Despite being a giant in Japan, the Goemon series of games saw very little of the International scene. Because of the heavy-handed references to Japanese culture, which is a large part of the series claim to fame, Konami didn’t see the game as very viable in American and European markets.

The first attempt to bring Goemon to the English speaking public came in the form of “The Legend of the Mystical Ninja”(1992), which was a port of “Ganbare Goemon; Yukihime Kyushutsu Emaki”(1991). The port kept most aspects of the game intact, with the exceptions being a few references to things too risqué for the American public. Also changed were Goemon's and Ebisumaru's names, respectively into Kid Ying and Dr. Yang. Despite winning loyal fans with most that played it, the game became a sleeper hit as the weird box art and relative obscurity warded off most gamers.

Goemon wouldn’t resurface again in foreign markets until 1998. The N64 was a relatively new system, and the need of third party developed games influenced Konami to bring back Goemon. Released as “Mystical Ninja; Starring Goemon”(1998), this port of “Ganbare Goemon; Neo Momoyama Bafuku no Odori” (1997) was titled to maintain the first game’s original fan base, while trying to “fix” their gimmicky renaming of the heroes back in 92. With all its quirks, the game turned out to be a success, as two future Goemon game titles got the go ahead for an English port.

Unfortunately, the two future titles performed poorly in the market, and Goemon's grip on popularity was lost. Despite raving reviews, Goemon’s Great Adventure (N64, 1999) was released in a time when the N64’s popularity has already been greatly overshadowed by its competitor, the Sony Playstation. Combined with the fact that Goemon was still a little known video game franchise, this hurt the game’s sales dramatically.

On the other hand, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (GB) actually hurt Goemon’s name overseas. This game lacked the fun and imagination of what Goemon games aspire to. This was primarily because the popularity of the Goemon name in Japan was a constant factor. It gave Konami all the incentive to churn a cheaply made game and coast sales purely on the Goemon name. Unfortunately, the plan failed internationally, as there was no big fan base for Goemon outside of Japan.

The most recent attempt to bring a Goemon game out internationally was made by Working Design. This company has made its name by purchasing licenses for Games, and marketing them internationally to the English speaking public. The Goemon game title Working Designs had their eye on was Bouken Katsugeki Goemon (PS2, 2000). After many months of negotiations, Working Designs was finally able to "lift" this jewel of a game off Konami's hands. At the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) of 2002, Working Designs unvailed the sucess of the negoiations and had said that work was already underway to bringing Goemon out of Japan. Working Designs dedicated more than half of it's booth to this unveiling, and was even giving away Goemon playing cards and plush toys to celebrate the annoucement.

The fanfare was unfortunately soon subdued by the executives of Sony. Sony Entertainment, in an effort to regulate the PS2's image, denied Working Designs a license to publish Goemon for the English speaking public. Because Bouken Katsugeki Goemon was a first generation PS2 game, it sported dated graphics. In wanting to maintain an image of "cutting edge" game technology, Sony wasn't fond of such an old game suddenly being among its "newest releases". Simply no considerations were made of the quality of the game short of the dated graphics. I would point out that Bouken Katsugeki Goemon was a best seller in Japan, and it's popularity even warrented it a second and thrid re-issue of the game.

The future of English Ports is quite dim for Goemon, as a truly new Goemon game hasn't been out since 2001. Goemon also still lacks name recognition with the English speaking public. Fortunately, those who have experienced the few glimpses of the series' fun world are die-hard fans, and are sure to be there to support any new import projects