Time is not kind to many video games, but in the case of Ganbare Goemon 2, it has been the victim of a set of circumstances that have conspired against it through the years. The biggest problem is in the title: Ganbare Goemon 2. A logical title at the time, but it became an unfortunate mini-curse when the sequel to the first Ganbare Goemon game for the Super Famicom (Yukihime Kyushutsu Emaki) was released, as that game was called “Ganbare Goemon 2,“ albeit with a subtitle in the usual Goemon fashion. Most discussions about “Ganbare Goemon 2“ inevitably revolve around the Super Famicom title.
The above does not really have anything to do with the availability of the game itself, or how to play it in a language other than Japanese, but in a roundabout way my ranty preamble in the first paragraph illustrates the biggest hurdle for Ganbare Goemon 2. The game is surrounded by games that have such a larger profile (Karakuri Dochu, Gaiden, SFC McGuinness) that one can‘t help but feel that Ganbare Goemon 2 on the Famicom has been forgotten slightly–and it is usually overlooked by players with an interest in the series, or people doing fan translation work.
As such, Goemon 2 can be found in a very limited number of locations. If you are interested in playing on the Famicom, loose carts are somewhat plentiful in the used market, and a boxed copy (with a resplendent gold leaf design) is rarer, and only slightly expensive, relatively speaking.
As for digital marketplaces, the game can only be found in two places nowadays, both on the Virtual Console sections of Nintendo systems: the Japanese 3DS and WiiU eshops. (The game was available on the Wii as well, but that has now closed. Wikipedia lists a Windows version made for the i-revo service, but that service also closed down in 2011.)
The Virtual Console versions come with the basic features built-in to every Virtual Console port, such as game saves and restore points, which are very welcome features for Famicom-era Goemon games. Although it is possible that some bugs might have been fixed in the Virtual Console ports (as Konami did with the Ganbare Goemon Gaiden port), I have not seen any confirmation–and, in any case, the biggest problem with the game, the fact that the maze inside the Karakuri Castle stage is poorly sign-posted, was not fixed.
One other significant change that needs to be addressed in regard to the 3DS port is that the port only supports single-player gameplay. This is not an issue with the Wii and the WiiU ports (and, naturally, the Famicom original).
If you live outside Japan, however, Goemon 2 is as elusive as Karakuri Dochu. The easiest way to play it is via emulation, whether it is the Japanese original or as a fan-translated patched version. As far as I am aware, there exists only one translation of the game, done in 2011 by The Stardust Crusaders. As with many fan translations, the localization for Goemon 2 is most of the time too direct, and in the worst case misses the meaning of the original text. There are a couple of graphical glitches and text that could not fit into the text box space, but otherwise it is a good, solid translation with a little more polish than what was done for the Karakuri Dochu translation.
A Spanish version of the English fan translation also exists, but, as with the Karakuri Dochu translation, it is a translation of the English text, and has roughly the same tone of the English script and the same mistranslations.
Project Goemon 