The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

The Legend of the Mystical Ninja is structured around alternating phases of exploration and action. Players guide the protagonists, Goemon and Ebisu-Maru, across various Japanese locales to confront a supernatural threat affecting their village.

Gameplay shifts between an overhead perspective in towns and traditional side-scrolling sequences. In the town segments, characters can engage with different establishments, including shops and mini-games where currency can be won or lost. Combat here is present, but attacking non-hostile characters results in a financial penalty.

Currency earned is used for items and accessing special abilities. Funds are required for thrown weapons and for purchasing mystical scrolls at training centers. These scrolls are consumed to execute character-specific special moves, which become available in the action stages.

The side-scrolling stages conclude each area and feature platforming challenges, enemies, and a boss. The gameplay here expands to include the purchased special attacks. In cooperative two-player mode, partners can ride on each other's backs to navigate the challenging screen-scrolling sections effectively.