Goemon Ishikawa

Goemon Ishikawa is a character who appears in Samurai Warriors. He is a professional thief who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. He is believed to be a former ninja of the Iga clan. In Samurai Warriors, his exact age is unknown though he is approximately in his thirties. He's symbolized by the kanji for "ruin" (壊) and "bomb" (爆).

Role in Plot

 * "Way to roll, big guy."
 * ―Huang Gai; Warriors Orochi 2

Samurai Warriors
Goemon is the self proclaimed King of Thieves who usually spends his days pillaging the country's castles for land's greatest treasure, the Plover Urn. On his off days, he defends "his turf" from any local rough-housing. During such an occasion, Keiji and the local thugs were brawling. Their fight is briefly interrupted by Okuni, whom Goemon instantly became infatuated with. In his lower path ending, he follows the priestess as her bodyguard. After they are separated from one another at Ise, Goemon hears a rumor that she was held captive at Azuchi Castle and goes to rescue her. When he reaches the top floor, he finds Keiji and her together and beats the ruffian for taking her away from him. He continues to follow Okuni in his ending.

In his upper path scenario, he will travel back to his homeland, Iga, to claim the reward for a bounty placed on Ieyasu's head. As he corners the general, Ieyasu pleads to spare his life and tells Goemon the Plover Urn's location. Learning the treasure was kept by the land's strongest ruler, Hideyoshi, Goemon infiltrates Osaka Castle to claim it. Waiting for him there is Hanzō who threatens to silence him. If Goemon quietly defeats him, the thief can claim his prize without waking Hideyoshi. Since the famed urn failed to live up to its rumored expectation to sing, Goemon loses interest in it and says he'll just make it his goal to find more loot.

Should Goemon use his cannon while fighting the ninja, Hideyoshi will awaken and Goemon will be apprehended. He is ordered to be executed by being boiled alive at Kyoto. During his execution, however, the thief bursts through the hot iron pot and defies Hideyoshi. He plunders the conqueror's treasures while gaining Keiji and Okuni's support. Once he defeats his executioner, Goemon prides himself as the man who stole the entire land.

He isn't playable in Samurai Warriors 2 but he appears in the mini game Sugoroku. He randomly swipes someone's gold and gives it to the person with the lowest amount. Goemon also appears in Samurai Warriors: Katana as a sub-enemy on the map. He is usually trying to flee with treasure and the player is given the mission to stop him.

Warriors Orochi
He appears in two different scenarios in Warriors Orochi. During the Shu storyline, he steals treasure from Wei Yan and tries to flee from him. Since the stolen goods were gifts from Liu Bei, the general pursues him. Before being caught, he manages to dupe passing swordsman Musashi Miyamoto into attacking the "thugs" pursuing him. He slows down if the player retrieves the treasure boxes he leaves around the field.

In the Wei Storyline, Goemon apparently tried to steal from Nene's ninja army and was locked in a cage. If the player frees Goemon, he'll agree to help Dong Zhuo's army undo Nene's ninja magic.

In the sequel, he joins another thieving and similarly-weighted character, Dong Zhuo. He briefly terrorizes with his new ally during the first stage of the Samurai story mode. In Wu's scenario, he is confronted by Okuni, whom he tries his best to resist listening to. He is eventually beaten and is persuaded by the priestess to join Sun Jian's army. He later helps Huang Gai carry out his plan to steal the Date cavalry for themselves at Okehazama. During the Ueda Castle dream mode, he is seen trying to beg Ling Tong for his freedom. If he's saved by the player, he'll join the sneak attack as a third party member.

In Warriors Orochi Z, he appears with all the other ninjas in a dream stage cutscene. When the others leap off however, the overweight Goemon is comically left having to waddle after them on the ground.

Kessen
Goemon appears as a recruitable unit in the third Kessen. He needs to be defeated on the battlefield before he agrees to join Nobunaga's forces. He is one of the earliest ninja units in the game.

Development
Goemon was made to be the off-the-wall yet multi talented character. Designers remark that his final design is actually toned down from his even more bizarre concepts and joke that his cannon was literally pasted onto his back. Though they recognize that his particular character archetype may not be conventional, Goemon's actions and motions were kept to bring a funny and interesting contrast to the cast. Overall, they strove to make him the powerful yet chubby and charming action character.

When asked about the reasons behind his cut, the director said that it was simply too difficult to devise a "what-if?" story for him based on the game's new timeline.

Personality
Goemon acts in a standard kabukimono fashion. He strikes exaggerated poses, speaks in a loud and sing-song manner, and often mentions his full name and self-proclaimed title with pride. On the other hand, he can also be cowardly when faced with a greater danger, putting a dent in his theatrical bravado. He is bashful while in Okuni's company and considers Keiji his rival for her affections.

As allusion of his previous ninja life, Hanzō calls him a runaway. Since ninja conduct dictates that deserters should be executed, Goemon strives to never be caught by the Iga ninja and usually fearful when he is spotted. He also considers Kunoichi his protege though it is a one-sided acknowledgment.

Appearance
His alternate outfit in Samurai Warriors has him dressed in a stylized European gentlemen outfit, with a tuba replacing the cannon on his back. His alternate outfit in Warriors Orochi makes him look like a kabukimono from a kabuki play.

Voice Actors

 * Bob Papenbrook - Samurai Warriors (English)
 * Hisao Egawa - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)
 * Kentarō Itō - Kessen III (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "I'm Goemon Ishikawa, King of Thieves! Clearly you've heard the name before."
 * "Fire in the hole...Kaboom!"
 * "Hanzo... Hattori... The Iga ninja?!? Oh no!
 * "Yeah, I'm starting to gain some clout."
 * "Goemon Ishikawa, King of Thieves, at your service!"
 * "Hey, you're that ninja girl's master right? You've got to teach that girl some manners!"
 * Goemon expressing his opinion to Yukimura

Trivia

 * In Warriors Orochi, Goemon is one of the random characters who comment during the opening sequence of Shu's Gaiden stage, Escape from Chi Bi. He'll claim that it feels like he is "being boiled alive!"