Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Nintendo 64)

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
Also known as: Ganbare Goemon: Neo Momoyama Bakufu no Odori (JP) Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka Publisher: Konami Platform: Nintendo 64 Released in JP: August 7, 1997 Released in US: April 16, 1998 Released in EU: April 18, 1998 This game has unused animations. This game has unused areas. This game has unused objects. This game has unused abilities. This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article This game has a notes page

Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon was one of the few Goemon games to get localized. It wasn't a sidescroller like most previous Goemon games, but an average 3D platformer. At least it didn't replicate the PlayStation Goemon disaster.

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Notes

Debug Mode

A debug mode can be enabled using the following GameShark code:

Version	GameShark code
US	D00C7D3B 0020 800C7A94 000A
Japan	D00CD52B 0020 800CD284 000A
Europe	D00C8A3B 0020 800C8794 000A

(US version code: cen)

(JP version code: xdaniel)

(EU version code: Gilgamesh)

Once activated, simply press L at any time to bring up the menu. This menu can warp you to any room/scene in the game and is nicely categorized by type. Left and Right on the D-Pad will let you jump through room numbers in increments of 1, 10, or 100. "STAGENAI.NO" represents the per-category room number, and "STAGE.NO" represents overall room number. There are some broken/unused rooms lingering about.

PLAYER SELECT

• Sets the character you'll start as upon selecting a destination. Pretty self-explanatory.

MAIN

• Reloads the current room. Could possibly have done something else at one point.

SIRO

• Rooms 0-299. This category contains all rooms used by castles.

DOUCHU

• Rooms 300-349. This category contains all rooms used for "outside" areas that don't fall into any other category.

MACHI

• Rooms 350-399. This category contains all rooms used by towns.

SHOP

• Rooms 400-539. This category contains all rooms used for "indoor" areas like homes, shops, and fortune tellers.

BOMBER

• Rooms 540-543. This category contains all rooms used for the minigames played before the main Impact bosses.

3DBOSS

• Rooms 544-548. This category contains all rooms used for Impact bosses.

DAIMAP

• Rooms 549-560. This category's rooms all bring up the map. Actual purpose unknown.

OPENING

• Rooms 561-587. This category contains all the scenes of the game's cinematics.

GOPENING

• Rooms 588-606. This category's rooms all play the title cinematic.

BOSS3D.OP

• Rooms 607-612. This category is apparently a duplicate of 3DBOSS, but with two extra rooms that display the loading menu and a black screen, respectively.

DIARY

• Rooms 613-617. This category contains the loading menu and the data deletion menu, with the rest showing a black screen.

GOETEAM

• Like MAIN, it reloads the current room. The name suggests that it was meant to display the credits.

GAMEOVER

• When selected from any normal room in the game, it reloads the current room. If the player loses all their lives and dies, going to the debug menu during the Game Over sequence shows this item as the selected room.

Unused Impact Move

Present in Impact's special move function is this blue bullet attack. There is no longer any combination to normally use it. Apply the below code then press the GS button while in an Impact boss battle mode to replace your regular bullets with this.

Version	GameShark code
US	881D7967 0047
Japan	-
Europe	-

This will do 10 damage per hit that hits the boss. It will also allow you to hit the boss in any state.

(Source: Punk7890)

Unused Actors

Image	Actor Name	Notes
	Big Ryo Coin	Collecting this will give you +5 Ryo and no other bonuses.
	Small Wooden Box	A box you can pick up and throw.
	Large Wooden Box	A large box you can push and pull.
	Gatekeeper (standing with lantern)	An unused NPC that is a bit glitched. Normally he's invisible except when speaking to him. He also appears to be missing a part of his left arm. Poor guy.

(Source: Punk7890, Velyphus)

Unused Warp Locations

Awaji Island, and Gourmet Submarine Castle are among the possible unlock flags for warping to. There's also an extra warp location unlock flag for Folkypoke Village (dragon warp) as well. Witch's Home, is also a possible warp location, however there is no unlock flag for this location. Aside from Witch's Home, warping to the unused locations will not allow you to move your character. Apply the below codes to re-enable these locations.

Re-enable Unused Warp Unlock Flags

Version	GameShark code	Notes
US	8015C8E0 0001 8015C8E4 0001 8015C8E8 0001	Gourmet Submarine Castle Folkypoke Village (Press Left / Right an extra time while highlighted) Awaji Island
Japan	-
Europe	-

Festival Village = The Witch's Home

Version	GameShark code	Notes
US	89216EAC 0C2F 88216EB3 0038	Press GS button while on the warp screen then highlight Festival Village.
Japan	-
Europe	-

(Source: Punk7890, Chain Pipe)

Unused Animations

Present in the game remains several early hit animations. It appears at one point in development you could get pushed back by certain attacks and have a unique animation for said attacks. You would have been able to fall down based on where you were hit (from the front or back). These are fairly lengthy animations which is probably why they were cut. There are also duplicates of Yae's mermaid animations (dash, swim and death) unused for event scenes. Also unused are more duplicates of the burnt animation and death animations for event scenes which is a bit odd.

Replace crawling animation

Version	GameShark code
US	D11DECC0 2405 801DECC3 00??
Japan	-
Europe	-

Replace ?? with an unused value listed below.

24 Hit forward (unused)
25 Hit forward (falling down - unused)
26 Hit Backwards (unused)
27 Hit Backwards (falling down - unused)
28 Get up from hit forwards (unused)
29 Get up from hit forwards (different - unused)
2A Get back up forward (unused)
2B Get back up forward  (different - unused)
CA Yae Mermaid Dash (Event - unused)
CB Yae Mermaid Swim (Event - unused)
CD Yae Mermaid Death (Event - unused)
DC Death (Event - unused) 
DE Burnt (Event - unused)

(Source: Punk7890)

Unused Maps

These can be selected by using the debug menu. Many of these rooms are alternates of used versions.

SIRO

1 (Oedo Castle - Tile Room)

An alternate version of the tile room. This contains no floor enemy tiles and four pink robot girls. You can exit through one door that is oddly placed which will take you outside of the first gold locked door in the castle.

19 (Oedo Castle - Gold Key Room)

An alternate version of the gold key room. You start out in mid-air and drop down from the center. Contains only three pink robot girls, no door, and no key to obtain.

23 (Congo Boss Room)

An alternate version of the Congo boss battle room. This room normally crashes due to invalid actor group data. The Ryo coins in the screenshots above represent the actor placements in the map. The actor data that was originally present in this room was a dango, drum robot enemies (first appearance in Oedo Castle), and a silver key that would have been visible. The silver key appeared to have special flags attached to its actor that do nothing special.

28 (Oedo Castle - Final Room)

An alternate version of the final room. Contains lots of pots and gold dangos.

86 (Oedo Castle - 1st Elevator Room)

An alternate version of the first elevator room. Contains more enemies and has no loading zones.

128 (Submarine - Bazooka Room)

An alternate version of the Bazooka room. Contains no items but does contain a actor in the middle of the room but isn't clear what it is since it's not visible.

132 (Submarine - Unknown Room)

An empty map that has no textures. It does have collision and the only actor in the map is the glowing IN arrow sign. The second layer of the song plays here.

136 (Submarine - Red Ramen Corridor)

This map on console natively is a black void with an IN arrow sign actor and red water. When rendered on an emulator, it actually has a bit of a background with proper collision.

DOUCHU

43 (Mermaid Waterfall)

This map normally crashes due to invalid actor groups. When loaded, you're placed in the center of the map and fall down in the middle block near the waterfall. This map has no enemies, loading zones, is missing the waterfall itself, and the mini game.

46 (Shrine of Kompira Mountain)

Spawns you in the center of the room. You can donate but nothing happens. Contains no exits.

Note: This map likely only loads on hardware.

47 (Lake with Big Tree)

Contains many enemies and oddly placed objects like Sasuke's bombable walls, trees, and pots.

SHOP

5 (Restaurant - Unknown Town)

An empty restaurant map. Contains no actors. This is the 6th restaurant map in the game, possibly suggesting a 6th town. Contains no exits. Plays Oedo Town music.

16 (Shop - Unknown Town)

This is likely from a 6th town map no longer in the game. Contains no fixed camera angles, or exits. Plays Oedo Town music.

22 (Inn - Unknown Town)

An empty inn. This is likely from a 6th town map no longer in the game. Contains no fixed camera angles, or exits. Plays Oedo Town music.

27 (Plasma Man - Unknown Town)

Fully functional Plasma Man. This is likely from a 6th town map no longer in the game. When exiting, you'll be placed in the Oedo Castle stairs section.

28 (Plasma Man - Unknown Town)

Empty Plasma Man room. No exits.

34 (Awaji Island - Coffee Shop)

Contains no NPCs. Exit takes you to Oedo Castle stairs section.

42 (Guard House - Unknown Town)

No fixed camera angles and spawns you in the center of the map. Can't exit. Plays Awaji Island tourist music.

48 (House - Unknown Town)

Contains no exits or NPCs. No fixed camera angle. Plays Oedo Town music.

62 (Big House - Unknown Town)

Contains no exits or NPCs. No fixed camera angle. Plays Oedo Town music.

(Source: ZAR, Claude, Velyphus, Punk7890)

Unused Voices

Several early voiced character lines remain in the game. These are mostly alternate hit and attack grunts. There is also a decent amount of early Sasuke voiced lines here as well.

Goemon	Notes
	Alternate hurt grunt.
	Alternate attack grunt.
	Alternate climb grunt.

Ebisumaru	Notes
	Alternate attack grunt.
	Alternate attack grunt.
	Alternate hurt grunt.

Sasuke

(Source: Punk7890)

Hidden NPCs

By pressing All C buttons and A and B in specific rooms a hidden NPC will appear!

Currently known rooms that this works in:

• Folkypoke Village Entrance
• Festival Village Room with water
• Zazen Town room with Fortune Teller (second large town space)

Here are some images!

More coming soon, because right now there is not much known about this! In the meantime, here is what a couple say:

• Folkypoke Village Entrance:

Cat eyes:Want to buy some gifts?!
Dharma:400
Notice Board:600
Doll:800

Thank you very much.

We're sold out.

If the player purchases the items, Ryu will be decreased by the stated price, but nothing will appear in the inventory. If the player is to head back to Goemon's house, the room the player starts in at the very beginning of the game, they will see three newly added items. A Dharma doll on the dressor, a doll of the pink enemy (the first one you encounter in the entire game) and a sign that says "Ahead, the Folkypoke Village".

• Festival Village Room with water

A man and two dogs appear.

Maruyama: All work and no play
will just make you tired,
so Il'l introduce my dogs
to you!!

Matome: You say the name
is strange?
I say your speech is
stranger!

Terry: I'm sick of dog foods.

Terry:Arf! Bark! Bow-wow!

An "Osumu Maruyama" did work on enemy coding, but apart from a "Terue", the other two are absent, leaving this event's status as a developer Easter egg up for debate.

• Zazen Town

Entering the code here simply spawns a pickpocket that behaves as normal (steals 50 ryu if touched; can be swatted away).

Developer Text

TMM WORK CLEAR!!
**** WARNING in solid_atari.c : solid_init error ****
Adm_morph error
 -- Class pal --
D = %4x
palette = %x, pal_tbl = %x
dispatcher start:cfb pagge=[%x]
PLAYER
LEVEL[%4x] TSK[%8x] EXEC[%8x,%8x,%8x]
AMODEL[%8x] WAVE_NO[%4x]
dispatcher end
JCHR_tcb[%x] Net_sld_req OVER!!
JCHR_tcb[%x] Net_sld_req OVER!!
L->dalpha: %.1f
INC: %.1f (%.1f)
HOLD
DEC: %.1f
vpak_action: undefined action %d
motor_control: ???
Stage300
Stage301
Stage304
Stage315
Stage322
Stage324
Stage326
Stage330
Stage331
Stage300
Stage333
StageKurashiki
StageUni
StageAgito
StageAgito2
StageHagure
StageZazen
StageShugyo
StageOmatsu
StageEraya
StageIga
StageDouchu
StageImpact
StageDragon
StageSogen
ShopChamise
ShopHagure
ShopZazen
ShopErayatcha
ShopOmatsuri
ShopSogen
ShopUranai
StageOpening
StageBoss
StageKunimei
StageKanmon
StageEnding
StageMizuki
StageKageyama
StageDanshin
StageGojou
Stage313
?
scTalkStart started. MESSAGE:%d, Wave:%d, Addr:%08x
scrun: no scenario task?
scrunprepare: %08x
scrunPrepare: fatal: undecoded wave: %d.
次の行のコマンドを入力してください
echo "%d %%ene_vwave %s_sc" | mail usr01630
scrun: scenario end
%=: 0x%08x
scGetAddress: fatal: undecoded wave: %d.
次の行のコマンドを入力してください
echo "%d %%ene_vwave %s_sc" | mail usr01630
sc: B button cancel
player
player
player
player
shalon
baron
colon
danshin
polon
impact
korezou
koryuta
monoshiri
omitsu
ranko
****顔ウェーブ未展開 (%d)。展開登録せよ*******
次の行のコマンドを入力してください
echo "%d %%ene_wave sc_face_%s" | mail usr01630
wavecall: %d
sc_wave_decode: この関数は近いうちに消えます

Regional Differences

Title Screen

The North American and European title logos are very different from each other, though use the same font. Europe's design is closer to the original Japanese, as seen below. Interestingly, in Europe the same logo was reused for Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Game Boy), but in North America the Game Boy version's logo resembles the SNES game The Legend of the Mystical Ninja. Also, in the Japanese version, the polygonal background elements during the intro and title screen are in hi-resolution.

Japan	US	Europe

Other Differences

• The Japanese version has voice acting for the opening and ending cutscenes.
• The blocks that the Chain Pipe attaches to have a manji mark (卍) in the Japanese version but a star mark (★) in the international releases. This was probably changed to avoid confusion with the Nazi swastika (卐) which is right-facing. The left-facing manji is a symbol of fortune and Buddhism in Japan.
• The Old Wise Man, the creator of the robot enemies and Impact, had an obsession with hentai magazines in the Japanese release, which was changed to an obsession with car magazines in the other releases for obvious reasons. Since old men falling for younger women is considered a common joke in Japanese culture, the Old Wise Man's original hentai obsession made sense while the replacement made no sense at all.
• When taking damage against a corner in the Japanese version, you slightly went upward along with slight horizontal movement. This can be abused to skip the Chain Pipe weapon for Goemon completely. This was changed in the international versions, making it so you don't go upward at all but still get the horizontal movement.
• If you held the C-Button that brings up the map of Japan as you go through a loading zone in the Japanese version, all objects, enemies, and events will fail to load as long as the button is held down, although doing it on some maps will softlock the game for unknown reasons. This was fixed in the international releases.
• The waterfall minigame is very easy in the Japanese version, since you only need to stay on the left side of the waterfall and you'll never get hit by any of the fallen objects as they are set to only fall down in certain spots of the waterfall. The international releases fixed this exploit by making them fall in random spots.
• In the Japanese version, the laugh track sometimes plays when Impact fails to avoid the obstacles in the high-speed stages before the giant robot battles. This does not happen in the international versions.
• In the international versions, the laugh track does not play when the curtain is drawn after the performance of "Gorgeous My Stage".