Ganbare Goemon (がんばれゴエモン?, lit. "Go for it, Goemon!"), known as Goemon or Mystical Ninja in North America and the PAL region, is a long-running video game series produced by Konami. Ebisu Etsunobu is the joint producer of this franchise.
These games revolve around the main character, Goemon, and his exploits. As the name suggests, his character is loosely based on Ishikawa Goemon, the noble thief of Japanese folklore. While the early games of this title emphasized Goemon as a noble thief, he eventually becomes more of a standard video game hero character. His trademarks are his blue bushy hair and weapon of choice, the kiseru. The games are set in a cartoon-like, mystical Feudal Japan. Within this world, every bit of folklore and legend about Japan is true. Although the series has its roots in action adventure, the Ganbare Goemon series has features from genres including RPG, puzzle games, and board games. Ganbare Goemon has proven to be widely popular in Japan with its many video games, with its success spawning a wide series of merchandise and an anime and manga series.
Only five of its games have been released overseas: The Legend of the Mystical Ninja for the Super Nintendo, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon and Goemon's Great Adventure for the Nintendo 64 and two titles for the Game Boy.
The last original game of the series was Ganbare Goemon: Tōkai Dōchū Ōedo Tengu ri Kaeshi no Maki, released exclusively in Japan for the Nintendo DS in 2005. Since then, the series has been used primarily as themes for Konami's pachislot machines. The future of the series is uncertain.
