Topic: Mameda no Bakeru (Ganbare Goemon/Mystical Ninja spiritual successor)

Good Feel announced its Ganbare Goemon/Mystical Ninja spiritual successor in today's JP Nintendo Direct: Mameda no Bakeru

It looks amazing

I saw that and was like GOEMON...no..close enough!!! This will be a day one purchase for me. BIIG Goemon fan. I even have the ps2 game for crying outloud. It even has mecha/robot fights!!! And the taiko angle makes me giggle.

Oh god, I want this so bad.

What are the chances of this coming out Stateside? The fact that it wasn't announced in the Western Direct has me nervous.

@Ryu_Niiyama Do we know that this is coming out in the West?

@AgnosticMantis So far Japan only.

They didn't announce a western release yet. I think it's likely that it will be a JP exclusive, but who knows. But the Switch is region free and if it's like most Goemon games, it shouldn't be too hard to play in japanese.

Maybe if there's enough Western coverage, they'll bring it over. Gutted to see there's no article on this game on NintendoLife.

Then again, Ebisu mentioned years back that "gamers outside of Japan will like it too".

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/10/yoshis_crafted_worl...

This also claims that a worldwide release is planned. https://www.gematsu.com/2020/10/good-feel-developing-self-pub...

I'm really happy about this. We only heard about this game in 2020, and they said it was to come out in 2021... But we never heard of it again. And now there's a trailer! It wasn't cancelled!
And yes, it looks really Goemon-y. Even if it only comes out in Japan, I'll definitely get it.

@Krisi I would get the Japanese release... if I could read Japanese

A new trailer:

It looks hilarious: I'll definitely play that Goemon-like game!

Pleasantly surprised to see a Goemon spiritual successor pop up. Goemon holds a special place in my heart because Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon on the N64 was my first video game ever. Hoping to see an English localization.

Also, I am curious about how linear/open the game is. MNSG was an OoT style game (although technically MNSG released before OoT), and I came to enjoy that style (MNSG gave me a similar wow moment with how vast and open it was to how many people felt about modern open world games like BotW, although not quite as big and open as BotW it was impressive for its time). I know that most Goemon games aren't like MNSG and they seem to be showing a lot of linear segments which implies it's probably not quite going to be OoT style, but at the same time there are a few moments here that seem like they offer a bit more exploration than something like Super Mario 3D World. Don't get me wrong, a 3D World style game wouldn't be a dealbreaker in the slightest, but I do tend to gravitate towards exploration focused games so I'd probably like the game more if they offer more opportunities to branch off and explore instead of always going from A to B all of the time.

@Bolt_Strike I think this game is very linear, but with some more open stages like those of Super Mario 3D World. In Japanese websites, they tend to say it is an "action game". And when I see that picture, it seems there is a worldmap ala Super Mario Bros from which we can select different stages.

@Rudolf Yeeeaaaah, I saw all of that and that concerns me a bit. 3D World isn't what I would call "open", some of the sections where you have to find Key Coins to progress are great and that's a much better blend of linearity and openness, but 3D World did not really do a great job of utilizing open space so it wasn't really a good game to explore. It mainly only satisfied the people that wanted a typical A to B linear platformer, if you're someone who likes more exploration based platforming/action games a 3D World style game is not for you. If Mameda no Bakeru has more of the typical 3D World levels, that's not going to quite scratch my MNSG itch. Again, I do like linear platformers too and Mameda no Bakeru is still probably be fun in its own right regardless of how linear or open it'd be, but I'd have much more fun if it were more like OoT. Or Bowser's Fury. Or... anything more open than 3D World.

And I might not be alone out of the Western Goemon fans considering that MNSG is one of the few games that made it to the West. There's probably a sizeable Western fanbase that thinks MNSG IS Goemon and wants something more OoT style from a Goemon spiritual successor.

@Bolt_Strike Yes, when I said "open", I meant more open than in 2D Super Mario Bros series.
But is the first N64's game that much popular in West? I thought the second and more linear N64 game was much more appreciated in West, whereas many people complained about the open world of the first game. And it seems the linear SNES's game released in West is quite liked too.

Anyway, we'll see when Mameda will be released.

@Rudolf I mean IDK for sure, I can mainly only speak for myself and I only knew about the first N64 game. But I never heard any complaints about the game being open and open exploration games like that tended to be very popular in the N64 era, much like open world games are popular today, so I think the game would be more popular if it were more open.

@Bolt_Strike Since the first N64 game is not particularily popular in Japan and that this series' main market is Japan, I highly doubt this new game would be much popular if it were in open world. Even if the first N64 game is very good, Western players are a very small minority with no influence at all on this series. Sadly, that "Edo Fantasy" and typical Japanese humour is not popular at all in West.

New Introduction video has been released

Still looking great

looks pretty good, got the style good

Excellent! So, in order to train myself in listening in Japanese, I watched this trailer severa times and somewhat understood what it says.

The story is about a Japanese raccoon dog (in other words, a tanuki) named Bakeru and who can turn into human. After he met a character named Su and having the size of a thumb (or the size of "Issun", like the famous fairy tales character), they both embark on an adventure in other to face the "Matsuri gang" or "Festival gang" whose leader is named Oracle Saitarô. This gang's ambition is conquering entire Japan by mesmerizing their inhabitants with an evil Matsuri (an evil festival). The hero has to destroy the evil Matsuri towers and explore all 47 prefectures of Japan, which lets me suppose this game contains 47 stages. The country we explore is inspired by different Japan's periods (old or modern ones), or imaginary periods.

Bakeru inherited the sacred tanuki's treasure: a taiko (a kind of Japanese drum). He can attack with that, but he can also defend himself with a good timing. During his journey, he got the power of metamorphosis. It seems there are 4 transformations (whose names are inspired by famous Japanese's fairy tales characters), but this trailer shows only 2: Kintarô (who has an incredible strength, and this trailers shows Mount Ashigaru which is related to this character) and Issun (who can shrink and go through new passages). We can read the names of 2 other transformations: Urashima Tarô (maybe something related with sea, swimming, or turtles) and Momotarô (I don't know what kind of gameplay it could be, unless it is something related to peach, but I would be surprised). There are also titan battles, and we are confronted to different rivals through different mini games or fights.

This time, we can post comments on this new Youtube trailer. I read several comments in English that shows a wish that this games is translated (even without dub in other languages), so if you are interested in this game, you could post there too (I posted there myself in both Japanese and English). This game will be released in Japan (only, for now) the 30th November.