While researching an article a couple weeks back (yes, I do research! It lasts upwards of thirty seconds, and it is glorious) I discovered Hebereke: Enjoy Edition. The images of the game appeared to be cute, and the description seemed to indicate it was an ancient Famicom-based mascot action game. And it was some kind of metroidvania! With four selectable characters! NES games with multiple characters and matching skills is my favorite genre. I had to give this one a try!
Somehow, I had never heard of this game/franchise. This makes a certain amount of sense, as it was barely localized, and it appears that this version of the game is entirely in Japanese. Since I had to intuit an entire 8-bit adventure from scratch (what’s that? Read the instructions? Not today, champ!), please enjoy a photo diary of my blind playthrough of Hebereke.
Let’s play! Here’s our hero. I am going to assume that is the titular Hebereke. I guess he’s got problems, because he sees fit to talk about something.
I see a goomba-like thing, and attempt to jump on it. I am punished for my hubris. I guess this isn’t a jumping-based attack system?
But then I discover the trick! You have to hold the down direction to mount a proper offense. Holding down doesn’t do anything visually, but it somehow adds oomph.
Alright, no time for murder now. Back to basic running, jumping, and climbing.
I’m not comfortable with what is happening here.
Good thing I know how to clear these platforms!
But that looks a little difficult, so I am going to try the other side of the slime-rope. Hebereke has something to say about that!
Treasure! Absolutely no idea what that does!
This leads to the Cave of Slippin’ Jimmy. No, that cannot be the path forward.
So when you jump on a thing, it will turn into a faceball. You can then throw this faceball. Or get pooped on. Or both.
We can also explore lower a little bit, and learn our penguin (?) cannot swim.
Back to the original path.
Springs are better than drool ladders.
A boss room! You can tell from the shutter and the room layout. Thanks, Mega Man!
So you play dodgeball with this orange cat. Let’s show ‘em how a jar feels!
Victory!
Whatever this says, what it means is that we now have a new character to play with.
Cat is just happy to be here.
This kitten is slower and jumps worse than the penguin. I do not see the appeal.
Can do whatever this is, though.
Moving on.
Cats can deal with ice! Hooray!
The previous area was some kind of tutorial. This is where things start to get complicated. As such, I am only going to be noting important moments going forward. What’s that? There are another 160 images to go?
Allow me to distract you with a frog statue.
Or when I get a map/propeller rat.
This is such a metroidvania, it has one of those tube things.
This was the era when minecarts were federally mandated for all videogames. They add absolutely nothing to the one area where they appear.
We got a compass! This is a secret tool for later!
Did I mention that this cat has horizontal swimming abilities? And that the cat apparently has ice and water powers, in contrast to the goddamned penguin?
We have an intriguing line of flying goombas that leads to a door, but it appears that attempting those jumps as a penguin leads to a lava-based death.
So heading generally “up” from there brings us to a ghost.
Dodgeball fight! I have to assume that, given the epoch, the shades mean that this ghost raps.
Die, monster. You don’t belong in this world.
Or join us, and live forever!
Thad Ghostal has a floaty jump that is still not enough to keep his lack-of-a-butt out of the lava.
It is at about this point in the quest that I start running into a series of obstacles that I juuuuust cannot overcome. This ledge is a little too high.
These blocks require a powerbomb.
I can reach some new heights/hammers with my ghost pal, though.
The hammer does something… That I don’t figure out for a little while. Please look forward to it/murder clowns!
A giant tree contains bad-guy eggs. This will be important in a moment…
There is exactly one egg that is not trying to kill you. And you can pick it up!
Because you’re supposed to take it to the world’s ugliest bird.
Normal game for normal people.
This allows access to a new area where something is happening, but I don’t have the tools necessary yet.
Doubling back to a separate route…
Got an eyeball. Good. I think.
These clouds failed second grade.
Friend bird!
We get another flight to another cloudy area.
Our first boss-boss. Purple Man will not be joining the team.
This is remarkably straightforward. Eat it, instructions!
The only curveball is a phase 2 that includes head-flight.
Heads off to ya.
And our reward is… a plunger? What am I supposed to…
Oh! Friggen rad.
Hey, ma! It’s one of dem dere movement upgrades that space bounty hunter is always yakkin’ ‘bout!
We still need something to deal with water traversal, though…
Back over to the bird section…
Up we go.
I assume this restores health? Or adds additional health? That’s how potions work, right?
And now we can drop in on that faucet…
This fills up the chasm… But we still need a water power.
Going way back to the ice caves at practically the start, as I have realized this game does not have bottomless pits.
This cat is adorable.
New stuff!
New potion!
If I know my videogames (and I do), this will be our final destination. Or at least the door to the last level. It is definitely locked for now, though.
Looks like this area is going to get some mileage out of that climbing skill.
More games should be haunted by the Rolling Stones.
A lot to explore in this area.
This area is surprisingly wide-open. If this were any metroidvania after Super Metroid, this would be where you would be expected to use the space jump/flying transformation.
Nothing better in a videogame than an interesting rock.
It is a little finicky, but you can roll this rock…
Straight into a river…
And dam the damn thing. Eat your heart out, Breath of the Wild.
Now we can access a previously flooded area…
Look! It’s Kline before he got all fat from hanging out with Kirby!
Dodgeball fight! Despite all your allies (spoilers?) having wildly different movement speeds, their fights are all the same.
This is for everybody that can’t swim!
Gonna self-translate this as fish for “sorry”.
We now have a full party and a water guy.
I’ll just leave you to guess how this one’s skillset goes.
Thar be treasure in Davey Jone’s Locker.
Water areas have been noticeable since the beginning, so now I have reason for a world tour.
Alright, this… probably… means I get additional life…
So possibly the cleverest thing I have seen in this game…
Many (though not 100% all) of the lakes are connected by high-speed current tubes that, if you pay a little attention, connect practically the entire world. So we have a solution for Castlevania’s “teleporters” that is completely organic, and unlocked by a (relatively) late game skill that you were trying to find anyway. Amazing job, game from 1991!
Convenient for backtracking to find… uh… Blue shells?
Still looking for the tenth enemy to give me the bomb.
Now, after some awkward swimming, we can advance through the faucet area.
Underwater maze(ish).
Underwater boss!
Underwater combat is technically the same as on dry land, but a lot more awkward.
Go breathe somewhere else!
Now we’re talking.
Let’s go make some walls sorry for ever being masonry.
So each of the dudes get an attack item, and froggy here can summon bombs. The whole heart animation is… something. We have one other attack power, too… But I still hadn’t quite figured out how these things work at this point.
But what’s important is that walls are no longer a roadblock.
And this path apparently leads us back to the forest/jungle area with that ugly bird. The map is connecting!
Dove back into the previous maze to fish out a green shell. This should do something!
Let’s use those fast travel waterways to find new and exciting stuff!
These turbulent waters take us back to…
Chilly environs.
Can’t go up…
So it’s time to head down.
Venture far enough, and you will find a door… That takes you back to the beginning. Wrong path!
But if you go up before that door, you’ll find some heart.
And what we really want to do is take a dip.
Going to need those catlike reflexes for this ice.
Technically, I should be using one of the attack abilities for these un-jumpable mice… But I just tank it.
Avalanche! Over an area I probably was supposed to see first!
Take that, spikes.
And a little further to…
Sombrero Boss (?) !
Nothing complicated here, other than you must use your cat to survive the ice floor.
Not even a second form? Alright, moving on.
Snowman, snow problems.
Samus Aran obtained Ice Beam.
We nabbed our chozo artifact, time to vacate.
Been trying to make progress here since forever… Time to ice up enemies and make a bridge over that old lava area.
Ice aiming is rough, so I may have gamed the deadly properties of lava with some frog splashing.
And my reward is the pink shell. Which I am super sure is important.
Speaking of things that have bugged me for a while: this wall back toward the beginning area.
What fresh Hell is this?
It looks like we are not going to be able to bounce our problems away this time.
So it’s ice time, baby.
It is not an easy ascent, and I have to juggle characters because our cat inexplicably cannot jump.
And we get a potion! Not worth it!
Heading down from there, it is time for more ice bridges.
Winter is coming.
A knightly boss.
Harpoons rain from the ceiling, and our usual jumping does nothing.
Here’s where I finally utilize Ghosty’s hammer that we acquired way the heck back at the beginning. He can bonk his eyeballs out of his skull, and then use them as homing missiles. Why didn’t I figure that out sooner?
Whack the knight a few times, and the armor is scrapped to reveal… A stationary cat. I feel marginally bad about this. Poor thing doesn’t move at all, only cries.
Yahoo! The blue key! Probably just as valuable as the blue shell!
That was our first key, but our inventory is otherwise looking pretty full.
Some of these “level” areas would be better served with an immediate exit.
Our menu also reminded me I have a map. After getting back to that jungle area, I decided to have a look. Hey! I bet I am supposed to aim for those colored squares! Thanks, compass!
So I guess there was this shallow water area that I was probably supposed to explore back at the beginning when I first earned my swimming cat.
And there’s a boss down there!
This may have been intended as literally the first boss of the game, so Old Yellow here goes down easy.
Star Power!
This makes as much sense as anything else in this game.
So we have all the characters and their matching attack items. We have all the shells (?), and it looks like the last spots on the map will lead to the remaining keys. It’s endgame, folks!
Headed back to this area where we found our frog. I’m not surprised I missed something here; it is one of the most wide-open areas.
Bombin’
Heartin’
But our real goal is behind a waterfall.
The dark world!
This would take Samus Aran five seconds, but will take our swimmer forever.
At least there is a heart at the bottom.
But we cannot go any further than a few steps past that. I want that treasure, dammit!
Can’t make this jump. So I’ll use this pit-door here to go back to the beginning of our cave story.
The solution is to obliterate an earlier collection of blocks…
On specifically the left side…
And there’s a happy little light switch.
Now we know where we’re going.
To treasure!
And adventure!
And a confusing boss!
So the trick is to get your ammo from the white thing circling the room, and then toss it at Pipe Cat.
This is vaguely annoying, as leaping out of the water is a bear that is best accomplished by toggling between your fish and cat. But it is doable.
Two for the price of one!
Green key!
Nothing more to see in this cave.
One last goal nearby.
Head way up…
Leap of faith! That was a well-hidden island, but looking at the map makes it obvious you would find something there. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, compass!
Immediate boss!
Not unlike the catpipe fight, you get ammo from attacking the minions, and then aim for the face.
And then we’ve got a phase 2 where you might take a laser to your own face. Luckily, you only have to jump on this alien’s head at this point. You do not have to worry about tossing around blobs.
Independence Day!
Is that our last key? The map is out of hotspots…
Our most obvious locked door is pleasantly nearby.
Three keys will fill him! Three keys will thrill him! Why don’t feed him three keys?
We shall march into the unknown!
I… was not expecting this.
Okay, we’ve got a big boy, but I can see what we’re supposed to do.
He looks a little too happy that I’m hitting his obvious weak point.
The Big Bad does not ever mix up his pattern, and you can learn quickly that aiming is not hard if you sneak in there and hop right into the belly.
It’s no death of Chaos, but it works for me.
Ending! … Uh… something is happening?
I have to go now. My home planet needs me.
Bad ending?
Reboot ending?
Good ending!
And that’s it!
Sure, now we all use English…
Alright! So that was my experience with an entire NES Metroidvania where I had no context for anything or any real clue what was happening. And it worked out! It was fun, too! So my verdict is that Hebereke is the best Metroid game on the Famicom. Go get your Hebereke on!
FGC #678 Hebereke
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System: It was a Famicom game that got localized in Europe of all places! We never saw it, but friggen’ Germans did? The indignity! It is now available on this side of the pond on Windows and Nintendo Switch. There was also a Wii Virtual Console release somewhere in there.
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- Number of players: Four little dudes are all ready to go, but only one player at a time.
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- What’s in a name: The European version has the moniker “Ufouria: The Saga”. Also, the sprites have been modified to look slightly less impenetrably Japanese, and more “American Breakfast Cereal Mascot”. The penguin gets a beanie! That cat is a dinosaur! Ghosts with shades are and have always been cool!
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- Reading the Manual: So apparently what I identified as a cat is actually another penguin, O-Chan, that is simply wearing a cat costume. And she’s a girl! Learning all sorts of things today.
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- Story Time: The Japanese version states that this is a quest undertaken by Hebe (oh, that’s where we get the title) to rescue his team after they “fell into time and space” during a war with Unyohn the Alien Fish Or Whatever. And everyone is a family in the European version. Whatever! So long as amphibians are trounced, it doesn’t matter. None of this matters.
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- Favorite Character: Good ol’ Hebe. Everyone but the fish wins on personality, but Hebe winds up working out the best with the most delightfully average abilities. Or maybe he is somehow faster with less floatiness? At least I can proudly say I support this penguin.
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- Modern Conveniences: Technically this was a playthrough of the “Enjoy Edition” of Hebereke, which allows for save states/rewinding, and adds trophy-achievements to the proceedings. The Enjoy Edition also includes a harder version with less forgiving difficulty closer to the original release… But why bother? I could just resist rewinding… I… think?
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Did you know? This game got released in Australia, too? Why can’t we have any fun!?!
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- Would I play again: Probably! This was an enjoyable game for an afternoon, and I was kind of amazed I played it from start to finish without ever having to consult a FAQ or alike. Do you remember how obtuse some NES games could get? This is more straightforward than some modern releases! And there is apparently a Hebereke 2, so maybe I should look into that…
What’s next? Random ROB has chosen… Immortal! He’s just going to stay the same, and we’re all getting older… Please look forward to that?