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Ganbare Goemon
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Platform(s)	Arcade, NES, MSX2, Super NES, Game Boy, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, mobile phone, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4
First release	Mr. Goemon May 1986
Latest release	Ganbare Goemon Pachisuro 2 September 2011

Ganbare Goemon (がんばれゴエモン, "Go for it, Goemon!"), known as Goemon and Mystical Ninja internationally, is a video game series created and produced by Konami. Etsunobu Ebisu 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, the noble thief of Japanese folklore. 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. The games are set in a cartoonlike, mystical Feudal Japan, 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, puzzle video games and board games. Ganbare Goemon is popular in Japan. The series consists of video games, with its success spawning a wide series of merchandise and an anime and manga 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, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon and Goemon's Great Adventure for the Nintendo 64 and two titles for the Game Boy.

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 in 2005. Since then, the series has been used primarily as themes for Konami's pachislot machines.

The series is represented in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with a purchasable Goemon costume for Mii fighters.

Related media

Anime

Original video animation

• A single-episode thirty-minute OVA was released in Japan in 1993 titled Ganbare Goemon: Jigen Jō no Akumu (がんばれゴエモン 次元城の悪夢, "Ganbare Goemon: The Nightmare of the Dimensional Castle"). The OVA starred the voice of Daiki Nakamura as Goemon and Hideyuki Umezu as Ebisumaru and featured segments parodying Gradius, Akumajō Dracula and TwinBee.
• A second-episode thirty-minute OVA was released in Japan in 1998 titled Ganbare Goemon: Chikyū Kyūshutsu Sakusen (がんばれゴエモン地球救出作戦, "Ganbare Goemon: Global Rescue Operation").

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

1. "Konami". Next Generation. No. 19. Imagine Media. July 1996. p. 70.
2. Walker, Ian (4 September 2019). "Undertale's Sans Joins Smash Bros. As A Mii Fighter Costume". Kotaku. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
3. Ganbare Goemon Manga Artist Hiroshi Obi Passes Away
4. Yarwood, Jack (30 January 2024). "A Classic "Ganbare Goemon" Manga Series Is Getting Reissued Digitally in Japan". Time Extension. Hookshot Media. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
5. Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchuu Box Shot for MSX2 at GameFAQs
6. Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Dōchū (1987) MSX cover art at MobyGames
7. ^ "Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Dōchuu official webpage". Konami Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved February 18, 2011.
8. ^ "Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ōgon Kiseru official webpage". Konami Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved February 18, 2011.
9. おオススメ!! ソフト カタログ!!: がんばれゴエモン3. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.335. Pg.114. 12–19 May 1995. Score: 32/40.
10. "Mini Kyodai Robo Goemon Compact (ミニ巨大ロボ ゴエモンコンパクト)". Konami Japan. Konami. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
11. "Mini Kyodai Robo Goemon Compact official webpage". Konami (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 18, 2004. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
12. "Ganbare Goemon: Shishijūrokubē no Karakuri Manji Gatame official webpage". Konami Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 16, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
13. "Ganbare Goemon: Tsūkai Game Apli official webpage". Konami Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved February 18, 2011.

External links

• Official Konami of Japan Ganbare Goemon site
• Ganbare Goemon series at MobyGames

• Manga series
• Ganbare Goemon
• 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