Mystical Ninja Goemon Zero (Aug 26, 2005 prototype) - Unreleased English Translation

Goemon/Mystical Ninja and Working Design fans rejoice! Presenting, a prototype of the unreleased English localization of Mystical Ninja Goemon Zero (originally announced as Mystical Ninja Goemon in the west), or also known as Bouken Jidai Katsugeki Goemon (冒険時代活劇ゴエモン) in Japan. This game would have been the third and final 3D console Mystical Ninja game in the states, and is currently the last 3D console Goemon game to release in Japan. This is a very late prototype, possibly one of the last before the game ultimately ended up being cancelled.

Read more on this prototype here:
https://bit.ly/3i70X8s (Prototype Article)

The game was originally released the same year the PlayStation 2 launched in Japan on December 21, 2000. At this point, Konami showed no interest in bringing any more Goemon games to the west following the release of Goemon's Great Adventure for the Nintendo 64. In May of 2002, Working Designs publicly announced that they would be licensing and working on bringing the game over to the west with improved game play and a full English translation. Working Designs worked on the game for over three years. However, despite most of the game being finished and shown at E3 in 2005, Sony rejected the game for publishing and was ultimately cancelled sometime near the end of 2005. The exact reasons for the game's cancellation are unknown, but rumors suggest that the game's graphics were the primary reason for its rejection. The rejection by Sony was enough to cause Working Designs to shut down, which was publicly announced on December 12, 2005.

Gaijinworks was formed soon after as Working Design's successor. There were plans initially to get the game released in Europe, but plans fell through for unknown reasons. There was a possibility of the game being released on Sony's PS2 Classics library on the PlayStation Network. However, due to the company's policies of only releasing 'non-hacked' previously released games on the digital library, the game couldn't be released without being processed as a 'new' PS2 game complete with required QA work. However, with only the South American QA line open for testing at the time, the chances of the game being released this way were slim. In the end, it never happened. With Sony shifting focus away from past or 'retro' titles and Konami focusing on the pachinko industry, it's unlikely that this game or any other Goemon/Mystical Ninja game would see the light of day ever again.

This video consists of a full playthrough of the August 26, 2005 prototype, which is most likely one of the very last builds of the English translation made before Working Design's closure. The game is almost completely translated, with only some refinements left to be made. The game only has issues with text runoff, dialog ending before all of the text is displayed, plus some minor grammar and spelling errors. The game lacks any English voice acting, although it's unknown if there were plans to dub the game like in past Working Designs games. The end credits haven't been translated either. Aside from these issues, the game is fully playable in English from start to finish.

NOTE: Due to issues with emulating the game, this playthrough was done on a PS2 slim recorded via composite input on a capture card instead (sorry). The goal of the playthrough was to cover as much of the English dialog as possible. Special thanks to Sazpaimon for recording!

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