

Goemon: New Age Shutsudou! is one of those GBA games that just oozes personality from the first second. You start off as Goemon—pipe in hand, sandals slapping against rooftops—and immediately get thrown into this weird, vibrant world where ninjas and robots somehow coexist. The controls feel tight, and that first level does a great job easing you in before ramping up the chaos.
What surprised me was how much variety there is. One minute you're platforming across floating islands, the next you're smacking enemies with your pipe in a side-scrolling brawl. The art style nails that classic Goemon charm—bright colors, exaggerated expressions, and enemies that look like they stepped out of a Japanese folktale gone rogue.
And yeah, the soundtrack slaps. There’s this one track in the second stage with shamisen riffs that’s been stuck in my head for days. If you’ve played older Goemon games, you’ll spot little callbacks everywhere, but it doesn’t rely on nostalgia to carry it. Just a solid, fast-paced action game with enough humor to keep things from feeling repetitive.
Definitely worth dusting off the GBA for this one.
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