled . The OVA starred the voice of

Daiki Nakamura Daiki Nakamura may refer to: *Daiki Nakamura (actor) is a Japanese voice actor. Some of his best-known work includes Gaine in '' The Brave Express Might Gaine'' and Grandpa in '' Grandpa Danger'', as well as Haohmaru from SNK Corporation's '' ...

as Goemon and

Hideyuki Umezu was a Japanese actor who specialized in voice acting. Biography Graduated from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, he said that if he hadn't become an actor, he would have become a dentist. The catalyst for starting acting was when a friend ...

as Ebisumaru and featured segments parodying ''

Gradius is a series of shooter ( shoot'em up) video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. ...

'', '' Akumajō Dracula'' and ''

TwinBee is a vertically scrolling shooter released by Konami as an arcade video game in 1985 in Japan. Along with Sega's '' Fantasy Zone'', released a year later, ''TwinBee'' is credited as an early archetype of the " cute 'em up" type in its genre. I ...

''. * A second-episode thirty-minute

was released in Japan in 1998 titled .

Television series

Manga

Goemon is the protagonist of many manga based on the video game series. There are several series, each one based on a different game. Most of the manga were illustrated by artist Hiroshi Obi and were published between 1991 and 1998 to accompany the release of each new game. Obi died from a brain stem hemorrhage on August 3, 2014, at the age of 54. The manga was digitally re-released in Japan on February 8, 2024.

List of games

Video games (main series)

Video games (spin-offs)

Other games

References

External links

Official Konami of Japan ''Ganbare Goemon'' site
* {{Konami franchises Konami franchises Video game franchises Video game franchises introduced in 1986 Video games about ninja Video games developed in Japan Video games adapted into television shows