Poor, poor Goemon. He keeps getting a small shot here and there at the U.S. market and it never seems to work out right. An SNES game here, two N64 games there, and then . . . nothing. Well, Working Designs was trying to help him out a few years back, but Sony decided Goemon wasn't cool enough for the platform that's home to such games as American Idol and Arctic Thunder. While we keep waiting, though, we've got this exceptionally cool stuffed Goemon that Working Designs handed out at the 2001 E3 to lucky convention-goers.

Goemon is a big stuffy, measuring 13" tall and about 10" wide from the tip of his outstretched hand to the end of his pipe. He's got tons of good detailing: his sandals are nicely thonged, his hair is properly spiky, his ears are properly ear-ish, and even his gi has a nice bow holding it shut. You have to balance him a bit but he will stand up unassisted, which is really nice for a humanoid stuffy with no internal hard bits to give it extra structure.

Someday I'd love to play the game this is a promo for. Someday, for that matter, I'd like a crack at getting a plush tiger sidekick for him. In the meantime, he and I will wait patiently for Sony to roll out the PS3 and, after a certain amount of time has passed, treat the PS2 like they seem to be treating the PS1 nowadays: anybody who wants to do anything is free to do it. Maybe then we'll finally see all those games that just aren't good enough for the U.S. market at the moment.

Maybe.

· · · James Cunningham