The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

がんばれゴエモン〜ゆき姫救出絵巻〜 (Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyūshutsu Emaki)SNES, Game Boy Advance, Wii, Wii U +11991

  1. JP1991
  2. NA1992
  3. EU1994
  4. RU—

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is the Western name of Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyūshutsu Emaki (がんばれゴエモン〜ゆき姫救出絵巻〜), released in Japan in 1991. No current store release was confirmed on the check date; it was previously released digitally on the Wii, Wii U and New Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console.

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is a Konami action-adventure released for the Super Famicom in Japan on July 19, 1991, as Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyūshutsu Emaki. It was the fifth mainline Ganbare Goemon game and the first in the series to be released in the West, reaching North America in February 1992 and PAL regions in 1994.

Each stage starts in a town with shops, minigames and training, then turns into a platforming section that ends with a boss. One of the minigames recreates the first level of Gradius. Two players can team up, and one can ride piggyback on the other: the rider attacks while the partner moves and jumps. Shigeharu Umezaki designed the game, and Kazuhiko Uehara and Harumi Ueko wrote the music.

The game was followed by three direct sequels on the Super Famicom, and in 2005 it returned in Japan on the Game Boy Advance, paired with Goemon 2.1

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA The Legend of the Mystical Ninja SNES February 1992 Konami 1
NA —Virtual Console Wii Apr 30, 2007 — 1
JP がんばれゴエモン〜ゆき姫救出絵巻〜Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyūshutsu Emaki SNES Jul 19, 1991 Konami 1
EU The Legend of the Mystical NinjaPAL regions SNES 1994 Konami 1
JP 傑作選!がんばれゴエモン1・2 ゆき姫とマッギネスJapan only; paired with Goemon 2 Kitenrei Shogun McGuinness Game Boy Advance Apr 21, 2005 Konami 2
JP —Virtual Console Wii Mar 13, 2007 — 1
EU —Virtual Console; also Australia Wii Mar 30, 2007 — 1
JP —Virtual Console; North America 5 December 2013, Europe and Australia 16 January 2014 Wii U Sep 4, 2013 — 1
JP —New Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console; North America 7 July 2016, Europe and Australia 25 August 2016 Nintendo 3DS Jun 4, 2016 — 1
JP —Built into the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom (Japan only) SNES Oct 5, 2017 Nintendo 1

Also known as: がんばれゴエモン〜ゆき姫救出絵巻〜 JP2Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyūshutsu Emaki JP2傑作選!がんばれゴエモン1・2 ゆき姫とマッギネス JP2

Box art by region

  • The Legend of the Mystical Ninja box art, North America release
    NA The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
  • The Legend of the Mystical Ninja box art, Europe release
    EU The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.

Version differences

  • TextSNES (NA)SNES (EU)

    In the Western releases the heroes Goemon and Ebisumaru are renamed Kid Ying and Dr. Yang.1

  • GameplayGBA (JP)

    The 2005 Game Boy Advance version is single-player only, drops the piggyback move and lets you switch characters with the Select button.2

Translations

  • English Official

    Konami1992SNES · Japanese versionReleased · complete

    Official English version, released in North America in 1992 and in PAL regions in 1994.1

Reception

Critics rated it highly: Computer and Video Games gave it 93/100, Game Informer 9/10 and IGN 8.5/10, while Famitsu's reviewers gave 7, 7, 7 and 6 out of 10. In Japan it sold 521,205 copies according to Famitsu, but EGM noted that it did not catch on much in the US. It is included in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.1

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org
  2. 2ja.wikipedia.org

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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