Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon is a great game that fired on all cylinders with it's scope, humor, presentation, and variety. it's an awesome translation of Goemon's action oriented gameplay in a 3D environment.
The world is pretty vast and fun to explore and it made me easily see why so many folks hold this game in high regard. The humor was very silly (some of it dated) but when the jokes land, I'm chuckling.
The presentation is astounding. Not only is it one of the best looking games on the N64, it's one of the best sounding games too. I was seriously blown away hearing how rich the music was, it genuinely felt like the N64 hardware didn't compromise it's quality.
The gameplay variety was fun to experience too. The mech battles were a blast (loved grappling and punching them alot), and I loved that they brought back the method of swapping between characters on the fly like Ganbare Goemon 3. No character feels underutilized throughout the entire playthrough; Goemon, Ebisumaru, Sasuke, and Yae all get equal usage and they're all really fun to use too. Mystical Ninja truly feels like what Konami wanted to achieve with Ganbare Goemon 3, something that blended the action platforming with exploration/action rpg-esque mechanics.
My only gripe is the game being a bit cryptic with progression, even if you talk to the NPCs often. You'll eventually find your way around things one way or another but its still a thing I noticed.
Overall, this game was really fun! I can definitely see why its so fondly looked upon by so many folks all these years later. Definitely one of the N64's greatest hits.
The world is pretty vast and fun to explore and it made me easily see why so many folks hold this game in high regard. The humor was very silly (some of it dated) but when the jokes land, I'm chuckling.
The presentation is astounding. Not only is it one of the best looking games on the N64, it's one of the best sounding games too. I was seriously blown away hearing how rich the music was, it genuinely felt like the N64 hardware didn't compromise it's quality.
The gameplay variety was fun to experience too. The mech battles were a blast (loved grappling and punching them alot), and I loved that they brought back the method of swapping between characters on the fly like Ganbare Goemon 3. No character feels underutilized throughout the entire playthrough; Goemon, Ebisumaru, Sasuke, and Yae all get equal usage and they're all really fun to use too. Mystical Ninja truly feels like what Konami wanted to achieve with Ganbare Goemon 3, something that blended the action platforming with exploration/action rpg-esque mechanics.
My only gripe is the game being a bit cryptic with progression, even if you talk to the NPCs often. You'll eventually find your way around things one way or another but its still a thing I noticed.
Overall, this game was really fun! I can definitely see why its so fondly looked upon by so many folks all these years later. Definitely one of the N64's greatest hits.