Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shougun Magginesu/Go for it! Goemon 2: The Strange General McGuinness (SNES, 1993)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-8 Control-8/7* Challenge-7.5 Story-7
Level Design-8 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7.5/8? Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
*Auto-scrolling mech segments and mech boss fights
+
2-player co-op (second player can join in at any point during gameplay)
3 different playable chars (introduces Sasuke as an ally (was previously a boss) and Yae to the SNES series though the latter isn't playable yet; Sasuke is the fastest and jumps the highest, Goemon can upgrade his melee attack range and throws the furthest, Ebisumaru has the strongest melee attack and his charged up projectile ricochets around the screen after hitting a wall; each one also starts with a slightly different amount of money but it doesn't really matter)
Can push regular enemies into other enemies (crawl and attack their legs then move into them)
Introduces a hub map with some branching paths (SMW/SML2)
Temporary vehicles in some levels and a summonable giant mech (triggers automatically after beating certain bosses' first form)
Villages are generally non-hostile here until you attack someone (no penalty and it resets after entering a house but the town guards also don't drop anything, can attack thieves and certain other characters like samurai (?) and the purple haired guy without upsetting the others)
Can warp to visited towns at certain houses in towns (decent convenience feature but moving between areas on the map is fairly quick anyway)
Temporary attack range (as Goemon, two levels)+power/lifebar (twice)/armor upgrades (three levels)/projectile charge speed upgrade, can replay beaten levels (not castle levels though)
Can speed up most dialogue
Decent boss introductions and outros
Pretty nice cutscenes (skippable)
Very good variety overall (introduces auto-scrolling giant mech segments and giant mech fights in FP view (there are also some auto-scrolling standard levels, the mech fights are more like a gallery shooter in that you can't move sideways nor rotate the view), mine cart segment and sea dragon ride segment, in-game cutscenes in some levels, etc.)
Some interesting enemies (can knock some thrown projectiles back at the enemies, some enemies can saw off parts of bridge platforms, tiny enemies that latch onto you and slow you down if you don't shake them off, final boss) and level gimmicks (snowball chase which turns into a melting snowball ride in water, seesaw platforms that affect enemies, manually controlled fans that let you hover, interactive rolling barrels and torches/gas lamps, )
Nice art direction and good animation
Can exit beaten levels/visited towns but only after buying the pass (in SMW you could do it by default but you get it pretty early here and it's not that expensive)
Hidden items
Alternate paths through some boss levels
Comedic tone (parody (second boss is an Arnold/terminator parody), slapstick, silly)
Projectile charge attack (costs as much money as a regular one)
Some fun mini-games (simultaneous memory vs the cpu, xexex-style shoot 'em up level)
Smart bombs however they can only be used during the giant mech boss fights
Sometimes fast paced
Some mini-bosses
Good bosses overall (the last one is the villain fighting you with your own giant mech which is pretty cool and there's a 2.5D element to it)
Optional post-game level and boss (dracula from CV; have to beat the game and then each mini-game in mechanical town to access the level via the castle of that town)
One player can carry the other for difficult platforming segments
+/-
Save feature (only one slot per game though)
Mostly linear structure (can do the levels in any order in the castle towers town?, some branching paths on the hub map)
Enemy drops disappear after ~8 seconds
Can't walk or crawl while attacking
Can't exit hostile areas/levels where you entered them
Many death pits
Off screen enemy respawning (generally not a problem though)
Checkpoints still work after using a continue (and you have unlimit continues?) - you do lose over half your money as well as your health bar upgrades when using one though
No enemy drops when riding a vehicle
Level timers
Your upgraded weapon reverts one step with each hit taken unless you're wearing armor (see Blaster Master for example) - weapon power ups are pretty common though
Mostly short levels
Can't talk to outdoors NPCs in towns
Some potentially offensive jokes (ebisumaru being feminine/stereotypically gay)
Some delay before you regain mid-air control after attacking in mid-air - longer as Goemon
Ranged attacks cost money (you literally throw/shoot the coins at enemies)
Money is rarely an issue (means more difficult paths to the goal such as the high path in the autumn woods/surprise pass level and some mini-games are almost pointless)
Some Konami character cameos (Simon (?) Belmont, Xexex princess, Kiki/Pocky from Pocky & Rocky as the fortuneteller, Winbee from Twinbee, Gillian from Snatcher, Sparkster as a stuffed animal (huh?), etc.)
-
Some control/interface issues (can't attack downwards in the platforming segments nor sideways in the "beat 'em up"/tilted view segments (in towns), some dialogue can't be sped up, can't shoot a boss mech after blocking its tackle attack, can't shoot boss mechs at seemingly arbitrary points during fights with them like when they're shooting at you, kinda slow auto-fire during giant mech fights, can't go back after reaching the statue at the end of a level, can only enter towns at one point regardless of which direction you traveled from, can't make tight turns in the mario kart-like cleaning/race the clock mini-game, can't jump out of an attack animation while in the giant mech auto-scrolling segments and there's some delay after landing before you can jump again - the main issue is that button presses don't register during this delay, some delay before you can block after shooting during giant mech boss fights)
Enemy drops disappear immediately if they move some ways off screen
No difficulty or control options
Some slowdown (sometimes severe, pretty bad throughout most of the Xexex mini-game)
Some trial & error (it's possible to fall into a pit and die when discovering the mine cart segment, parts of the sea dragon segment, there's no proper clue to the hidden path in the second town - apparently you can break one of the wells here but it looks near identical to the other wells which can't be broken), mech fights aren't explained in-game - can punch a giant mech boss as it launches towards you but only with your right arm, points of no return in some levels with alternate paths, somewhat unforgiving hit detection on the umbrella platform edges)
Uneven difficulty (spikes: most giant mech fights and Xexex+shin bazooka mini-games (the latter would've been better if the CPU couldn't so easily pin you down and hit you a bunch of times towards the end; dips: fairly easy final boss), parts of the sea dragon segment, )
Enemy drops can fall down into pits
The auto-scrolling segments are very simplistic
The music sounds a bit subdued/muffled overall and the guitar samples aren't that good
Regular levels sometimes just scroll left to right and/or focus on a single gimmick
No attack animation when shooting with a vehicle during platform levels and the shots lack impact
Some dead space (underground passages, some towns) and some pointless detours for minor sums of money
Repeats some enemies and areas later on
The vehicles are a bit underused
Can't switch between the playable chars in-game (could've let you do it after using a continue, can do it when loading a save) and they don't have or gain abilities used to progress or reach new areas
Most collected money doesn't carry over when loading the post-game save (not much of an issue though)
NPC dialogue rarely updates when revisiting towns
Notes:
-Mount Hagakure in area 3 is a good place to restore lost health bars
Comment:
This one was finally fan translated last year IIRC. A hub map has been added with a few branching paths, an additional playable char in Sasuke, and other neat things like being able to push enemies into other ones after crawling and hitting their legs, being able to teleport to visited towns, and a few temporary vehicles within levels. The audiovisuals and controls are a step up, the silly tone of the other games is intact and variety is as good or better than before. For some of the boss fights you are put in a FP view mode, controlling a giant mech fighting another in a gallery shooter/fighting hybrid of sorts - it's a bit clunky and they have some arbitrary invincibility periods, but it's impressive for the SNES and cool to see the origins of after playing the N64 games, and for the finale there's a twist to this formula which I won't spoil. Finally there's an optional post-game level which references CV that you can play if you beat the game and the mini-games in one of the towns. If you like Mystical Ninja then this is a must play for SNES.
Level Design-8 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7.5/8? Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
*Auto-scrolling mech segments and mech boss fights
+
2-player co-op (second player can join in at any point during gameplay)
3 different playable chars (introduces Sasuke as an ally (was previously a boss) and Yae to the SNES series though the latter isn't playable yet; Sasuke is the fastest and jumps the highest, Goemon can upgrade his melee attack range and throws the furthest, Ebisumaru has the strongest melee attack and his charged up projectile ricochets around the screen after hitting a wall; each one also starts with a slightly different amount of money but it doesn't really matter)
Can push regular enemies into other enemies (crawl and attack their legs then move into them)
Introduces a hub map with some branching paths (SMW/SML2)
Temporary vehicles in some levels and a summonable giant mech (triggers automatically after beating certain bosses' first form)
Villages are generally non-hostile here until you attack someone (no penalty and it resets after entering a house but the town guards also don't drop anything, can attack thieves and certain other characters like samurai (?) and the purple haired guy without upsetting the others)
Can warp to visited towns at certain houses in towns (decent convenience feature but moving between areas on the map is fairly quick anyway)
Temporary attack range (as Goemon, two levels)+power/lifebar (twice)/armor upgrades (three levels)/projectile charge speed upgrade, can replay beaten levels (not castle levels though)
Can speed up most dialogue
Decent boss introductions and outros
Pretty nice cutscenes (skippable)
Very good variety overall (introduces auto-scrolling giant mech segments and giant mech fights in FP view (there are also some auto-scrolling standard levels, the mech fights are more like a gallery shooter in that you can't move sideways nor rotate the view), mine cart segment and sea dragon ride segment, in-game cutscenes in some levels, etc.)
Some interesting enemies (can knock some thrown projectiles back at the enemies, some enemies can saw off parts of bridge platforms, tiny enemies that latch onto you and slow you down if you don't shake them off, final boss) and level gimmicks (snowball chase which turns into a melting snowball ride in water, seesaw platforms that affect enemies, manually controlled fans that let you hover, interactive rolling barrels and torches/gas lamps, )
Nice art direction and good animation
Can exit beaten levels/visited towns but only after buying the pass (in SMW you could do it by default but you get it pretty early here and it's not that expensive)
Hidden items
Alternate paths through some boss levels
Comedic tone (parody (second boss is an Arnold/terminator parody), slapstick, silly)
Projectile charge attack (costs as much money as a regular one)
Some fun mini-games (simultaneous memory vs the cpu, xexex-style shoot 'em up level)
Smart bombs however they can only be used during the giant mech boss fights
Sometimes fast paced
Some mini-bosses
Good bosses overall (the last one is the villain fighting you with your own giant mech which is pretty cool and there's a 2.5D element to it)
Optional post-game level and boss (dracula from CV; have to beat the game and then each mini-game in mechanical town to access the level via the castle of that town)
One player can carry the other for difficult platforming segments
+/-
Save feature (only one slot per game though)
Mostly linear structure (can do the levels in any order in the castle towers town?, some branching paths on the hub map)
Enemy drops disappear after ~8 seconds
Can't walk or crawl while attacking
Can't exit hostile areas/levels where you entered them
Many death pits
Off screen enemy respawning (generally not a problem though)
Checkpoints still work after using a continue (and you have unlimit continues?) - you do lose over half your money as well as your health bar upgrades when using one though
No enemy drops when riding a vehicle
Level timers
Your upgraded weapon reverts one step with each hit taken unless you're wearing armor (see Blaster Master for example) - weapon power ups are pretty common though
Mostly short levels
Can't talk to outdoors NPCs in towns
Some potentially offensive jokes (ebisumaru being feminine/stereotypically gay)
Some delay before you regain mid-air control after attacking in mid-air - longer as Goemon
Ranged attacks cost money (you literally throw/shoot the coins at enemies)
Money is rarely an issue (means more difficult paths to the goal such as the high path in the autumn woods/surprise pass level and some mini-games are almost pointless)
Some Konami character cameos (Simon (?) Belmont, Xexex princess, Kiki/Pocky from Pocky & Rocky as the fortuneteller, Winbee from Twinbee, Gillian from Snatcher, Sparkster as a stuffed animal (huh?), etc.)
-
Some control/interface issues (can't attack downwards in the platforming segments nor sideways in the "beat 'em up"/tilted view segments (in towns), some dialogue can't be sped up, can't shoot a boss mech after blocking its tackle attack, can't shoot boss mechs at seemingly arbitrary points during fights with them like when they're shooting at you, kinda slow auto-fire during giant mech fights, can't go back after reaching the statue at the end of a level, can only enter towns at one point regardless of which direction you traveled from, can't make tight turns in the mario kart-like cleaning/race the clock mini-game, can't jump out of an attack animation while in the giant mech auto-scrolling segments and there's some delay after landing before you can jump again - the main issue is that button presses don't register during this delay, some delay before you can block after shooting during giant mech boss fights)
Enemy drops disappear immediately if they move some ways off screen
No difficulty or control options
Some slowdown (sometimes severe, pretty bad throughout most of the Xexex mini-game)
Some trial & error (it's possible to fall into a pit and die when discovering the mine cart segment, parts of the sea dragon segment, there's no proper clue to the hidden path in the second town - apparently you can break one of the wells here but it looks near identical to the other wells which can't be broken), mech fights aren't explained in-game - can punch a giant mech boss as it launches towards you but only with your right arm, points of no return in some levels with alternate paths, somewhat unforgiving hit detection on the umbrella platform edges)
Uneven difficulty (spikes: most giant mech fights and Xexex+shin bazooka mini-games (the latter would've been better if the CPU couldn't so easily pin you down and hit you a bunch of times towards the end; dips: fairly easy final boss), parts of the sea dragon segment, )
Enemy drops can fall down into pits
The auto-scrolling segments are very simplistic
The music sounds a bit subdued/muffled overall and the guitar samples aren't that good
Regular levels sometimes just scroll left to right and/or focus on a single gimmick
No attack animation when shooting with a vehicle during platform levels and the shots lack impact
Some dead space (underground passages, some towns) and some pointless detours for minor sums of money
Repeats some enemies and areas later on
The vehicles are a bit underused
Can't switch between the playable chars in-game (could've let you do it after using a continue, can do it when loading a save) and they don't have or gain abilities used to progress or reach new areas
Most collected money doesn't carry over when loading the post-game save (not much of an issue though)
NPC dialogue rarely updates when revisiting towns
Notes:
-Mount Hagakure in area 3 is a good place to restore lost health bars
Comment:
This one was finally fan translated last year IIRC. A hub map has been added with a few branching paths, an additional playable char in Sasuke, and other neat things like being able to push enemies into other ones after crawling and hitting their legs, being able to teleport to visited towns, and a few temporary vehicles within levels. The audiovisuals and controls are a step up, the silly tone of the other games is intact and variety is as good or better than before. For some of the boss fights you are put in a FP view mode, controlling a giant mech fighting another in a gallery shooter/fighting hybrid of sorts - it's a bit clunky and they have some arbitrary invincibility periods, but it's impressive for the SNES and cool to see the origins of after playing the N64 games, and for the finale there's a twist to this formula which I won't spoil. Finally there's an optional post-game level which references CV that you can play if you beat the game and the mini-games in one of the towns. If you like Mystical Ninja then this is a must play for SNES.