Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release: 03/22/96 Genre: Action
Being a Ganbare Goemon fan has not been easy. The vast majority of the series never left Japan and even in the age of fan translations it is only in the last few years that many of the titles are finally accessible in English. The 32-bit generation is still the lost years as only the Nintendo 64 games were officially localized. That was for the best; many of the PlayStation outings were of…dubious quality. Ganbare Goemon Uchuu Kaizoku Akoginzu is the first and probably the best on Sony’s machine as it plays it safe. Considering how good these games are that is a good thing.
In space the space pirate Akogingu attacks a lone ship. Despite their best efforts the ship crashes on Earth in Edo Japan. Goemon, Ebisumaru and newcomer Goroku investigate and find space cop Baban who informs them Akogingu and his forces have come to Earth in search of Turtle Ore for some unknown but dastardly purpose and must be stopped.
Ganbare Goemon Uchuu Kaizoku Akoginzu harkens back to the gameplay of the third SNES game. Ganbare Goemon 3 was heavily inspired by A Link to the Past with its action RPG trappings. Sasuke and Yae are replaced with Goroku and Baban who bring new moves to the table. Goroku can push and pull heavy blocks and destroy weak walls. Baban can float for a few seconds after each jump and his charged attack homes in on enemies. Everyone has two weapons, a melee attack and a secondary weapon like Ebisumaru’s shuriken or Goroku’s rocks. New to the game is an experience system that powers up and changes your attack at each level. You will not have to worry about grinding as there are only four levels and you will hit the max long before the finale by playing normally.
The world in Ganbare Goemon 3 was one large map. Uchuu Kaizoku Akoginzu separates its map into four regions that you cannot freely travel back and forth through. Each area has a hub town but they are not as interesting despite the game’s best efforts. The activities that made the previous games so lively like mini-games and side quests have been removed. Aside from buying items and searching for cat dolls to increase your maximum health you spend your time in each town doing busy work. Part of what made this game impenetrable is that NPCs give specific instructions to advance the story like jumping in front of a particular statue five times or backtracking multiple times between two points. It does not flesh out the world but is instead tedious.
The action levels fare better. The level design and pacing is good but not great. Uchuu Kaizoku Akoginzu maintains the same goofy humor of the series with wacky enemies and bosses. The reason I say the game plays it safe is that it feels restrained. The later SNES games went balls to the wall with action, weapons, and fantastic level design. Every character made ample use of their abilities and it was great. Here it feels like Konami are afraid to rock the boat too much. When it is good it is great. The Japanese temple is the longest and varied in the game and will remind you of the series’ best. But then you have the castle which is straightforward and boring. The few Goemon Impact battles are great and offer a reprieve from the game’s lowest moments. A little more consistency would elevate this game.
The Goemon series has always been easy. Uchuu Kaizoku Akoginzu is frustrating more than difficult. Fortune dolls are easy to find and you can come close to maximizing your life bar with minimal effort. You will need the health as the levels are long with few checkpoints. You can grind for gold to buy items to reduce damage and restore life but they help very little. The platforming is sloppy and imprecise, especially when using Ebisumaru’s hook swing which the game calls on a lot. This is a far cry from what I have come to expect from this series.
The cheap hits pile up and reach their peak during the drawn out boss battles. Mechanically they are not challenging outside of the one or two that the game does not communicate their mechanic properly. The problem is they have entirely too many hit points leading to fights that drag on to the point of monotony. Once again when the game hits the balance between mechanics and difficulty it is fantastic. But when they fail they fail hard. Despite my misgivings Uchuu Kaizoku Akoginzu never reaches the point where I regretted playing it, far from it. You can see the potential and wonder what if.
In Closing
Ganbare Goemon Uchuu Kaizoku Akoginzu is a good entry in the series that won’t knock your socks off but still entertains with solid action. It does not reach the heights of the fantastic SNES games but is still better than most of the PlayStation’s 2d platformers. Enjoy this one, outside of the N64 games it is downhill from here.
