News/Go Go Goemon! Mystical Ninja Goemon Zero: Difference between revisions
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The Goemon/Mystical Ninja franchise has remained in stasis for almost a decade in Japan and even longer in the United States. While Goemon himself has appeared in a few spin-offs usually celebrating the various IPs of Konami, the very last time a Goemon game has been released in the US was “Goemon’s Great Adventure” for the Nintendo 64, a little over 22 years ago as of writing! Vic Ireland, through the efforts of Working Designs, attempted to give Goemon fans the game that they have long sought after since the last game on the Nintendo 64 when Konami themselves consciously decided not to. Vic worked with Konami over the course of five years in the efforts to acquire the license to Goemon and continued to localize the game over the course of three years after acquiring the license despite being rejected multiple times by Sony, a company that in the previous generation would have welcomed many niche titles with open arms. Not settling for just simply localizing the game, Working Designs’ small crew worked over the course of those three years to improve on the game’s original shortcomings in the attempt to make a better product Goemon fans would appreciate. Despite the criticisms Working Designs has received over its lifetime, one thing that can’t easily be denied is that the company always did what they thought was best for their games as well as their fans. When you play a Working Designs game you can tell that the company had a deep affinity for each game they worked on. That in itself is admirable. But what separated Working Designs from other companies is their dedication to making a game that might not have had the best reception by itself into something better by adding improvements to the game as a whole, right down to the game’s packaging. That’s something that shines through Mystical Ninja Goemon Zero and is something Working Designs should be most remembered for. <br> | The Goemon/Mystical Ninja franchise has remained in stasis for almost a decade in Japan and even longer in the United States. While Goemon himself has appeared in a few spin-offs usually celebrating the various IPs of Konami, the very last time a Goemon game has been released in the US was “Goemon’s Great Adventure” for the Nintendo 64, a little over 22 years ago as of writing! Vic Ireland, through the efforts of Working Designs, attempted to give Goemon fans the game that they have long sought after since the last game on the Nintendo 64 when Konami themselves consciously decided not to. Vic worked with Konami over the course of five years in the efforts to acquire the license to Goemon and continued to localize the game over the course of three years after acquiring the license despite being rejected multiple times by Sony, a company that in the previous generation would have welcomed many niche titles with open arms. Not settling for just simply localizing the game, Working Designs’ small crew worked over the course of those three years to improve on the game’s original shortcomings in the attempt to make a better product Goemon fans would appreciate. Despite the criticisms Working Designs has received over its lifetime, one thing that can’t easily be denied is that the company always did what they thought was best for their games as well as their fans. When you play a Working Designs game you can tell that the company had a deep affinity for each game they worked on. That in itself is admirable. But what separated Working Designs from other companies is their dedication to making a game that might not have had the best reception by itself into something better by adding improvements to the game as a whole, right down to the game’s packaging. That’s something that shines through Mystical Ninja Goemon Zero and is something Working Designs should be most remembered for. <br> | ||
We’d like to thank Gonz for gathering the necessary funds to secure the release, as without his contribution this release would never have been possible. We’d like to thank Sazpaimon for acquiring as well as handling many aspects of this release. He recorded not just one, but two full-length playthroughs of both prototypes and worked together with ehw to make sure that this release would happen. We’d also like to thank ehw, Xkeeper, | We’d like to thank Gonz for gathering the necessary funds to secure the release, as without his contribution this release would never have been possible. We’d like to thank Sazpaimon for acquiring as well as handling many aspects of this release. He recorded not just one, but two full-length playthroughs of both prototypes and worked together with ehw to make sure that this release would happen. We’d also like to thank ehw, Xkeeper, Hwd45, ZeaLitY, Sappharad, OKeijiDragon, Gerbilsoft, and Carnivol for funding this release as well. Last but not least, we’d like to thank Frank Cifaldi and Hubz from [https://gamehistory.org/ the Video Game History Foundation] for restoring the cover insert as well as giving us guidance on scanning with the best possible quality. You guys are all heroes. <br> | ||
Until we meet again, see you next time! <br> | Until we meet again, see you next time! <br> | ||