Bouken Jidai Katsugeki - Goemon
Bouken Jidai Katsugeki - Goemon is a PlayStation 2 role-playing game released in 2000 developed by Konami. It centers on area and route exploration, area exploration, and combat and party setup, with controls and information arranged around the DualShock 2 twin analog sticks, directional pad, shoulder and face buttons, with a dedicated peripheral only where explicitly required.
- AI score · out of 10
- 7.0 / 10
About this game
Bouken Jidai Katsugeki - Goemon is a PlayStation 2 role-playing game centered on area and route exploration, area exploration, and combat and party setup. Story beats, exploration, and progression resources support a longer campaign, with progress divided into stages, tasks, matches, or growth milestones that make immediate goals understandable. Its value depends on whether these rules continue to create judgment and room for mastery rather than on length, sales, or series recognition. Short campaigns are judged by repeat-challenge value, while longer ones are judged by variety, pacing, and recovery after failure. Characters, world building, environments, and music carry most of the atmosphere, while 3D scenes, streamed data, cinematics, surround audio, and interlaced television output need to preserve action and state readability together. The genre-specific limitation is that dense text, menu layers, repeated battles, loading, or language dependence can slow progress. Platform conditions also include DVD loading, the 8MB Memory Card, analog sticks and pressure-sensitive buttons, Multitap, Network Adapter, dedicated peripherals, and retired online services affect present-day use. This description covers only this platform release and does not import features or conveniences from remasters, emulators, or other console editions.
Collected in series
Mystical Ninja is Konami’s Goemon series, mixing a comic version of old Japan with unlikely machines and playful detours. You fight through enemies, explore towns and tackle platforming challenges, with different entries adding diversions such as minigames and giant robot battles.
Recommended games
Related game recommendations on this platform
PlayStation 2
AI review
AI reviews are subjective assessments, not player ratings. See each review for its evidence and limitations.Published date:
An appealing adventure with conspicuous navigation friction.
Bouken Jidai Katsugeki Goemon places familiar characters in a more serious parallel world, using the relationship between humans and spirits to give the journey emotional direction. Dialogue and music support that distinctive mood. Snowfields, ruins, castles and stealth sections vary exploration, while bosses make use of three-dimensional spaces rather than repeating one encounter. Kotora's support contributes less to combat and puzzles than it could, and other familiar companions are not playable. Sparse hints sometimes obscure necessary routes or wall kicks. The camera frequently needs manual recentering, with dark underwater areas especially disorienting. Players willing to accept the different tone can find a worthwhile adventure, but must tolerate detours and awkward viewpoints. The animated opening also depicts abilities and enemies absent from the actual campaign.
Strengths
- Distinctive locations and boss encounters
- Emotionally engaging characters and music
Weaknesses
- Underused companion and limited playable cast
- Sparse hints and awkward camera navigation
Who it is for: Goemon fans and three-dimensional adventure players open to a serious reinterpretation.
Play notes: Only Goemon is playable; some opening-animation abilities and enemies are absent from the campaign.
View scoring basis
| Dimension | Review state | Score | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimension Varied locations and activities engage, but insufficient guidance can stall progress. | Reviewed | 7.0 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Three-dimensional exploration and distinctive bosses sustain the adventure, but companion interaction is underused. | Reviewed | 7.4 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension The human-spirit story and music lend emotional appeal to a distinctive serious adventure. | Reviewed | 7.5 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Manual camera recentering and disorienting dark underwater areas hinder navigation. | Reviewed | 5.5 / 10 | Not provided |
Review sources
Not provided
Core information
- Developer
- Konami
- Publisher
- Konami
- Release date
- 2000
- Platforms
- PlayStation 2
- Content kind
- Game
- Release state
- Released
- Region
- Worldwide
- Official website
- Not provided
- Offline minimum players
- Not provided
- Offline maximum players
- Not provided
- Online minimum players
- Not provided
- Online maximum players
- Not provided
- Categories
- Role-Playing · Primary genreAdventure
- Tags
- Main Story 20–50 HoursExplorationStory-drivenThird PersonTurn-based CombatSolo-friendlyLevel ProgressionLong-term ProgressionFantasy3D Graphics
- Supported game languages
- Not provided
- Requires base game
- Not provided
- Standalone
- Not provided
- Age ratings
- Not provided
- Play modes
- Single player
- Perspectives
- Not provided
Release editions
- PlayStation 2Worldwide2000
Game gallery
Sources
Not provided