We all played a ton of the Diablo 4 beta this past weekend, and we were all also lucky enough to play Redfall recently as well. We’ve got a LOT of thoughts about both. Join us!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out our interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Over three years after its initial release, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners remains one of my favorite VR games, holding its ground next to the likes of Half-Life: Alyx and Gran Turismo 7 VR. That’s why it was such a major disappointment when its long-awaited sequel, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution, was released as a Meta Quest 2 exclusive back in December. It came with a slurry of bugs and performance issues that left such a middling taste in my mouth that I genuinely wondered whether it was even intended as a sequel to begin with, especially given the lack of a proper PC VR version at the time. Fast forward three months and we now have a PC re-release, plus a PlayStation VR2 version that visually blows everything about the original Quest 2 release out of the water. It’s still not quite as polished as Chapter 1, and its ideas are safer than I would’ve hoped for a full-blown sequel, but its increased action is far tenser with the horsepower to sustain it.
Assuming you’ve heard absolutely nothing about The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners or its sequel, it’s basically a VR roleplaying game that uses a mishmash of survival horror elements to propel its branching storyline. This formula usually does a good job of adding tension to its action and exploration. In my own playthrough of the 2020 breakout hit, I got involved in complex faction politics between all the looting and surviving, but through my choices, I influenced my own personal stakes in a post-apocalyptic New Orleans. Chapter 2 seems to mostly do away with these kinds of choices across its 12-or-so-hour campaign, disappointingly railroading me into a set path, but featuring way more opportunities for combat to try and make up for it. Moreover, it expected me to know the original’s story pretty well, doing the absolute minimum to bring me up to current events.
Story aside, there’s nothing I love more than darkness in a survival horror VR game, where a swarm of flesh-eating monsters can potentially creep into view and outnumber me at any moment. So it’s great to see that the PlayStation VR2’s HDR OLED panels display dark scenes with such accuracy that playing Chapter 2: Retribution on this headset is – quite literally – a night-and-day difference from playing on a Quest 2. True blacks breathe life into Chapter 2’s biggest new addition over the original: night missions. Crawling around the dilapidated Rampart High School at night was once more annoying than it was spooky, but on the PS VR2, it’s downright terrifying.
It’s such a big difference that I found myself actually enjoying Chapter 2: Retribution’s story, though still not for its lackluster characters like the overly-talkative Pawn King and the single-minded group of ragtag rebels you’re basically expected to team up with. The original worked so well because its sparse interactions with NPC characters blended into a story about a vulnerable lone survivor making their way and defining themselves through their own actions, but there really isn’t the same sort of leeway here for subtlety in Chapter 2. I found myself disappointingly locked into a linear series of events where I absolutely must face retribution for deeds I might not have even chosen to do if I didn’t play the original and that I didn’t even really remember doing when I played it back in 2020. Its momentum can be jarring at times, especially given how little time we’re given to connect with the decently-voiced but boringly one-note characters, but if you prefer action combat over dialogue, there’s plenty here to enjoy.
The PS VR2 displays dark scenes with way more accuracy.
Chapter 2’s hectic new weapons like the Chainsaw and the Sawed-Off Shotgun come in clutch during the aforementioned night missions, where Retribution’s biggest payoffs await. Loot is wildly better at night when I’m brave enough to seek it out, but walkers are more aggressive and far more numerous, leading to unintentionally climactic showdowns between myself and the ravenous horde. These intense walker battles only showed a promising start on the Quest 2 – but thanks to the thicker guts of the PS5, these skirmishes finally came to life in frightening detail on the PlayStation VR2, where a much larger number of enemies could spawn on the same map. I often needed to sneak through, redirect, or fend off entire swarms of walkers, forcing me to make intelligent use of all the tools in my arsenal. Mixed with the haptic feedback of the Sense controllers and the 3D audio in my Pulse headphones, the whole experience was way more coherent on the PS VR2 than I remember it being when I played it just three months ago on the Meta Quest 2.
There isn’t too much new content here, given that only a handful of the 12 zones are new at all. Most of the time you’ll just be wandering around in the original world to scavenge for loot and complete quests. But thanks to performance improvements, human AI is once again as vicious and tactical as I remember it being in the original, leading to unexpected scenarios between myself, hostile humans, and prowling walkers. And with the added difficulty comes a reason to approach situations with more nuance. For instance, I can focus my fire on a single human, killing them in a way that allows them to turn – creating a distraction behind enemy lines as I close the gap between myself and my opponents. These dynamic situations are way more interesting than the forced setup with axe-wielding secondary antagonist Gerrick, who notably looks a bit creepier with increased details that finally indicate what that weird red stuff hanging around his neck in the Quest 2 version was. Spoiler alert: it’s walker entrails. It was always walker entrails.
It’s even more satisfying to return to my home camp with a fresh load of loot after a day’s adventure, and this time around, I’m not worried about breaking anything if I choose to decorate my abode with loose items. Collecting items and dropping them into your recycling bin allows you to level up your crafting stations, making you more powerful and better equipped to head back out the next day, and despite the addition of two new crafting stations that introduce interesting new items like the Sap Gloves, Laser Sights, and the SMG, this loop is pretty much unchanged from the original. That said, the story itself still isn’t quite as intricate, often sending me on fetch quests where I fight the same type of enemies over and over again. You’ll spin those wheels as things heat up between you and the main antagonist, who’s loomed over your time in New Orleans since the first chapter.
Framerates are at least way more consistent now, allowing the action to run smoothly at what appears to be 90hz with no reprojections. Unfortunately, there are still a frustrating number of glitches that likely stem from this aging corpse of a game engine. To be clear: I ran into several experience-ruining bugs on the PS VR2 which likely had nothing to do with the hardware itself, and the two biggest offenders were significantly worse than many of the problems I ran into when I reviewed the Quest 2 version last year. About five hours into my PS VR2 playthrough, a quest completely stopped updating with new progress, forcing me to scrap my save altogether and start anew. Later on, during my new playthrough, I ended up in a situation where I was hindered from finishing a quest because a group of enemy humans cheap-shotted me and camped out by my corpse, seeing and shooting me through walls and floorboards and rendering me unable to retrieve to my weapons, which I couldn’t survive without.
Minecraft is a phenomenon that continues to take the world by storm even 12 years after its full release. Selling over 238,000,000 copies worldwide, the game is just as captivating an experience now as it was upon its debut..
If you are among those that have yet to jump into the blocky digital world of one of the best-selling video games of all time, you may be surprised to hear there are multiple ways for you to play Minecraft (and its various spinoffs) for free!
Minecraft Free Trial
For those wanting to get a taste of the endless hours of entertainment that Minecraft can provide, but are yet unwilling to pay the entry fee, there is in fact a free trial of both Bedrock and Java versions of the game. Via Minecraft’s official website, you can access links that will lead to the download pages for the Bedrock Edition, available on Windows, Android, PS3/4/5, and PS Vita.
In terms of the Java Edition, which is available exclusively to Windows, Mac, and Linux, an additional set of links are available lower down on the same page, with specific instructions on how to download and install each respective version.
The free trial (regardless of the Edition or your platform) is the full game as paying customers would experience it; there is no barred content that will be inaccessible. To ensure this isn’t exploited, you have a time limit imposed once you begin the trial. The time limit varies from platform to platform, but always averages out at around 90-100 minutes, equating to around 5 in-game days.
Whilst the restriction can be frustrating, this is more than enough time to try out the various mechanics in the game, and familiarise yourself with the gameplay loop if you’re uncertain as to whether you’ll enjoy it. If you’re considering buying Minecraft on your preferred platform, this is the optimum way to experience the game a little and know for sure before you spend your money.
Play Minecraft Classic for Free
As part of the 10 year anniversary for Minecraft back in 2019, Mojang released a completely free, browser-based version of the original build of Minecraft creative mode for you to enjoy. As this version is a replica of the OG mode, there are only 32 blocks available to use, it contains all the original bugs that were part of that version. Also, because it’s browser-based, you are unable to save your builds should you close the browser.
Upon generation of a world, you can copy the link it creates and share it with up to nine friends, letting you all play together! Whether you’re wanting a nostalgia trip to where it all began or fancy dipping your toe in for the first time, you can access this free version of Minecraft at https://classic.minecraft.net/.
Play Minecraft on Game Pass
An obvious inclusion for those in the know, Xbox and PC Players who have an Xbox Game Pass subscription can access Minecraft for “free” as part of their subscription, though you’ll need to continue paying the subscription to keep your access to the game. To play Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition with Game Pass on PC, you’ll just need to install the Java & Bedrock Edition from the Microsoft Store page or from the Xbox app for PC. You can then install and play each separate version from within the Minecraft launcher!
For Xbox players, you can install Minecraft on your Xbox if you have an active Game Pass Ultimate or Game Pass for Console subscription.
Other Minecraft Games and Spinoffs
Minecraft Dungeons, the hack and slash dungeon crawler released in 2020, is similarly available on Game Pass for subscribers. For PlayStation players, Minecraft Dungeons was included as a PlayStation Plus monthly free game for March 2023. If you didn’t redeem the title during its availability however, you’ll need to purchase the game should you wish to play it.
Similarly for PlayStation players, the full version of Minecraft’s base game is not available to download and play via PlayStation Plus. If you wish to play the game beyond the free trial, you’ll need to purchase it via the PlayStation Store.
For those that are looking for a more narrative-focused Minecraft tale, there was Minecraft: Story Mode, an episodic point-and-click adventure from Telltale Games. Minecraft: Story Mode is however unavailable on any/all platforms after being discontinued due to the closure of Telltale Games in 2018. This means that unless you already have the game downloaded and installed on your platform of choice, you will be unable to play this game.
One final game to mention is Minecraft Legends, an action-strategy spinoff set for release on April 18th, 2023. The price for the game will vary depending upon your chosen platform, though if you have a Game Pass subscription, the game will be available for free day of release.
As we inch closer to the release date of Arkane Studios’ first-person shooter Redfall, it has been confirmed that it will not be using Unreal Engine 5.
Harvey Smith said in a WccfTech interview that the game will be running on Unreal Engine 4. He noted that while they were developing the game, “Halfway through the project, Epic came up with Unreal Engine 5, but the game is based on Unreal Engine 4.26. If we had more time, we would have probably gone with UE5, but it was a lot of work just upgrading to 4.26.”
It is worth mentioning that Arkane has said in the past that they wouldn’t be using Unreal Engine 5. Over on the Redfall FAQ page, you’ll find a question asking, “What game engine is Redfall utilizing?” with the answer being Unreal Engine 4.
Redfall is the most recent title to come out of Arkane Studios. The game is projected to come out on May 2, 2023, for PC and Xbox Series X|S. There was originally going to be a PlayStation 5 version of the game, but Microsoft scrapped it when it acquired Bethesda, Smith revealed in a recent interview with IGN France.
Luis Joshua Gutierrez is a freelance writer who loves games. You can reach him at @ImLuisGutierrez on Twitter.
A representative with the Orange Country District Attorney, which originally filed the charges, told IGN that they were dropped today as “we did not have sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt,” in addition to “additional information that came to light during the investigation.”
“I commend the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for conducting a thorough review of the facts and deciding to dismiss the case against Justin,” Roiland’s attorney, T. Edward Welbourn, told IGN in a statement. “I’m thankful justice has prevailed.”
Roiland also broke his silence today, speaking publicly on Twitter for the first time since the allegations became public.
“I have always known that these claims were false – and I never had any doubt this day would come,” Roiland tweeted.
“I’m thankful that this case has been dismissed but, at the same time, I’m still deeply shaken by the horrible lies that were reported about me during this process.”
“Most of all,” he continued, “I’m disappointed that so many people were so quick to judge without knowing the facts, based solely on the word of an embittered ex trying to bypass due process and have me ‘canceled.’ That it may have succeeded, even partially, is shameful. However, now that the legal case has ended, I’m determined to move forward and focus both on my creative projects and restoring my good name.”
The domestic violence charges, which were filed in May of 2020 over an alleged incident in January of that year, first became public early this year. At the time, Roiland had been charged with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury, and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, and/or deceit against an anonymous Jane Doe that he had been dating at the time.
Over a dozen hearings had already been held over the charges, and Roiland was next due back in court on April 27.
After the charges came to light, a number of companies cut ties with Roiland, including Adult Swim, where Roiland was co-creator, executive producer, and voice actor on Rick & Morty.
Additionally, Squanch Games, which released Roiland’s High on Life late last year, also revealed in a statement that Roiland had resigned from the company, and Hulu announced that it would no longer work with him on their comedies Solar Opposites and Koala Man.
Still, Roiland had very little creative impact on all the above shows, as reported in a THR article and confirmed by IGN sources. Rick & Morty is still on production on its upcoming seventh season.
Thumbnail credit: Leon Bennett/WireImage
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Redfall was also in development for PlayStation 5 before Microsoft acquired Bethesda, according to the game’s director. This version was ultimately canceled and the game became exclusive to Microsoft platforms.
In an interview with IGN France, Arkane’s Harvey Smith explained, “We got bought by Microsoft and that was a huge sea change. They said, ‘no PlayStation 5. Now we’re gonna do Game Pass, Xbox, and PC.’”
Originally, Redfall was meant to release on all platforms. Smith said that the studio didn’t mind that decision, however. He continued, “Support from Game Pass and have to worry about one less platform, one less complexity. And Game Pass has a ton of people that can play. It could be our biggest game ever because of the 30 million Game Pass [members] or whatever that number is.”
Since Microsoft acquired Bethesda, both Starfield and Redfall were confirmed to be Microsoft exclusives while Microsoft still honored Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo’s timed console exclusivity periods on PlayStation 5. Redfall’s now-canceled PlayStation 5 version is also an interesting revelation considering Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Still, Microsoft has reiterated that it will keep franchises such as Call of Duty on multiple platforms in order to reach as many players as possible. Microsoft has even signed 10-year deals with Nintendo and other cloud gaming service companies.
In IGN’s Redfall preview, we said, “If Arkane Austin can bring its own version of the kind of innovation [Far Cry 2 and STALKER] did back in the late 2000s, then Redfall could well inject a static genre with some long-overdue excitement.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
At GDC 2023, Epic Games held a State of Unreal event, where the company unveiled the latest updates for Unreal Engine. We got a fresh look at some new tools coming soon to creators, as well as how some of these tools are being used in upcoming games like Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.
If you missed the livestream, here’s a quick roundup of everything announced during the 2023 State of Unreal event.
Unreal Editor For Fortnite allows players to develop their own games inside the popular Battle Royale
Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) is a new add-on available for the PC version of Fortnite. As Epic Games notes, the application works side-by-side with Fortnite’s existing creative toolset and is to be used for “designing, developing, and publishing games and experiences directly into Fortnite.” UEFN also includes a new scripting language called “Verse,” which Epic notes is a “powerful customization capabilities such as manipulating or chaining together devices and the ability to easily create new game logic.”
The Unreal Editor for Fortnite is available now on the Epic Games Store as a public beta.
Ninja Theory is Using MetaHuman Animator to push the “boundaries of realtime facial animation”
We already knew that Ninja Theory is hard at work on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. And during today’s State of Unreal presentation, we got to see a sneak peek at how the developer is taking advantage of the new tools provided by Unreal Engine, and how it is using MetaHuman Animator to provide realistic facial animations on the its characters.
MetaHuman Animator will allow creators to use an iPhone or a stereo helmet-mounted camera to “reproduce any facial performance as high-fidelity animation” on MetaHuman characters. Epic touts that this new feature will allow creators to “capture the individuality, realism, and fidelity of your actor’s performance, and transfer every detail and nuance onto any MetaHuman to bring them to life in Unreal Engine.”
Epic Demos and Details New Features Coming to Unreal Engine 5.2
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and Unreal Engine head Nick Penwarden shared new information on Unreal Engine 5.2. The company teamed up with EV manufacturer Rivian to create the stunning Electric Dreams demo to demonstrate some new things developers can do.
Unreal Engine 5.2 will roll out new features, most notably, Substrate, a new method that will offer those using Unreal Engine 5 “more control over the look and feel of objects used in real-time applications,” including games.
More interestingly, Epic notes that Unreal Engine 5.2 will introduce the Procedural Content Generation Framework (PCG) during the State of Unreal Presentation. Epic claims that these new in-editor and run-time PCG tools will allow artists to “define rules and parameters to quickly populate expansive, highly detailed spaces” faster and more efficiently.
Everything Else from State of Unreal 2023
Epic announced it was consolidating its digital asset stores into one huge marketplace that will launch later this year. Called Fab, this new store will provide available assets in the Unreal Engine Marketplace, Quixel Bridge, Artstation Marketplace, and Sketchfab.
The company also announced “Creator Economy 2.0,” which is launching alongside UEFN to allow those that use the Fortnire Island creators to receive more money based on how much engagement their published content receives. Additionally, Epic pledged that 40 percent of the game’s net revenues would be put back into a pool for creators.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Welcome back to Forgotten Gems, my column about games that have faded but shouldn’t be forgotten. Last time, I took at a look at the unexpected return of one of Square’s most unique 16-bit RPGs, Live a Live. While there may be no happy ending this time, hopefully you’ll still enjoy this look back at an entire game series that almost all but faded from public discourse: Goemon, Konami’s Mystical Ninja.
Namco has Pac-Man. SEGA’s got Sonic. Nintendo has Mario. Konami’s got… Frogger? Twinbee? The Parodius Octopus? It’s honestly a bit surprising that one of the most prolific game developers of the ‘80s took so long to develop a stable of recognizable characters; let alone a core company mascot. Before it became known for the exploits of the Belmonts and Solid Snake, Konami dazzled us more with clever concepts like Time Pilot, Gyruss, and Track & Field, as well as competent game adaptations of animated shows like TMNT or the Simpsons.
Enter the Ninja
But the roots for Konami’s own Mario were already taking hold in 1986 when it released Mr. Goemon. Based on Japan’s 16th-century Robin Hood, the outlaw Ishikawa Goemon, Mr. Goemon is an unusual platformer. For one, it took its art style from famous woodblock prints depicting kabuki enactments of the folk legend, but more importantly, it played very differently from platformers of the age. Whereas bumping into enemies in its contemporaries would mean losing a life or taking damage, Mr. Goemon is an oddly-controlling, hectic jump ’n’ run in which you can push and shove your enemies as you infiltrate enemy fortresses. Goemon can use a “kiseru” pipe to smack his enemies or toss gold coins and other pick-ups, including the famous Japanese maneki-neko cat figurines.
If all that sounds unconventional and confusing, you should know that these kiseru pipes weren’t just for smoking. They became quite the rage among Japanese warriors, who would carry iron or brass pipes and use them as weapons when they didn’t have access to their swords. As for throwing those oval koban coins, gourds, and nekos – that’s vintage, economical video game character development on display right there. Being an honorable outlaw, Goemon allegedly gave to the poor – thus, he has no need for money and happily tosses around symbols of good luck, such as hyotan gourds and cat figurines.
Mr. Goemon was not a hit. But Konami clearly liked the idea of “owning” a truly Japanese video game hero enough to greenlight a completely different Goemon game for home consoles and computers before Mr. Goemon was even in arcades. Released in July 1986, Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Douchuu lays the foundation for an entire series of unique platformers in an alt-history, mechanized Japan. “Ganbare!” is a Japanese rallying cry, and is best translated as “go for it!” or “keep it up!” and would become intrinsically linked with the Goemon series for many years. But one thing was still missing that would come to define the Goemon games – and made it one of my favorites on the Super Famicom: co-op gameplay.
With 1989’s Ganbare Goemon 2 for the Famicom, Konami found its success formula. The game combined the three-quarter-view town sequences of the second game with the side-scrolling jump and fight action of Mr. Goemon. It also added the defining co-op mode where a second player could join the fun as the supremely weird Ebisumaru, a combination of the Japanese thief Nezumi Kozo and Konami producer Ebisu Etsunobu.
Goemon 2 kicked off a series of 20 full-fledged Goemon platform and RPG games, not including some lesser spin-offs and mobile minis, spanning 20 years of game development and some truly creative efforts by multiple Konami studios. It’s a series known for its silly sense of humor, for taking you on a trip of the sights and sounds of a not-quite-historically-accurate Japan, for dozens of memorable tunes and fully vocalized songs, screen-tilting, screen-warping, screen-flipping Mode 7 effects, 3D mech battles, and for a range of clever mini-games – including a playable 16-bit version of Konami’s own Gradius.
Which brings us to 1991, when Konami undertook the unlikely step to bring the most Japanese mascot in gaming to the west.
American Ninja Warriors
We can’t be sure what made Konami consider the sixth game in the series, Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyuushutsu Emaki, for a western release in 1992, a year after it debuted to acclaim in Japan. Perhaps it was the impressive graphics that make it one of the best Mode 7 showcases to date, or the incredible soundtrack that really puts the Super NES sound chip through its paces. But most likely, it was an attempt to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the impending US release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which also seemed to be the inspiration for the newly minted English title: The Legend of the Mystical Ninja.
This sudden spark of courage did not extend to trusting overseas audiences to engage with or understand Goemon’s historical origins. The game received an infamously terrible localization treatment. Japanese food items like onigiri rice balls became pizzas. And our heroes Goemon and Ebisumaru were unceremoniously renamed to Kid Ying and Dr. Yang, with a typo-laden manual contributing even more cringe-worthy Asian stereotypes, like naming the monkey “Fur Man Chu”. It’s not that Goemon isn’t an inherently silly game – one of the sequences removed from the localized version was Ebisumaru baring his butt and farting at the end of a dance performance – it’s that its silliness is so uniquely and unapologetically Japanese that randomly dubbing it with Chinese terms and concepts just stunningly misses the point.
But localization aside, Goemon’s first western showing went over pretty well. EGM rated the game 8, 8, 9, 8 and lauded it for its gameplay, co-op mode, and soundtrack – while expressing some consternation over its presentation. “The graphics are too cheesy for me, with lots of pastels,” said the legendarily mystical Quartermann. Konami never disclosed official sales numbers for the title, so we’ll never know whether its distinct visuals and themes or lack of awareness kept it from achieving bigger success in the US, but we do know that whatever courage had led to the publisher giving Goemon a shot quickly dissipated.
Goemon’s further Game Boy and Famicom/NES outings wouldn’t see stateside release, but more egregiously, Mystical Ninja’s direct sequel, Ganbare Goemon 2: Kiteretsu Shogun Magginesu! remained forever a Japan-only delight. In this humble writer’s opinion, Goemon 2 is the best co-op platformer on the Super NES, adding drivable vehicles, a third playable character, and a Super Mario World-style overworld map to the mix. Bolstered by critical success in Japan, Konami took the series even further.
Goemon 3 wasn’t a linear sidescroller like its predecessor: instead, the ninja head-on pursued another legendary inspiration. Goemon 3 is a top-down, The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past-style action adventure that has players switch between characters – now also including Yae the Kunoichi – to access their different powers and progress on the world map. The next game, Kirakira Douchuu, went back to the setup of Goemon 2, but put the different characters’ unique abilities to effect with separate maps and character-specific quests. But the series had peaked with Goemon 2 and my personal interest in it waned, even as it continued on PlayStation and with a Ebisumaru-led spin-off title – both 2D games.
In 1996, General Manager of Konami Nagata Akihiki told Next Generation magazine: “There are some Japanese games we cannot release worldwide because they are too specific for the home market – Goemon, Parodius, and games which use Japanese characters, for example.”
The Legend of Goemon 64
It wasn’t just me who had moved on. Gaming was about to take a significant leap towards polygonal 3D. And having exhausted 2D gaming in all its formats and genres, Goemon was ready to evolve and pull off an impressive feat: a fully 3D action-adventure in the style of Ocarina of Time… in 1997, before Ocarina of Time. The plot of this new Goemon game reads almost like self-referential commentary on the first Goemon game’s coming to the west: the Momoyama Shogunate is planning to westernize Japan and steal all its castles.
What followed was Goemon’s second outing in the west – and one that many Nintendo 64 fans may fondly remember. Announced early on as a Nintendo 64 flagship title, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon struggled in development hell. As a young reporter and a big fan of the series, I kept a close watch of the game and used all my persuasive powers to ensure that Goemon wouldn’t be called Kid Ying again (success!). Konami producers would frequently talk about the struggles of recreating their series as 3D games and having to dial back their ambitions when moving from development hardware to the final N64 spec. The lack of a dedicated sound chip and need to handle music via the CPU led to pared down visuals as Konami was unwilling to sacrifice audio fidelity and go with sampled, mono tracks, a la Shadows of the Empire. The challenges with getting the game to run at a decent framerate meant abandoning the planned two-player co-op mode. Konami even had to cut some of the Japanese voice-overs from the US/PAL versions to get the localized version to fit on a 128-megabit cart. It was bad news for a while – but with a happy ending.
The final game was an enjoyable 3D take on the Goemon 3 / The Legend of Zelda formula and it sold more than 200,000 copies in Japan and the US. Even though only a quarter of those sales were stateside, Konami seemed emboldened to keep trying and brought both the Game Boy adventure, also called Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, and the N64 sequel Goemon’s Great Adventure to the west.
The Downfall
And that was the end of the song. After the second N64 game bowed at 50k units sold, Goemon returned to being a Japan-only series. You can see the rest of the lineup of games – from digital board game outings to two attempts at redesigning and modernizing the character on our playlist:
Konami didn’t know what to do with Goemon, failing to endear players to the more Dragon Ball-like, edgy character designs and disappointing the remaining player base with some cheap shovelware mobile games. Even long-time partner in crime Ebisumaru got the boot. And despite a showing at E3 2002, an attempt by Working Designs to bring Goemon’s PS2 outing Bouken Jidai Katsugeki to the west as Mystical Ninja Goemon Zero failed.
“There are some Japanese games we cannot release worldwide because they are too specific for the home market – Goemon, Parodius…” – Nagata Akihiki, General Manager, Konami
The last hurrah for the series came in 2005. Konami brought back fond memories with a GBA conversion of the two first (and best) Super Famicom games in a Japan-only double pack, followed by a forgotten gem of a Nintendo DS game, Ganbare Goemon: Toukai Douchuu Oedo Tengu ri Kaeshi no Maki. Utilizing stylus controls and a very pretty sumi-e watercolor graphical style, Goemon once again paid homage to The Legend of Zelda series. I imported the game and shared my very favorable impressions of the game back then, thinking, for a brief moment, that Goemon was back – and that Goemon was forever.
But Goemon is gone. We’re quickly approaching the two decade mark without a new game release – not counting two Pachislot arcade slot machines released back in 2009 and 2011 under Konami’s new, old focus on gambling hardware.
It’s a very rare occurrence that a series 29 titles strong just ends and disappears. After all, Nintendo and Konami added the even more obscure Super Famicom shooter Pop’n TwinBee to the Nintendo Online service in 2020 – wouldn’t the already localized Goemon SNES or N64 games be solid selections for the service?
There are still occasional signs that Konami hasn’t completely forgotten about its memorable mascot. On December 7, 2018 a Mii Swordfighter costume featuring Goemon’s trademark spiky hair, red outfit, and kiseru pipe were added as paid Wave 3 DLC to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Let’s hope that little cameo wasn’t his last.
As for whether Goemon will ever return in an all-new game outing? Unlike the real Goemon Ishikawa who was famously boiled alive for trying to assassinate warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, our blue-haired video game hero got off easy and at least ended on a high note. The series is cooked for now, but who knows, maybe Konami’s recent successes with the Hudson-made Momotaro Dentetsu on Switch could bring Goemon out of retirement. If Momotaro, ripped from the pages of Japanese fairy tales, can sell more than 3 million copies with a digital board game that celebrates Japan (yes, it sold better than Zelda: Breath of the Wild in Japan), perhaps Konami’s OG mascot can at least headline a feudal comedy take on Mario Party.
Ganbare, Goemon!
Where can you play the Goemon games today?
While Nintendo hasn’t added any of the Goemon games to its Nintendo Online service on Switch yet, Mystical Ninja did see multiple re-releases on the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS Virtual Console in the west. The Japanese Super Famicom games were also available as VC downloads — and Mystical Ninja was even included with the Super Famicom Mini console as a regional exclusive. With the shutdown of Nintendo’s 3DS and Wii U eShops this month, all nine remaining Goemon Virtual Console releases will no longer be accessible.
Which leaves hard copies. Unfortunately, because of the low sales volume and limited runs, SNES and N64 cartridges can command a high price on eBay. Even a loose Mystal Ninja cart will sell for $60 and upwards. The Japanese games are quite a bit cheaper, but unless you read Japanese, I wouldn’t recommend pursuing them. There are occasionally moments where a character will ask you to retrieve a certain item to progress that can be tricky.
The sad reality is that out of all 30 Goemon games released, only a single one is available to play on modern platforms, and it’s, ironically, the oldest one of the bunch: Mr. Goemon. Hamster made the old arcade game available to play on PS4 and Switch as part of their Arcade Archives series.
Peer Schneider joined IGN as editor of N64.com/IGN64 back when games still had manuals. If you enjoyed his column, Forgotten Gems, be sure to check out our other regular IGN columns, accessible from the News section of the IGN navigation.
When Miles Tost moved from The Witcher 3 to Cyberpunk 2077 in 2016, he soon realized that he was dealing with a unique challenge. Despite both being RPGs, the two “couldn’t be more different,” with CD Projekt aiming to make a “gigantic leap forward” in terms of the freedom that Cyberpunk 2077 offered with gameplay. As a level designer, Tost was asked to create levels that supported every style of play, from brute force to stealth to everything else in between, all in a huge open world.
“As insane as it sounded, it also sounded f*cking awesome, and boy were we up to the challenge,” Tost said.
Of course, we know what happened next. Cyberpunk 2077 struggled when it was released in 2020, especially on older consoles like the PlayStation 4. Even beyond its technical problems, though, many players observed its shortcomings as an immersive sim. In particular, it did a poor job of making the various playstyles feel meaningful, dampening the sense of reward gained from exploration. Cyberpunk 2077 has since recovered somewhat, but CD Projekt remains keen to figure out exactly what went wrong with its ambitious RPG.
‘We pride ourselves on being storytellers’
Tost’s observations were part of a GDC 2023 panel entitled “What Cyberpunk 2077 Taught Us About Non-Linear Level Design,” which delved into the issues that CD Projekt Red encountered in trying to make branching paths feel rewarding and special. Like many of CD Projekt’s developers, Tost has a blunt and self-deprecating sense of humor about Cyberpunk’s launch. When a power surge makes it difficult to make out some of his level design diagrams during the talk, he joked, “It wouldn’t be a Cyberpunk talk if everything was working fine.”
But these quips belie a company-wide desire to learn as many lessons as possible from its troubled launch, leading the design team to conduct a comprehensive analysis of where Cyberpunk 2077 went wrong. For his part, Tost chose to focus on why the non-linear level design didn’t seem to work. How was it that games with less variety seemed more vital and open-ended than Cyberpunk 2077?
Tost ultimately determined that one of CD Projekt’s biggest strengths – its commitment to telling a strong story – was also a key stumbling block.
“We pride ourselves on being storytellers, and we didn’t want to stop a player’s lack of foresight from enjoying the narrative,” Tost explained.
That meant including what Tost calls a “generic path” for anyone who didn’t properly spec their character, and just to make sure they didn’t miss it, making it as obvious as possible. The result, Tost says, is that most players opted to take the path of least resistance, trivializing what was meant to be a robust selection of playstyles.
As insane as it sounded, it also sounded f*cking awesome, and boy were we up to the challenge.
When criticizing Cyberpunk 2077, many reviewers point to this aspect as one of its fundamental weaknesses, and perhaps a crucial reason that no amount of polish can ever make it a truly great RPG. But in analyzing Cyberpunk 2077’s level design, Tost came away with a handful of new design principles he hopes will inform CD Projekt’s work going forward.
“We need to treat paths as special,” Tost explains. “This is what creates value in the choices players make.”
By contrast, Cyberpunk 2077’s generic path would often have what he called a “cool, bespoke experience,” such as custom interactions or chatter. Often, Tost says, Cyberpunk’s paths would come together in a bottleneck filled with these rewards, leaving players with the sense that none of their choices ever mattered.
Remedying this problem can be as simple as placing separate paths further away from one another, observing that as long as two paths are close to one another, they’re perceived as the same path. The more isolated or exclusive a path feels, Tost says, the more special it can become in the player’s mind, allowing them to “fully focus on experiencing the chosen path.” It also produces a heightened sense of curiosity, he explains, making players wonder what they might have missed.
Three basic principles
Ultimately, Tost developed three basic principles for level design, though he cautions that it ultimately depends on the game they’re being applied to.
The perception of distance. The closer paths are to each other, the less it feels like picking one makes a difference.
The more exclusive or isolated a path feels, the more special it can become in the player’s mind. It allows players to fully focus on experiencing the chosen path. It heightens player’s curiosity about “what if.”
Validation. Paths need to be treated as special. This is what creates value in the choices the player’s make. Make it worth their time and give them a show. Provide exclusive scenes, encounters, or world-building.
Taken together, Tost believes the desired effect can be achieved by spreading out the entrances to the different paths; limiting and controlling what players can see; forcing them to commit to a choice using tricks like one-way drops and passages, and then properly rewarding them with exclusive content and other incentives. Doing so will also give designers more freedom to create incentives to use playstyles, Tost says, such as utilizing stealth abilities to sneak past a powerful enemy to a secret passage.
Even without these improvements, though, Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be growing in esteem among fans, not the least because it’s one of the most technically ambitious RPGs ever made. Whether it ever lives up to its original potential remains an open question, but Tost at least seems confident that these lessons can be applied to future games.
“All three principles [perception, exclusivity, and validation] are not restricted to, but particularly effective at enhancing the powers of two different level design beats, designed to maximize choice and reward: that is, discovery and exploration,” Tost concluded, calling it “food for thought” for other developers.
We’ll get to see whether these lessons pay off with the Phantom Liberty expansion, which is set to launch later this year. For now, Cyberpunk 2077 is available on PS5, Xbox, and PC. A sequel is also in development. Keep an eye on this space for lots more coverage as GDC 2023 continues.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
Are you looking to build out your collection of board games at home, or want something new and exciting to play during your next game night? If so, there’s no better time than now to buy one, thanks to Amazon’s board game sale. During this time, you can save plenty (up to 51%!) on select board games, from Pandemic to Betrayal to Azul.
Below, you can see which board games are included in Amazon’s sale right now, along with how much you can save on each one.
Board Games on Sale At Amazon
If you want to see a collection of some of the best board games to play throughout this year, we’ve got you covered there, too. In our guide to the Best Board Games to Play in 2023, we’ve curated a wide selection of board games, from classic picks to exciting new ones, that are perfect for including in your next game night. This selection includes Ticket to Ride, Gloomhaven, Codenames, Pandemic, and many more. Some of these games are even included in Amazon’s board game sale listed above, which is even better! You can now add some of the best board games around to your collection at home for a much cheaper price.
Board games aren’t the only items on sale on Amazon right now, either. For those looking to buy some new tech, you can also save 20% on 2nd Generation Apple Airpods Pro earbuds, which are originally $249and are now available for just $199.99. Or, if you’re looking for a new microSD card for your Nintendo Switch or Steam Deck, you can find the Samsung EVO Select 512GB microSD card on sale on Amazon as well, docked down 53% from $84.99 to $39.99.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelance writer who works with the Guides and Commerce teams here at IGN.
