Probably my least favorite of the SNES Goemon games I've played so far (that is to say the first three). It's super ambitious but that ambition never really congeals into anything coherent, maybe due to rushed development. It's trying to focus more on exploration, with an AlttP-style overworld and dungeons, but that feels unsuccessful. Some of the dungeons are grueling slogs (for whatever reason, there's a super punishing lives system, which the previous game, a more traditional side-scrolling platformer, didn't have, and it totally ruins exploration) and some of them are basic as hell or just nonexistent (as I mentioned, the game is obviously rushed. One level is literally two rooms before the boss, and the endgame is just a massive fetch quest). In short I think it loses a lot as a 2D platformer, and doesn't gain much as a metroidvania or whatever you wanna call it.

Some random thoughts:
- The Impact boss battles are MUCH easier compared to Goemon 2. This is appreciated, though a bit anticlimactic.
- The comedy in this game is weirdly crass and even mean-spirited, especially regarding LGBT folks. I'm not exactly paying for the game so it doesn't bother me too much, but I wish it wasn't there.
- Still a very pretty game but it didn't blow my mind as much as 2.
- The aforementioned AlttP overworld is only introduced halfway into the game, which is very weird.
- There's four player characters and they all feel pretty distinct in gameplay and useful in exploration. Yae was my favorite for most of the game, until I got Goemon's chain-pipe.
- Boss battles are mostly one-note but thankfully not too hard.
- Overall the stage design of the last third of the game feels like a whole lot of nothing, and it's weird that the game starts at its most demanding and mechanically complex only to become easier and simpler.

Not a bad game but not really a must-play either. Hoping Ganbare Goemon 4's better.