I wish Patapon 3 had done more with the Uberhero
Because to be honest, I just felt terrible for him at the end of it all. Not a patapon lore expert so there might be mistakes, but this is the impression I got from playing the games. I also have a LOT of thoughts that i tried to cram into one post and it shows
For the purposes of this post, patapon 2 hero is referred to as Hero and patapon 3 hero is referred to as Uberhero.
So. If we consider his pata2 history, it irked me how it seemed like we forced him into serving us. Yes, he was responsible for breaking the world egg so it was his mess to clean up, but we made him into a servant of ours beyond this one job by giving him a name. His dialogue in this scene is really weirdly written, but after being this thoroughly unimpressed by Kami and the patapons, would he really go "Actually now that you've given me a name I will obey you" (RIGHT after calling us all insane for intending to name him mind you) out of his own volition?
After felling Dettankarmen and saving the Princess in pata2, Hero owes nothing to us (tbh, the way he's described as a "wakapon", the fact there's not wakapon memory in pata2 so it's not a patapon "class" or a rarepon AND the way Hero says "Is that all you've got, Patapons?" and "It's Kami, right?" as if he doesn't associate himself with the patapons nor knows of their deity makes me question if wakapons are actually a separate tribe, in which case we aren't even his god and the patapons aren't his kin. Though not knowing Kami could just be a side effect of putting the mask on. Do NOT take my word on this I actually don't remember pata2 that well). And yet in pata3 he's still right there, our champion, fighting for our cause. Whether he was fine with it or not, we don't know, but it's not like he had any choice. This lack of choice is something Hero actually laments in like one of the 1,5 scenes where he gets to talk, particularly when we name him ("I guess (Name) it isā¦ Like I have a choiceā¦") so I'm going to cling onto that and say personal freedom is something that really matters to him, cause well. Look at him. From what little we've seen of him, he appears to be a sassy, self-assured and headstrong person, I think he'd value the ability to write his own story. Starting with having a say in naming himself
So pata3 starts and immediately we make another very important choice for Hero when we fuse ourselves with his soul. Silver Hoshipon clearly has the ability to save some of the patapons from the stone curse including Sukopon of all people, so he could have saved Hero just the same. And maybe THEN we could ask him if it's all good and proceed with the soul fusion? Or did Kami predict he could very well say hell nah so they just decided not to risk it?
Patapon 3 really sets something up. It sets something up with the Silver Hoshipon with how the game shows him as a suspicious and dubious ally who changes topics the moment the conversation goes somewhere he doesn't want it to go, like Uberhero's past. When Uberhero asks "Who am I?" at the start, he immediately goes "Now now, hear that weird af drum? We oughtta investigate!". When Uberhero complains of not remembering even his own dreams, Silver Hoshipon starts talking about the Archfiends out of nowhere. When the Uberhero indirectly asks if he was the one who made the decision to trade in his memories for power, the star just spews some cryptic nonsense that doesn't answer anything.
And then they just don't follow up on any of that
Patapon 3 really sets something up with Uberhero's memory problem and his relationship with us, Kami. All the aforementioned scenes with the Silver Hoshipon show that not knowing his identity brings Uberhero genuine distress. He carefully prods the only being who seems to know what's up for answers constantly and gets nothing every time. Hell, nobody even properly explained WHAT the Uberhero is to him. When he meets Hatapon with the drum he doesn't seem to understand his power or how he got it, sounding genuinely surprised when we hit the first PON:
People call him Kami and Mighty Patapon and Almighty but he has absolutely no memory (and if he's not a patapon, then he at his core doesn't know shit about the patapon's god) so he could've assumed Kami IS him and he's these people's deified champion. The only clue he gets is when he's freshly back from the dead and disoriented at the start of the game and Silver Hoshipon tells him he was "reborn as the Essence of Kami". When his fusion with Kami is openly brought up by the Dark Heroes, he's lying on the ground out cold. The only time he gets a direct mention is after the duel of fate with Ravenous.
This dialogue is particularly interesting, as Ravenous very bluntly says "If you're truly one with the Mighty One, my words should resonate". One of the dialogue options after that is "Forgive me, I remember none of this" which I personally read as basically "I don't get what you're talking about". Interestingly, if you go with that option Ravenous tells you that knowing your past only leads to regret and advices Uberhero to think of the future, yet if you go with "Indeed. You speak the truth" he says "I am grateful. A true Uberhero must know his past before he can venture down the path of the future". Pretty contradictory points. He also says one has to live for themselves and not their cause to escape the Archfiend's curse? That's some interesting stuff. After all, the Uberhero's and the Dark Heroes' situations are not that dissimilar, so you likely could apply this to Uberhero, too...
(Side notes I couldn't find a place for:
1. It saddens me how nobody seems to recognize Hero. No one acknowledges it, not even the patapons, though I'm sure they just genuinely didn't connect the dots and would care if they knew. The Hero part of Uberhero is erased in people's minds in favor of Kami. Really makes it feel as if Hero's sacrifice doesn't matter at all, only his role as a vessel for Almighty does
2. Another small thing is that Uberhero doesn't exactly always agree with our command, something I noticed in battle where if you defend or attack with no enemies in sight Uberhero himself can say "Should we get going?", so he really does have to obey our input even if he has other ideas. To what degree he perceives this I'm not sure)
It really seems like the game is trying to set up for the moment Uberhero regains his memories, his very identity and finally gets the full picture.
But it doesn't happen.
In the end Uberhero's only three choices are:
A) Get reborn as a Dark Hero and live a life of endless conflict
B) Die. The way he says "Let me die in peaceā¦"/"Yes, please leave me beā¦" is heartbreaking, he seems so tired of it all if you choose this. Kinda reinforces my idea that he could've refused fusing with Kami, even if it meant death, as this particular ending implies the time spent as an Uberhero was not a very fun time for him
C) Give his soul to free the cursed patapons and die. Isn't this actually the worst ending for him specifically? Cause there's, like, heaven. I don't think you get to go to heaven if you don't have a soul so. Just inexistence for you!
So basically, as soon as the quest is over and Uberhero's role is fulfilled, he dies. No enjoying Earthend for the guy that led his patapons to it. He dies a martyr for our cause, never to find out who he was, what happened to him or why him
Baking my patapon 2 hero called Dude into a cookie because I miss him
TL;DR this is how I see the Uberhero:
