konami heavily promoted the "ganbare goemon" series for the christmas season of 1998, as three games were due to be released—"goemon's great adventure" and the playstation release "" would premiere on december 23, 1998, and "" for the game boy color would enter the market on january 14, 1999. "great adventure" and its playstation counterpart were both shown to fans at the 1998 tokyo game show, where children flocked to play them. news of an english translation and north american release was first provided by a konami employee in september 1998, and the finished game appeared at the 1999 electronic entertainment expo, though without the theme song sequence. it was originally slated to be named "mystical ninja: goemon 2" in north america; this title was kept in some form for the pal release, entitled "mystical ninja 2: starring goemon". to generate interest and incentive for the north american release, konami included $20 rebates for "goemon's great adventure" or "castlevania 64" in copies of "hybrid heaven".