Ufouria the Saga 2 (PS5)
Hebe's Felted World.
Sunsoft's cult classic NES game Hebereke turned out to be well worth playing, but the reason I played it is so that I could check out this modern legasequel and compare it to Good-Feel's craft-based Yoshi games. Basically, a lower budget holds it back a bit in the looks department but it gets by on its charm. And if anyone calls this a remake, I will shake my head sadly at them. Wait, Sunsoft describes it as such on the game's Steam page? *shakes head sadly*
It's been 33 years since the original Hebereke, and Hebe the penguin or whatever is still hanging out in the strange world of Ufouria (the localised release retains this PAL title, and the game even has brief cameos from Bop-Louie and Freeon-Leon!). Utsujin, an alien guy who was a boss in the first game, returns from space with a new plan to spread his gooey creations the Bumyons all over, and it's up to Hebe and friends to stop him with the aid of their trusty Popoons (the ball things with faces that you can throw around), because it turns out the two are antithetical for some reason.
In their efforts to stem the invasion and reclaim rocket parts to strike back at Utsujin's flying saucer base, they will traverse the various biomes of their little world via randomly generated levels. Yes, rather than a Metroid-like (which are more popular than ever), this sequel adopts some light roguelike qualities for its structure. Each level is made up of a few chunks that get assigned each time you venture out from Hebe's treehouse. There's not too many, so you will end up playing sections repeatedly, especially for the earlier levels that you need to pass through to get to later ones that are connected on the map (you do unlock fast-travel options later to skip around though). They also try to keep replays fresh with side-missions and button prompts for your teammates to find you bonus items.
Hebe and friends still have to stomp in mid-air to defeat enemies, but with more button mappings it's convenient to do, and you can unlock a super-butt bounce that is both financially rewarding and satisfying to pull off thanks to a bit of visual hitstun. You can now pull a Popoon out of nowhere at any time rather than them spawning from defeated enemies, but they're less useful as they only stun basic enemies; their main purpose is to destroy the sticky Bumyon blobs that act as hazards or that shield bosses. Characters also still have unlockable attacks, but you must spend health to activate them, and they're not even very useful to make up for it. I only ever used Jennifer's bombs because they're the only ones that also open paths and collectibles in stages.
As in the original, Hebe's three friends have to be fought so they join your team, but swapping between them is easy via the shoulder buttons, complete with a cute high-five animation as they tag in. They all have mobility differences that help in the various levels, but this time they all have the same basic speed and jump height so it doesn’t feel like a handicap to choose one. After your crew is complete, progression is driven via the vending machine in the hub, which stocks more items as you collect cans to recycle (these are unique collectibles that are found in levels), and you need to collect many coins [or buttons, or whatever they are] to buy everything. These will unlock new abilities for your crew, enable helpful items in the levels, let you into bonus rooms, etc. Sometimes grinding is required, or to put it another way replaying levels to find secret areas and cans also gets you money, so it depends on your mindset.
The environments each level takes place in are loosely inspired by the NES game, although they were fairly standard and barebones there so the crafty glowup is appreciated. Everything is made to look handcrafted, specifically mostly feltwork, which looks great especially on the adorable main cast of playable characters. The enemies and bosses are more or less taken directly from the original game in all their wackiness, but have been given a claymation makeover. You don’t quite get the level of detail and variety that the Kirby and Yoshi games have, but I’m just glad that other developers are trying things like this; even with a lower budget it does really stand out!
In addition to the in-game visuals, the menus and UI make use of round bead textures. The original game’s sprites also appear as dialogue portraits rendered via beads, which is a cute touch. This game has a fair amount of dialogue, fleshing out the quirky characters a little, whether it’s explaining new abilities or just chatting in the hub zone. It's not deep but adds to the overall charm.
I was pleasantly surprised by Hebereke 2. Rather than hewing too close to the original it tries something different with the structure, and it's an interesting experiment. In terms of the enemy roster and locations I was hoping for something a bit more adventurous, or some deep pulls from across the rest of the series… although there is a nod to the cast's appearance in Barcode Battler, which was fun. It's a low-key, fun little adventure with an interesting art style. Just don't try to get all the achievements, it's a hell of a grind to collect 50,000 money.
