The first Playstation Goemon Game, Uchukaizoku Akogingu (Space Pirate Akogingu), brings Goemon into the 32-bit age with another completely 2D adventure. While the graphics benefit from the expanded color palette, the backgrounds and level designs lack the flair that made Goemon 4 on the Super Famicom so gorgeous. The only polygons you'll find are in the Impact segments. The overhead levels use a pseudo 3D technique that gives it the illusion of depth - similar to the overworld of Final Fantasy 6, but much less pixellated. However, all four characters appear on the screen in the overhead segments - not only is this confusing when fighting enemies, but it also causes the action to slowdown to a crawl in certain areas. The game doesn't really take advantage of the CD format very much either - there's a few mediocre rendered cutscenes, a barely animated cartoon intro that would have seemed pedestrian on the PC-Engine, and absolutely no voice acting. The music is mostly techno remixes of old Goemon themes, although too many areas are filled with ambient noises.

The structure is almost exactly the same as Goemon 3 for the Super Famicom - overworld segments peppered with side-scrolling levels, with a few Impact scenes and minigames spread here and there. However, the world is quite a bit smaller and more linear, comprised mostly of somewhat boring mazes. The side scrolling levels are also much, much shorter. While this leads to a simpler game, it's also much easier to follow if you don't know Japanese. The only major addition to the gameplay is the introduction of experience points - when you gain levels, your weapon gets upgraded.

Akogingu

The story begins in outer space, with an alien named Baban being attacked by the ruthless space clown Akogingu. He crashes into Edo, where Goemon and pals eventually help him get his ship repaired and back to fight against the usual invaders. While Yae and Sasuke make appearances, they stand outside of the spotlight for the two new characters: Goroku, a green haired strong man, and that alien dude Baban, who has funky eyeglasses and a cane. Neither of these newcomers are particularly interesting, which is most likely the reason they don't show up in any other Goemon game.

Baban

Goroku

Akogingu may be a little dumbed down compared to Goemon 3 SFC, but it still is a quality game. The best part is the Gradius minigame near the end, where Goemon rides a turtle, shooting bad guys to a tropical remix of the Gradius theme.

Kuru Nara Koi! Ayashi Geikka no Kuroi Kage! (or "Until the Love Comes! The Black Shadow of the Ayashi Family"; but it is also an incomprehensible word play. Hell, "Aya" can even mean "word play") is the only 3D iteration of the series on the Playstation. At first glance, it looks great - running in the PSOne's high res mode, it runs at a slick 60 FPS with extraordinarily smooth graphics that look far better than the muddy N64 games. That is, until you see the horrendous amount of polygon seams that litter the environment. Each board is also suspended over what seem to be a weird blue fog, which looks absolutely terrible.

The Ayashi Family - comprised of an evil matriarch and her three goofy sons Detchi, Sun and Go - are terrorizing Edo, and Goemon n' pals are off to stop her. Early in the game, Goemon falls ill, and Ebisumaru, Sasuke, and Yae must set off on their own separate paths to find his medication. All of the cutscenes are voiced (a first for the series), which is one of the only high points in this game.

While the game is in 3D, the camera is always locked at an overhead view, in an uncomfortably close angle. The gameplay is nothing like any of the other Goemon titles. Instead of simply whacking bad guys, there's an "in depth" combat system that allows you to perform combos with various controller movements. It's not a bad idea, but it's sluggish and ultimately not much fun. The platforming is what really kills the game though, as the camera will never, ever find a position that makes jumping comfortable. The level design is pretty lazy too - you will have to traverse back and forth through one area no less than three times during the course of the game, suffering the same obtuse platforming challenges. In general, you have to backtrack your way out of every stage after completion. It hurts so badly.

Ebisumaru Impact

Sasuke Impact

Yae Impact

The only upside are the Impact battles, which are also entirely different from the norm. Each character now has their own ridiculous looking Impact robot. Additionally, you have full control over your mech, which you pilot around a small arena while shooting at your opponent. These segments are fairly simplistic, as you just keep circling and firing at your opponent until your Super Laser meter builds up, but they're a lot more amusing than any other part of the game. The music in the Impact segments is also awesome, the exemplary kind of rock that Konami is known for. The rest of the music is weird techno and electronica, and is best left ignored.

At its best, Kuru Nara Koi! is an interesting tech demo of what happens when you push the PSOne beyond its limit. At its worst, it's a disgrace to the Goemon series.

MP3s:
Impact Battle 1
Impact Battle 2
Impact Battle 3
Impact Battle 4

After the disaster of the last Playstation game, Konami brought the series back to its roots, with a 2D adventure that's much closer to what fans expected: Oedo Daikaiten, or "The Great Revolution of Oedo". Unfortunately, it's a little too close - the gameplay is almost exactly the same as Goemon 2 for the Super Famicom. Sure, the levels and storyline are different - you have to strike down the evil King of Recycling - but all of the little touches that were cool about that game just seem, ironically enough, recycled. You recognize stuff you've already seen and done before - the same mouse robots, same drums that make you jump higher, same overworld map with SD characters - absolutely nothing here is new. Although it uses polygons for the backgrounds, the landscapes are completely flat and lack the depth of Goemon's Great Adventure for the N64. If these aspects didn't seem lazy enough, all of the music is also ripped straight from Goemon's Great Adventure.

Ecorori: The Recycling King

The Steel Five

And then there are the little quirks that make the game more annoying than it should be. For example, losing all of your lives will take you back to the beginning of the level, instead of the midpoint. The towns are much larger than they should be, and exploring them is aggravating due to the load times that occur every time you enter a house. The only real improvement is that you can switch characters anytime, and Yae is playable (here with a snazzy new outfit). Since this is pretty much "Goemon 2 Redux", it's still an okay game and a reasonable throwback to the SFC era, but you'd expect more from a series that's known for constantly evolving.

After Ooedo Daikaiten, it seemed like maybe Goemon was getting just a little bit stale. So Konami went and gave the series a whole new facelift, with the New Age series. This may not seem like a bad idea - expect they decided that the goofy Japanese humor needed to replaced with some more Xtreme spiky hair action to appeal to the kiddies. So take a look at these:

Goemon

Ebisu

Sasuke MK II

Yui

So what in God's name happened here? Goemon has been turned into a punk character that looks like he stepped out of Digimon. Yui, the equivalent of Yae, has been transformed into a goddamned harlot. Sasuke has remained mostly untouched, but Ebisumaru has it the worst - he's been changed into a shy little girl that wields a hammer and has an adorable crush on Goemon. The setting is now in futuristic Japan, so you run along subway cars and rotting highways a la Mega Man X.

Goemon: Shin Sedai Shuumei is also extremely stripped down - like in Goemon 2 SFC and Oedo Daikaiten, there's an overworld map, and it's completely linear. There's no alternate paths, and very little in the way of hidden items to find. Two-player mode has gone missing entirely. Although you can still buy items, it's otherwise been turned into a straight up action-platformer.

Cutscene

Goemon Impact

Which isn't entirely a bad thing. You never need to go on fetch quests in the towns, speeding up the pace considerably. The level designs are still pretty decent, and while the scenery change is a little shocking, it is a breath of fresh air. Getting hit by a bad guy will make you drop an upgraded weapon, although it can be reclaimed if you're fast enough. The characters' special weapons are now fueled by batteries rather than coins. Goemon still has his trademark kiseru, although he now wields a badass laser gun as well.

Like Ooedo Daikaiten, the game runs in 2.5D, although the art direction is somewhat better this time around. The game starts out with an anime opening, which is pretty well produced. All of the ingame cutscenes use computer renderings, but they also look surprisingly decent. The story revolves around saving this futuristic city, with orders are given by a shadowy figure who looks suspiciously like the original Goemon.

So the makeover is still terrible and much of what makes the series unique has been thrown to the dogs. But despite these setbacks, Shin Sedai Shuumei still succeeds as a fun, challenging installment.

MP3s:
Intro
Stage 1