Game Boy

My Ganbare Goemon Collection… and Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo (がんばれゴエモン大集合!)

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Announced a few months ago and recently released on Switch and PS5, Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo is a collection of 13 Goemon games, plus one bonus game. It is also the first Ganbare Goemon release in over 20 years.

It is hard to believe it’s been 21 years since the last real Goemon release (not counting Pachislot machines), Ganbare Goemon: Tokai Dochu Oedo Tengu ri Kaeshi no Maki on the Nintendo DS in 2005.

Daishuugo is technically the second Ganbare Goemon collection, the last one was also 21 years ago, 2005’s Kessakusen! Ganbare Goemon 1 & 2 on Game Boy Advance, which was a compilation of the first two Super Famicom games.

And here is a slightly awkward photo of my whole Goemon collection. I am missing the MSX2 version of the original Famicom game, and the GBA version of Goemon: New Age Shutsudo, which is too expensive to obtain these days.

My favourites are fairly predictable, the four main Super Famicom games and the two main Nintendo 64 games.

All games are complete in box except for Seikushi Dynamites Arawaru!!, another rare title that is difficult (or expensive) to obtain complete.

You can also add the other games where Goemon is a playable character, Konami Wai Wai World, Wai Wai World 2, Gokujo Parodius and Konami Wai Wai Racing.

An oddity I have included in an otherwise Japanese set is the PAL release of Konami GB Collection Vol. 3, which includes a unique colourised version of the first Game Boy Game, Ganbare Goemon: Sarawareta Ebisumaru. The Japanese version of this collection (which was released as Volume 2 there) had Super Game Boy support, but the later PAL releases were remade in full colour.

Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo is a collection of these fourteen games: thirteen Goemon games, and the completely unrelated Famicom Shoot-em-up Crisis Force as a hidden bonus, unlocked by entering the Konami code on the options screen. This is presumably a meta-joke about how several games in the series had (sometimes hidden) versions of other Konami Shoot-em-ups included to play.

There’s an interview about the development of the collection with the producer Ryosaku Ueno​​ here (or here is a Google translated link).

Conspicuously absent is the Game Boy Color title Ganbare Goemon: Mononoke Dochuu Tobidase Nabebugyou! and the interview above explains why.

“It has a feature that links with the Nintendo 64 game “Goemon Mononoke Sugoroku,” so if you can’t enjoy that, then it shouldn’t be included. On the other hand, porting Nintendo 64 titles would be difficult from a scheduling perspective, so we decided that we had to draw a line somewhere, and reluctantly decided not to include it this time.”

It’s a shame the excellent N64 games could not be included, and a couple of the PS1 games are great too, but it’s a pretty solid collection. The real question is: will we have to wait another 21 years (the year 2047!) for the next Goemon release? Hopefully not!

Game Box Protectors – Japanese Sizes

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I’m a great believer in game box protectors. With vintage games only getting older, anything that helps them (and their related paraphernalia) to stay in great condition without being fully archived is a great investment.

I recently got some box protectors for my Japanese Game Boy/Game Boy Color games. There are two sizes for Japanese Game Boy games, the original size which are very small, and a later size which is about 4/5 of the ‘standard’ Famicom box size. This later size continued through the Game Boy Color era too.

Previously I had stored my small Japanese Game Boy games in Japanese Game Boy Advance protectors, which were okay in one direction, but way too big in the other two.

Similarly, I kept my larger Japanese Game Boy games in Famicom box protectors, which was a closer fit but still quite a lot of room at the top.

It’s great to finally have my Game Boy games secure in snug fitting protectors.

Adaptations for less common sizes

I was glad to find these Japanese Game Boy sizes, as a good fit is important for protection. It’s hard (or impossible) to find decent box protectors for less common box sizes, so here are some adaptations of sizes designed for other purposes that I use. While usually not perfect, they are good enough for solid protection without too much internal movement.

Japanese Game Boy Advance size works very well for the ‘mid size’ Famicom boxes

Only a small amount of room to move.

Western Game Boy protectors obviously work perfectly for Virtual Boy boxes.

NES protectors work nearly perfectly for the large size Konami Famicom games.

The unique Gun Sight box is nearly an exact match for Euro NES size protectors.

Famicom protectors work okay for small SG1000 games. It’s not really the right size in any direction and is very tight, but protects okay.

Large SG1000 boxes are a perfect match for an older style ‘too big’ NES protector size I found.

And these new small Japanese GB work very well for Famicom Mini GBA games

And finally, I’ve recently tried Nintendo 64 cartridge protectors on my small box Famicom games.

The fit is not perfect, much like the SG1000 games in large box Famicom protectors, they’re too tight in thickness, but too large in other directions, so they fit, but are somewhat tight. Until there is a better option, it’s a decent solution.

Customs

I had customs done for all these SG1000/Mark III box sizes. It’s a fully one off for Alex Kidd BMX (it’s the only box of that size), but a few each for the two card game sizes and big box Mark III gold.

Unfortunately the producer of these customs has quit the business, so I’m on the lookout for a new producer, if anyone knows of one!