Does anyone remember the last time the mystical ninja Goemon made an appearance here in the States? It’s been a long while, but fans will want to take note of the fact that Konami recently purchased the domain goemon.com. This could imply that the company has plans for the series, but not necessarily, and maybe not even a full video game even if so. As for the Mystical Ninja crew’s own reaction:
In the west, we received Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon on different platforms including the Game Boy, N64, and 3DS virtual console (those were two different games with the same name, by the way). Legend of the Mystical Ninja released on the SNES and Wii and Wii U virtual consoles, and Goemon’s Great Adventure came finally to the N64 in 1998. Aside from the games, numerous manga were written, plus an anime television series that received English dubs. Lastly, two thirty-minute OVAs (original video animations) hit the screen with their own plot.
Goemon has been more active in his homeland of Japan, most recently seeing a 2011 pachislot machine game. And with that, cue the obligatory/cynical pachinko machine comments. It’s worth noting that Konami always owned the Mystical Ninja franchise, and a trip to the domain they just bought reveals nothing but a blank page. It’s entirely possible that the company is simply grabbing up domains for their IPs, in which case we might see some other site names being bought out, if that’s what’s going on here.
What this all boils down to is that western fans should keep their eyes and ears open and hold their applause, but not their breath. Goemon continues in Japan, and if Konami does indeed plan a new game, there’s no guarantee our shores will get to see it localized. The possibility exists, of course, and at this point it’s far too early to try and make a prediction one way or the other.