Opinions on poorly documented imports

[celerystalker]

Continuing with both the Sunsoft Memorial Series and my love of the Hebereke series, volume 5 of the PS1 compilation series contains rAf World and Hebereke, a pair of legitimate minor classics on the Famicom. So, the games!

rAf World is Journey to Silius. It's not really obscure or an import exclusive, so I'm not going to waste much time on it. Oh, but your character sprite has a helmet, making it look slightly more robotic, and I didn't notice any other significant differences. As Journey to Silius is widely available on NES for very little, there is no reason to buy this disc just to play it, though it is an excellent run and gun... and the Japanese title screen is cool.

Hebereke was Sunsoft's marquee franchise in the '90s, though every friggin' game in the series was left to Europe and Japan until download services took hold in recent years. I like to view the series as Sunsoft's Mario; it began as a platformer, then spun off into a puzzle series akin to Dr. Mario with Hebereke's Popoitto (and the Puyo/Columns hybrid Hebereke's Popuun), then a picross series with O-Chan no Oekake Logic, then a party board game Hebereke no Oishi Puzzle, a racing game in Hashire Hebereke, and even a fighter in Sugoi Hebereke! Oddly parallel, eh? Hell, the Hebereke gang was the face of the Famicom Barcode World, even. This game is the original Hebereke, the platformer known in Europe as Uforia, but without the weirdly deformed sprites.

Hebereke is a free-roaming adventure a la Metroid or Rygar, but considerably more adorable. You begin as the penguin Hebe (or a goofy-ass snowman called Bop Louie if you're European, and if so, you did it wrong), and you must scour the world, make allies with the likes of O-Chan, Sukezaemon, and um, Jennifer by defeating them, and eventually fight a big-ass cyber frog. The graphics are great, the map is big, and the control is solid with a few quirks.

You can jump on enemies, but only if you hold down on the d-pad to thrust your feet downward. Once stomped, the enemies become little blobs that you can pick up and throw. Each character has their own abilities-O-Chan can float and walk on ice with his claws, but is slow. Jennifer can swim in deep water, and Sukezaemon can float... and you can switch on the fly. You'll pick up health powerups, a map and compass, and other helpful items that will enable you to eventually traverse the entire map. There is a password-based continue system, but when you die you start from the beginning of the game, which can get old, but isn't a deal breaker. Cap it off with pleasant music and this game is a winner.

So, once again, the burning question, is this disc a good deal? Probably the best one yet, really. Journey to Silius csn be had for less than $5 still at the moment. Hebereke, though is typically about $50-60 for a loose cart or so, and this disc can be had for $30-$40, so it can be a money saver, and the cheapest way to play the original game on a physical copy. Whether as Hebereke or Ufouria, I'd recommend it to Famicom/NES enthusiasts as one of the better games we missed out on in the States.

[celerystalker]

Well, since I've been going on about Hebereke in this thread...

Sugoi Hebereke is the Hebereke fighting game on the Super Famicom based on Sunsoft's cutesy mascot franchise. In keeping with the Mario parallel, it's a non-traditional 4-player brawl, but that's where the similarities end. Sugoi Hebereke employs an overhead perspective much like Bomberman, but you use a combination of punches, kicks, special moves, and items randomly dropped in the arena to pummel your friends/opponents instead of strategically placed explosives... though there are explosives... You have special moves activated by Street Fighter-like button presses to go along with your basic punches, kicks, and jumps. Also, once beaten, you turn into a blob like the enemies in the platformer, at which time you can hop about and generally get in the way until the round ends.

The arenas present their own hazards as well, such as pinball-like bumpers, moving platforms, and springboards to keep you on your toes. There are also seemingly random atmospheric effects such as fog, rain, sun, and night to add flavor and chaos to the proceedings, but there's a catch... for stages with a lot of moving parts, slowdown gets all Gradius III on you, and it's a bit of a dampener on an otherwise chaotic experience.

There are four options on the title screen. The bottom two are configuration and options, respectively. The top option is the arcade/story mode, where a single player goes out into the world to rumble. The second is the exhibition/vs mode, in which there are 5 options that correspond to the number of players, the bottom being a "watch" mode. By default, it's first player to win three rounds for the win. As short as your life bars are, this makes for a fairly frantic and reasonably-timed length.

The graphics are bright and colorful in the best SNES tradition, and the music is peppy. Overall, it's... well, it's super easy in single player mode. While fun and aesthetically appealing with 8 playable characters, multiplayer is where you can get the most out of Sugoi Hebereke. Still, it can be had for less than $10 for a loose cart right now, and if you're a Hebereke fan like me, it's good fun... but if you have some friends to play with it's great fun.

[celerystalker]

Deeper into to world of Hebereke games lies Hebereke no Oishii Puzzle for the Super Famicom. Much like Mario took his pals into a competitive board game setting, ol' Hebe took O-Chan, Sukezaemon and the rest into a board game. So, since the Hebereke gang has been showing these concepts earlier than Mario's pals, how does it hold up?

Well, it's definitely not the frantic pace of Mario Party, that's for certain. Up to five players can play Hebereke no Oishii Puzzle, and you take turns similarly moving about the board, which is comprised of blank spaces, traps such as missing turns or returning to the start, and more than anything else, colored squares. Each color corresponds to a different mini-game type, but, well....

The mini-games are puzzles. Simple, childish puzzles that, while maybe briefly amusing, certainly don't make for a compelling, competitive experience. The four colors are red, which triggers a "find the differences between two pictures" puzzle, blue, which gives you an actual puzzle to put together in a time limit, purple, which puts you in a very easy "Where's Waldo" scenario, and yellow, which gives you an all kana crossword to solve. So, if you don't read the language, you're screwed on these. The puzzles are simplistic and repetitive, clearly designed for children. Japanese children.

You get 2 "help"s to use in a game, and a strict time limit to solve each puzzle. Failure will cause you to spin the penalty wheel, which can send you to the start, cost you a turn, lose 1000 points, and so on. Success grants you points, along with bonus points for your remaining time. The game ends when a player reaches the goal (first to reach it gains 1000 points), and whoever had the most points in the rnd wins.

Really, there are only a handful of boards, and the puzzles tend to recycle the same pictures. The single player game challenges you to traverse the entire board with no opponents. However, if you fail, you lose, and you have a limited number of continues. The goal is to make it through all of the boards... so if you don't speak Japanese, you'd best not hit a crossword or it's just game over.

Up to five players can play, but good luck getting four friends to play this one. It's meant for kids, has a significant language barrier with the crosswords, and has uncharacteristically repetitive music. It is easily the worst game associated with the Hebereke franchise, and just for a different audience than me, which is a shame, as I love both video board games and Hebereke. Ah, well, you can't win 'em all...

[celerystalker]

Okay, okay, I promise that this will be the last Hebereke game that I write about... for awhile...

So, I've already talkef about the Mario/Hebereke franchise parallel, and in that we've hit the platformer, the fighter, the Dr. Mario-style puzzler, the picross game, and the board game... so unless there are edutainment games to discuss, that leaves us with a racer to parallel Mario Kart, and Hashire Hebereke for the Super Famicom is, well, exactly that.

Okay, so, for starters, this is not a kart racer. It's a foot race between the cast members of the Hebereke games held in an isometric view with a couple of wrinkles thrown in for good measure. You hold Y to move, and in the options you can change a few things, such as turning with left or right for a more RC Pro Am/Biker Mice from Mars feel, or true 8-directional movement. Turning gives the game more of a racing game feel, but it is frankly way easier in 8 directional mode. There are other options as well, such as diagonal movement for an angled D-pad in 8-way mode and such, but the turning or not really has the biggest effect on your in-game experience.

Next is the characters, who have wildly different attributes. Hebereke can outrun Sukezaemon, but being a ghost, Sukezaemon can float and turn in mid-air allowing him to bypass clusters or racers and cut corners... but if ther is a large drop, he floats down so slowly that it's extremely tough to win with him. So, depending on your character, this can be a wildly different game.

Thirdly, each track has checkpoints that you MUST cross in order for your lap to count, so be careful when attempting shortcuts, or you'll find yourself running the lap all over again from last place. There are shortcuts and obstacles such as climbing, jumping, and swimming, so choosing the route that suits your character makes all the difference.

Now, to what's the same: items to throw your buddies off course with a press of the shoulder buttons, turbo spots, colorful tracks, fun characters, and peppy music. While a different style of racer, Hashire Hebereke never forgets its whimsical platformer roots, and has a similarly upbeat flavor, and while not nearly as well balanced as Mario's first racer, it is rather lovely to play.

As far as modes go, you have your story mode where you go around challenging everyone on the all-to-familiar-by-now Hebereke map if you've been playing any of these games. You also have a practice/time trial mode to put together your finest laps, and, um... poop tag. Yup. You have a turd on your head, and you have to see how quickly you can chase everyone else down and, um... I guess rub poop all over them.

For multi-player, you have a typical split-screen mode for racing, and also battle mode, where you chase one another about hurling blobs at one another in attempt to be the first to score 3 hits. I don't know why poop tag isn't available here, but it's depressing that it isn't still, as the game only supports 2 player split-screen, the battle mode won't be what you're here for anyhow.

Altogether, Hashire Hebereke is a fun little racer with great tracks, a unique feel, and strong challenge. However, the two player modes are very limited, as this game could have been almost as crazy as Nekketsu Koushinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundokai if it supported four players. Still, if you like cartoony racers or are a Hebereke, go ahead and pick it up, as you'll have your fun here, but if you aren't sure, try some of the less expensive games like Sugoi Hebereke first to see if it's an atmosphere you like, as a loose cart for this one is usually at least $15. I like it, but clearly I am the target audience... okay, so no Hebereke or Sunsoft next time, I promise... probably something Barcode Battler-related or something more obscure.

[celerystalker]

Well, I know that this title can be (and is usually) spelled many ways, but I'm going with Robot Poncots 64 because that's how it's Romanized in the instruction manual. Anyway, Robot Poncots 64 for the Nintendo 64 (shocker, right?) is one that I'm surprised I haven't seen more noise about. If that name is looking awfully familiar to you, that's because it is in fact the N64's counterpart to the Game Boy Color game, Robopon, of which there were 3 versions in Japan. In a lot of ways, this might look like Robopon's version of Pokémon Stadium, and while there is a little truth to that assumption, there's a ton more here to get excited about!

Robopon is a light RPG much like Game Freak's series, but you train robots to fight for you. Robot Poncots 64 takes the RPG format to the N64 in some nifty ways uncommon to the system. You get pushed out to sea in your grandpa's submarine with a Robopon that he gave you. It's your mission to travel about, fighting off pirates, taking on missions, and entering competitions in order to become the greatest Robopon controller of all. You have a tilted bird's-eye view of your sub as you travel, but you can go below deck at any time, which is your main hub. Here, you'll make and train your robots, take on minigames that can benefit them, and get advice from your team (and save). When you make contact with an enemy or enter a competition, battle mode begins as a one on one fight. You can also dock at various islands and stations to fight and interact with various people in order to gain access to new cores to build more Robopons.

Things mix up even more here, as you can move your Robopon in real time during battle instead of essentially playing rock/paper/scissors in Pokémon Stadium. The stronger your bot, the faster the attack gauge fills, and when it's full, you can choose your attack by pressing a button. The real-time combat is considerably more engaging than the Pokémon Stadium battles, and kept me more engaged in playing.

The look of the game is a refreshing change for a N64 game. Sure, you have your typical polygon models and muddy textures, but your characters are lovely, detailed, colorful, scaling sprites laid upon those backgrounds, giving the game an utterly unique look for the system. The music is fitting if forgettable, but the graphic presentation really brought me in with its nifty style. Honestly, had they completed Earthbound 64 in this style, I think I'd have been happy with it.

Now, were that all there was to it, it'd be just another tragically lost import RPG that the US market could sorely have used. However... like Pokémon Stadium, Robot Poncots 64 allows you to choose up to 3 Robopons and have fun vs battles with a friend in vs mode. This is a fun little fight to be sure, but to make things better, this game also supports the Transfer Pak as one of the all-too-few games that did, and allows you to bring in your Game Boy Robopons! This is a delightful reward for fans of the series, and gives you a reason to dust off that Transfer Pak, or to try one out if you don't have one.

There's a lot more game here, as the single-player game is fully fleshed-out, and I've barely scratched the surface with the minigames. Honestly, it'll be awhile before I finish it, because RPGs in Japanese are a slow go for me, but I will get through it, as the style, fun battles, and opportunity to get more use out of the Game Boy save file are enough to keep me on board. If you're an N64 importer who's already done the Sin & Punishments and Rakuga Kids of the world, take a look at Robot Poncots 64. It looks great, and if you're a fan of the Game Boy game, you can get a ton of mileage out of this one... and the vs mode is pretty accessible either way. I dig it, but be wary of the language barrier for the story mode.

I guess I should add that if you're looking for more on this game, you'll have better luck calling it Robot Ponkottsu 64... it's possibly more accurate, but again, I was using the spelling from the actual manual, for whatever that's worth. Oh, one last bit... if you're a collector, a complete copy should come with a bonus Robopon card game card, as apparently there was a customizable card game in Japan. Nifty!

[celerystalker]

Well, I'm not sure this one is super obscure so much as forgotten by time more than anything. Super Black Onyx is a Famicom exclusive remake of the PC game, The Black Onyx. The game was fairly well documented in its time as one of the earliest Japanese exposures to the RPG formula put forth by games like Wizardry, being somewhat of a first person dungeon crawl with a lot of mapping (or for modern kids, FAQ searching) to do.

You start off by choosing your character from a large pool of presets, class and all. There are heroes (basically fighters), mages, and monks, and you have stats and skills for all three, which you can change with a simple change of equipment. After a brief look at the surrounding sea, you journey into the town level of a looming tower in which your goal is to find the Black Onyx, which bestows great power. You will quickly begin to experience random encounters, in which you have three options: run, fight, or talk. Running does the obvious, as does fighting. By talking to characters, though, you can recruit them (up to 5 in a party) to join you. Select the team members you want, then hop into the lower dungeon layers to earn money and fight some lower-level goblins and the like.

Fighting is what made this game stand out to me. In battle, after choosing to fight, turns begin to be taken automatically, with your party lined up on the left, and your foes on the right. Your character's weapon will rapidly fly across the screen, pause next to the enemy, then come flying back. This is where it gets unique. Your characters will throw their weapon straight forward at the enemy opposite them. By pressing up or down mid-flight, you can change its trajectory to go toward a different enemy. In the fraction of a second in which your weapon pauses next to the enemy AFTER touching it, you must press the A button to atrack. Bad timing sends it back with no inflicted damage, so battles become much more actively engaging than you would expect from a game of this type. By pressing B, you can pause the battle to change your direction... try to run or talk it out, change which weapon you are using, take on a defensive stance if you have a shield, or use items like potions to recover or gems for new magic. The fast-paced battles are surely the centerpiece of this game and what made it worth writing about for me.

Exploring the first person maze is very typical of the NES/Famicom games of the day, with no real scrolling; you jump from screen to screen rapidly. If there is a floor or ceiling, just press A to travel through it. There are black walls, and touching one will warp you to the last one you touched, making a convenient warp network. The backgrounds are decent, but not great, and do get old after awhile. There are tons of shops and NPCs to encounter, so working hard to upgrade your equipment is pretty easy... and did I mention it's all in English? Menus, descriptions, shops... you name it, it's in glorious, readable English.

I'm not often in the mood for these old-school dungeon crawls. I'm a console and arcade guy for the most part, and the oldPC style isn't in my wheelhouse. However, I like combat here enough that when I do get in the mood to bust out the graph paper, this will be near the top for me, along with Shining the Holy Ark. Much more enjoyable than I would have expected, but I wouldn't expect it to make a bunch of converts. If you're into these kinds of games though, this is one of the more impressive ones I've played!

[celerystalker]

Densetsu no Ogre Battle Gaiden: Zenobia no Ouji is not all that obscure. I just want to talk about it, as it is the game that turned me into an Ogre Battle fan, and a big one at that. See, I tend to shy away from overly complicated strategy games and RPGs. Not because I find them difficult, mind you, but because I don't enjoy micromanaging in video games. I hate staring at character sheets, skill trees, or item creation menus, having to churn out hours worth of prep just to play a 40 minute battle, then do it all over again. That's one of the reasons I love Dragon Force; it streamlines most of the nonsense and gets you fighting. Ogre Battle was a game I'd read about quite a bit, because Nintendo Power had a massive boner for the game, and did so many epic center features about it... it always looked fascinating, but reading about alignment, reputation, class trees, weapon bonuses, terrain effects... I was completely turned off to the idea of playing it, despite being intrigued by the nifty artwork and great presentation.

Fast forward to about 2003. I owned the SNES game, but never really played it. I was super into my Neo Geo Pocket Color, and had been snapping up anything I could find for it... and one day at the now gone, but not forgotten Game Trader, I saw this one on the shelf, and it dawned on me... I'd recently played through Langrisser Milennium a couple of years before, and it wasn't too tough in spite of the language barrier. I knew I could play and beat strategy games in Japanese... and here was a version of Ogre Battle, on a system I was into, and being in Japanese was just the excuse I needed to completely disregard the game's menutia and just friggin' play it! So, $20 later, I found myself at home with what would become one of my all-time favorite portable games.

So, if you're unfamiliar with Ogre Battle, the basic idea is that you and your rag-tag army start out in a castle on a map, and your opponents start out on the other side in theirs. You have a few separate units with a leader and up to four subordinates, and you move them around the map with a simple point and click interface not unlike moving a unit in an RTS like Command & Conquer or Warcraft. Come into contact with an enemy unit, and battle ensues. Battles last 2 rounds, and you only select a general strategy for your group, which will automatically play out, such as "attack the weakest" or "best overall." You can also play tarot cards, each of which have their own effect, once per battle, which cast helpful and often devastating magic spells. Win by either eliminating all of the opponents' characters in the unit, in which case they disappear, or doing the most damage, in which case they are pushed back a bit from where they last stood. There are also towns and temples all over the place. Land on a town to liberate it, and you get a tarot card, and in some you can find items or shops. Standing still on a town not only allows you to guard it, but you recover there as well for free. Work your way across the map, destroy your opponent, and maybe make a few allies, then it's off to the next map!

Now, if you know Ogre Battle, you know there's a HELL of a lot more to it, but to just play the game for the first time, this was all I needed. The menus are almost exclusively icon-based, so they are easy to navigate regardless of language, and even easier if you know the SNES or Playstation version, as the NGPC admirably replicates March of the Black Queen's look, feel, and systems. The music and graphics are awesome, and with 13 main maps and 4 secret levels in the endgame, there's a lot of game packed into this portable version... and a ton of ways to play it.

Now, for my first play, I just played it like I'd play any strategy game... build up a few powerhouse units and beat the holy hell out of everything that moves while camping on towns (which any veteran will tell you is exactly the wrong way to do it), and I beat the game handily with mediocre alignment. Now, did I get the best ending? In no way, shape, or form. However, did I have fun? Tremendously. This was exactly what I needed to fall in love with the game... an excuse to ignore the parts I don't care about and focus on what I was interested in to begin with.

I already owned the SNES game, so I decided it was so much fun I could take the time to learn to play Ogre Battle in English, and it's probably my favorite strategy game these days. I'm not going to take the time to go into all of the ins and outs... if you really want to know, feel free to ask or PM, and I'll gladly go on about it. The important thing is, this Neo Geo Picket Color side story is phenomenal, and eschews the complete change in direction of Tactics Ogre and the tweaks of Ogre Battle 64 in favor of acting like its big brother on Super Nintendo. If you like portable strategy, NGPC games, or Ogre Battle, play this game. It made me into a believer, and now I have the Super Famicom version, the Saturn version, the SNES version, the N64 sequel...