A couple of years ago, they announced a rerelease of Hebereke/Ufouria and I played the original on an emulator to prepare for the official release and to promote it saying it would come out soon. Turns out it took way longer than expected. It’s weird as the Gimmick one came out a long while ago and we also got Trip World DX. It then just randomly got announced right as Hebereke 2 was going to release. What made this rerelease interesting was we were even getting the Japanese version and not the PAL version that was shown years ago. Now that it’s finally out, should you get this Enjoy Edition? It’s hard to say really.

Let’s get this out of the way now, this is a pretty similar release to the one Gimmick got so any opinions you had on that rerelease will probably be true here. Not much was added outside of the usual borders, scans of the boxes and cartridges and manuals, achievements, and a speedrun mode that you can post to the leaderboards. There’s no challenges, no hard achievements to earn, no interviews, no scans of just the artwork, not even a sound test. I think the reason it lacks a sound test is because you can pay additional money for the OST to listen to on Steam which is kind of stupid if you ask me. I’m not really sure about input lag or the sorts as I’m not one to notice that stuff, I heard Gimmick had some little issues with that so it might be the same here? Though this is a much easier and more relaxed game, you’ll never really cry foul for any input lag shenanigans.

Actually I guess there is one important feature that is the Special Snaps. You see, the original has always been Japan only, you needed a fan translation to ever read the dialogue in English. This release sort of adds English support but it’s kind of weird. Once you see a dialogue box, the game will let you view it there and translate the scene in English. You can even compare it to the PAL version called Ufouria the Saga. While these are cool, it might hurt the experience for some as you have to go to the menu and then look at the Special Snap to even read what the dialogue said. The translation can feel a bit iffy at times but it's not unreadable. There’s also a before and after scene that’s incorrectly placed for the Ufouria images. How this got past testing is beyond me and hopefully a patch can fix it. They also hilariously made an error where pressing the A button does “ChengeTitle” according to the bottom of the screen. Speaking of Ufouria, I wanna talk about something related to it.

Look, I don’t like Ufouria at all. I always hated the replacement sprites, especially Bop Louie. The dialogue has also lost a lot of the charm it once had and it’s why I always recommend the Japanese original. That said, I can understand why someone would prefer Ufouria even if I don't agree. Which is why I find it very disappointing that you just can’t play it here at all. It makes no sense to not have it here as it has scans, the comparisons in Special Snaps, and even a border. It’s even more of a shame as every release of Ufouria that was on Virtual Console in the past has been delisted meaning there’s still no easy way to play it outside of emulation. I don’t get why there’s no toggle to play that version. This makes me even more confused why they even bothered localizing the sequel under the PAL name if they were just not gonna do that here for this rerelease. It’s something I hope they can patch in but I don’t expect it to happen.

Should you buy Hebereke Enjoy Edition? Honestly, it’s hard to say. It doesn’t add too much to warrant playing it over emulation unless you just don’t feel morally okay with doing something like that and the release just isn’t perfect in general. They did make this one cheaper than the Gimmick rerelease with this being $9.99 and it’s a dollar off currently but this still could have been better. Hebereke is an expensive Famicom game unfortunately and the rerelease on PS1 has poor sound emulation so this is your best bet for an official release. It also might be a nice buy if you wanna compare it to Hebereke 2. Hebereke is still a wonderful game and I enjoyed my time replaying it here and got every achievement as well (even though it’s super easy to do). Stick with emulation if you think the price isn’t worth it but this is still a playable release of one of Sunsoft’s greatest games.

I think I should have been told not to play Telenet games again when I started this one. I’ve played the other Final Zone games and they range from OK to Good. When I remembered the first one was on MSX, I wanted to try it. Telenet games are usually interesting despite their quality. This one presents a ton of dialogue that I couldn’t read not because it lacked a fan translation, though it does lack one but the japanese text was bugged on the ROM I used. So if I can’t enjoy the story, is the gameplay any good? Sadly no it is not.

The game is a top down run n gun like the sequel if you’re familiar with that on the PCECD. You first can choose from two of the four characters that work with the main one to be by your side and then you select the main guy and you’re off. You can choose to bring just one or none but don’t worry if they die in a level as there’s no punishment after the level is over. Be warned though you only have one life and it’s game over, you even have to watch the credits if this happens. Though you won’t have to worry cause the game is so flawed and easy once you learn some things.

Alright let’s go over the fact that just rushing towards the end is better than actually shooting enemies. I can’t comprehend how you make a game like this and just have that be optimal. Your helpers just shoot automatically and be warned that they kind of move in a formation and can even get stuck which means you can’t move either but don’t worry just hold up and the game will push them out eventually. Nothing about the game is that satisfying and it’s only six levels long. The bosses aren’t too challenging either especially when four of them just have blind spots meaning they can’t hit you. Even the final boss is like this. The enemy AI also just feels like they don’t even know you exist and blindly shoot forward. There just isn’t really anything fun about the game which is a shame.

At least it graphically isn’t too bad and the music sounds nice too but there isn’t much of it. It also does that thing I think Valis 1 did where being at low health plays this you’re about to die tune. The cutscenes look nice but are pretty still looking though shoutout to this hilarious moment from the bios given on the title screen. Honestly there just isn’t much else to say. It’s disappointing that I can’t really find much good here as again the sequel is a good game. Now it’s not fair for me to say seeing as I can’t read it but it feels like a game that probably was more impressive for the story than the gameplay and when I can’t read it, it wasn’t the best use of my 20-30 minutes playing through this game. Oh well at least you can skip them fast but all you have now is a badly designed game.

Fantastic and addicting puzzle game. Fun alone or with friends.

The design is beautiful, the fairies have charming magical girl designs with cute names and content. The OST is very whimsical and the scene is just very immersing and gets you into the game. I don't know what else to say aside from the fact that it's just gorgeous and fun.

250 hrs rn :')

"I Dive." -Dave

The surprise Indie* Hit Of The Year, Dave the Diver is a game that's occupied a strange space for me, as I've seen endless praise for it from vidja insider types but I have seen literally nobody actually talk about it. Maybe I just live under a rock but I heard nowhere near as much talk of this thing compared to something like Pizza Tower or Fear and Hunger, which dwarf this thing in cultural footprint despite apparently being less successful. Surely, something was amiss here.

There wasn't, the game's just a perfectly adequate AAA puppeting the skin of an indie game. The cycle of diving to restaurant managing is fun enough for a time, but after a while too many features creep their way in and I decided to hop off the ride before I knew I'd get bored n overstuffed. Wish the game had a smaller scope, it's definitely trying to do too much at once. I just want a game where you hunt for fish and serve them at a restaurant, I don't wanna do farming and gambling and shit! Dave's got too much dip on his chip!

The real thing that sinks the experience for me is just how soulless everything feels. The pixel art is nice but lacking in any real character or personalty, the dialogue has no wit or charm to it, and the ocean environments are largely vacant and bland. How anyone was convinced this was an actual indie game is beyond me, this has the "buffered and polished down all the edges and gnarly bits that leave the product with nothing to latch onto" vibe that basically all big budget games have now. just in 2D. One of the characters is just a weeaboo trope from 2013. It just ain't got no sauce to it!