I always come back to this ever few years and today was one of those times. Significantly better than the previous game, which we got in the west as Legend of the Mystical Ninja, and at the very least much easier than I remember Goemon's Great Adventure being (heck I need to try and actually beat that thing someday).

A lot shorter than, say, your Mario Worlds, and less complex, but this isn't actually to its detriment! I can play every level and blow through this in an evening. There are only a couple of stinker auto-scrollers, but nothing that will really super ruin your day, and it's plenty forgiving with the consequences for dying.

And also the thing about being a smaller game is that every non-castle level has a unique song as far as I can tell! And every single one kicks ass! There are a boatload of cool gimmicks and fun unique animations spread through the levels, like one of the castles is food themed so you bounce around on bottles that pop you up and fight takoyaki robots. This was also the first game in the series to give us Impact The Giant Robot for big 3D first-person mecha battles, and while they obviously aren't as advanced as the ones you've played on the N64 there is no world in which a giant 3D first-person mecha battle isn't the coolest thing! Come on!!! It was also the first game you can play as Sasuke who is a robot ninja, so I always pick him. Yae is in this one but didn't get a playable spot until the next game sadly.

Love this game. Sitting in the uppermost tiers of platformers on the system but maybe like, one down from the very top. But really, the only thing keeping it down is the fact that you can play the N64 ones to get the cool Impact fights. If they were only here I'd be screaming at you to play this.

This was my first time playing with the English patch, which helped me find some secrets and is recommended for making things a little easier if you don't know Japanese, however I think I understand the plot less now.

Reviewed on Jan 08, 2023


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