Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Nintendo 64)

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:

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#

Watch on YouTube

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.

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

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.

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

Festival Village = The Witch's Home

Unused Animations#

Watch on YouTube

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

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)

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)#

Watch on YouTube

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.

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.

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 they 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

Sound#

The Japanese version features voice acting for the opening and ending cutscenes, unlike in the English versions. The actual sound files are still included, but are left unused because their calls are omitted from the English translation, and can be re-enabled with fan mods.

In the Japanese version, the laugh track will sometimes plays when Impact fails to avoid the obstacles in the high-speed stages before the giant robot battles, and after the curtain is drawn after the performance of "Gorgeous My Stage". The English version doesn't play this sound effect, but it's still in the ROM.

Graphics#

Returning from the Japan-exclusive Ganbare Goemon 2 on the Super Famicom are the manji blocks where the Chain Pipe can attach to help the player go across chasms and progress in levels. The localization team saw it fit to change their texture from a manji (卍) to a star mark (★), since players might associate it more readily with nazi swatsikas (卐) than a symbol of fortune and Buddhism like in Japan.

Bug Fixes#

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.

Translation Changes#

While not as pronounced as the SNES game, and the localization team embraced the weirdness of the game, even using raunchy advertisements to promote it in the West, they still were not confident that some of its humor would go over well, so some of its story elements were toned down.

The Old Wise Man was a recurrent character in the series who was a lustful elder obsessed with younger women, on top of his role as the inventor of friendly and enemy mechanical creations. In this game, he's seen obsessing over hentai magazines in the Japanese release, but this was changed to car magazines for English releases.

Some of the more crude language was simplified in the English version to variations of "weirdo".