Mr. Goemon/Gameplay

Controls

• Joystick: Use the 4-way joystick to make Goemon walk left and right, jump up to the platforms above him and drop down to the platforms below him.
• Kiseru Button: Use this button to make Goemon strike the enemies with his Kiseru pipe; he'll receive 200 points for every enemy he kills in this way.
• Head Weapon Button: Use this button to make Goemon throw his current head-mounted weapon at the enemies if so equipped; without one, it has no effect (he shall also receive 200 points for the first enemy he kills with each head-mounted weapon, 400 points for the second, and 800 points for each subsequent one thereafter). As head-mounted weapons are the only way to kill three of the bosses, the lotuses in their areas are regenerative.
• 1 or 2 Player Buttons: Push these buttons to begin a 1 or 2 player game.

Characters

Goemon (五右衛門)

This semi-legendary Japanese outlaw, who originally lived from 1558 to 1594, is the protagonist of this game; he must make his way from the start of every stage, fending off all enemies who come towards him, to the halfway point (and the further he jumps over the gold chests there, the more points he will receive), then continue to make his way from there to the village at the end of it, again fending off all enemies who come towards him, and either defeating or surviving long enough against the boss (however, the two statues of Shiva in the second half of the fourth stage have to be defeated, and rather than a village, Edo Castle and the Golden Lamp are at the end of it). If an enemy gets hold of Goemon he will start to choke him (indicated by Goemon's face turning purple) - and you shall have to wiggle the joystick left and right to free him (because if you cannot he will die of strangulation, and he shall also die if he gets hit by anything thrown at him by an enemy or falls into an ocean). If Goemon has more than one life remaining and is resurrected, any enemies on screen will laugh at him; until he stops flickering and they resume their pursuit of him, he can strike them with his Kiseru without opposition. Goemon also receives extra lives at predetermined point values (20000 and every 60000 by default) - and striking the locations of hidden objects with his Kiseru to reveal them for extra points shall help him reach those values quicker.

Enemies

There are three types of regular enemies in this game: Ronin (浪人), who'll attack by throwing Sai blades at Goemon and come in four different colours (blue, ochre, purple and red), Ninjas (忍者), who'll attack by throwing either Sai blades or Shuriken throwing stars at Goemon and come in five different colours (yellow, green, blue, red and transparent) and Samurai (侍), who attack by throwing Ryo blocks at Goemon; they can only throw their weapons at Goemon if they are standing on a platform, so it's advisable to "bump" them into the air by jumping up into them from beneath and prevent them from doing so (if he drops down onto an enemy on the lowest platform, he'll disappear off the screen's bottom, but he'll not receive any points for killing him).

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  Ronin (浪人)

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  Ninja (忍者)

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  Samurai (侍)

Bosses

There are four bosses in this game, one for each stage. On the first stage, a green oni attacks by throwing lightning bolts at Goemon. He takes one hit to kill, but you must aim your head-mounted weapons at his feet, because he will block them with his shield if you throw them anywhere else. You earn for 1600 points for defeating him.

On the second stage, three old monks attack by throwing their wigs at Goemon. They take one hit to kill as well (with either the Kiseru or any head-mounted weapon) for 200 points, but they can come back any number of times.

On the third stage, there is a green-faced tengu who attacks by throwing homing leaves at Goemon. He takes four hits to defeat completely, but you must again aim your head-mounted weapons at his feet. The last time he comes back, his face changes colour to red. You earn 1600 points each time you hit him.

On the fourth stage, two gold statues of Shiva attack by throwing their arms at Goemon. They take four hits to defeat completely for 1600 points each time, and can only be killed by a head-mounted weapon to the feet due to shields. They will change colour to red they last time they come back, and they must be defeated.

Items

Head-Mounted Weapons

There are eight types of weapons in this game: Fans, Peaches, Bells, Maneki Neko, Otafuku Masks, Tea Gourds, Omamori, and Lotuses, and they are all worth 100 points when collected; when Goemon picks one up, it shall be mounted on his head until he throws it at an enemy (he will also have to do this in order to collect another weapon as only one weapon can be mounted on his head at a time). The Lotuses are also only present in the bosses' areas of each stage, and because they are the only way to kill three of them another one will grow whenever Goemon picks one up - and although they are a source of infinite points, he has to keep an eye on the moon as it moves across the sky, because if you can't reach the halfway point or end point before it reaches the right side of the screen, it'll fall out of the sky, and hit Goemon on the head to kill him as if he had been hit by an enemy's weapon. There is also a second type of Omamori that does not make its first appearance in the game until Goemon reaches the boss area of the second stage.

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  Fan

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  Peach

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  Bell

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  Maneki Neko

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  Otafuku Mask

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  Tea Gourd

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  Type 1 Omamori

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  Lotus

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  Type 2 Omamori

Golden Mallet

The equivalent of the Starmen in Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., this item will, when collected, cause Goemon to glow for a short period of time to indicate that he is invulnerable (and the current stage's normal theme changes to an invincibility theme); as you push your joystick to the right after collecting it, you will also notice that he moves faster, and he will kill any enemy he touches for 800 points (but he cannot use his Kiseru during this time, so if you come to the location of a hidden object, you shall not be able to reveal it until its effect wears off).

Golden Lamp

After defeating the two gold statues of Shiva on the fourth stage, Goemon has to make his way to Edo Castle at the end of it, jump up to its roof and collect this item (which is sitting on top of it) to end the game; once he has done so, confetti will rain down on him as the text "FINAL STAGE BONUS 10000 PTS" appears on the screen, the four bosses appear at the bottom of the screen and the game's ending theme is heard from the SN-76496. The game will then start again at a higher level of difficulty (with more enemies and thrown objects).