and varied, though considerably flawed. GamePro said the game "never gets anywhere near exciting" and has a bland story, but succeeds well enough on the platforming front to make an acceptable holdover for RPG enthusiasts who could not wait for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. IGN concluded that it would hold over gamers until the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but advised them to rent before buying. The Dallas Morning News likewise concluded that the game "will please N64 owners starving for a decent adventure game... But players should rent it before they buy." A reviewer for the Sentinel & Enterprise wrote in 2001 that while considered a "flawed 3D platformer", Mystical Ninja offered "quirky" fun "following the heels of Super Mario 64" by inviting players to "scale mountains, invade pagodas, and pilot giant robots in all-out fisticuffs to the rhythm of Japanese lyrics and pop tunes." Sequels Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon was followed by a Game Boy game of the same name. Featuring gameplay similar to the Super Famicom entry Ganbare Goemon 3: Shishijūrokubē no Karakuri Manji Gatame, the game presented a story in which Yae had been kidnapped by the Black Ship Gang. In 1999, Konami released Goemon's Great Adventure on the Nintendo 64 (a 2.5D side-scroller with multiplayer support). Reviewers gave it high marks for recreating the feel of the older, 16-bit Goemon games and considered it the best side-scroller for the Nintendo 64. The final Goemon entry for the Nintendo 64 was Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku, released in Japan on December 25, 1999. In Mononoke Sugoroku, players must collect Ofuda cards while navigating a board game. After a series of sequels on the PlayStation line of consoles, Konami returned to the medieval, quirky Japanese themes of Mystical Ninja and its brethren on June 23, 2005 with Ganbare Goemon: Tōkai Dōchū Ōedo Tengu ri Kaeshi no Maki'' for the Nintendo DS. Notes References External links Nintendo's official page (archived) Official Goemon Merchandise from Konami 1997 video games Action-adventure games Ganbare Goemon games Nintendo 64-only games Nintendo 64 games Role-playing video games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set in castles Single-player video games