🐚🐚 Anouncement!! 🐚 🐚
Project Goemon now has its own site:
https://t.co/dwWJPZaIJR
I will put up new articles on Patreon as usual (at least a week in advance—with maybe some exclusive stuff) but the definitive versions of the articles will be at the Project Goemon site.
@KingWario A lot of this is academic, though. Looking at the status of dev teams at Konami, the company had read the tea leaves and most of its efforts were focused on the PSX. The Nintendo teams had to fend for themselves. I wish Konami had given more support to Goemon in general.
Ganbare Goemon~Daishūgō!~, the compilation of 13 Ganbare Goemon games on the Famicom, Super Famicom, and Game Boy/Game Boy Color, will be released in three weeks, so I thought it would be nice to discuss the compilation and the games included.
@KingWario Similar factors made N64 games less attractive to consumers, too. N64 had to be greta games for customers to spend so much money, and additions like memory cards can be deterrents.
@KingWario Third-parties were at a severe disadvantage with the N64. They had to release bigger, more complex games at a cheaper price than SFC games while ROM carts became more expensive. AND Nintendo released their games cheaper and with memory backup. Very few 3rd-parties made any money
@ninfiali Something I’ve suspected is that Goemon’s sales numbers were hurt by the fact that they were largely two-player games from Goemon 2 onwards. I suspect Daishūgō will be the best-selling entry due to the nostalgia and the reasonable price point.
@ninfiali As far as I am aware, Konami has never released reliable sales numbers for the Goemon series (as well as other series). From what I can gather, the top 2 best-selling games were Karakuri Dōchū and Yukihime. Number 3 was maybe Gaiden?
@KingWario I mean, this was a console whose best-selling game in Japan was MK64 (1.71m) and the best-selling 3rd-party game was either Pawapuro 6 or Shiren 2, (~300k). The reaction the games got outside Japan was also oversized in comparison to their sales performance. All eyes were on PSX.
@KingWario I think the fan community really stepped up during the N64 era—probably helped in part by the passion of Goemon Production Committee/KCEO/KCEK. The games were also featured heavily in magazines, but MNSG being single-player (+needing a memory card) was a mark against it.
@KingWario I can’t speak for Japanese gamers at the time, but it was a cascade of factors that caused it: staying on a Nintendo platform, having lackluster PSX games, and then being ignored by Konami as well. Like you say, only the loyal fans stayed, especially after Kuru Nara Koi.
@ninfiali Yes, I think that’s one factor. They are one of the rare few Goemon games that were localized and released outside Japan, so they do have an oversized position. AFAIA, they sold well (around 200K), but not as well as the SFC games, not to mention the FC games.
In Daishūgō! we are getting a baker's dozen of classic Goemon games. I imagine if it sells well, there could be another compilation with the 3 N64 games, 4 PSX games, the other games on the Game Boy, the NDS, the PS2, plus the MSX2 and GBA ports & the 2 pachinko games? Unlikely…
There's been some discussion online, esp. among fans outside Japan, about the game selection. Overall, I think it makes sense. In Japan, Goemon is strongly associated with the Famicom and Super Famicom—beyond that, Goemon became a thing of the past and gradually forgotten.