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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 9, 2009 13:37:50 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/hammerin/hammerin.htmThis is a series I've been meaning to cover for awhile. It started an arcade game, which got a Famicom port (which in turn was released in Europe but not America) and then eventually got a number of spinoffs. The new PSP game is due for American release from Atlus later in April.
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Post by Shellshock on Mar 9, 2009 17:46:30 GMT -5
Holy crap. And I thought there were only 2 games in the series.
I haven't read this yet, and I don't know if you mentioned it, but Gen also appears in that all-Irem-characters tactical game for the GameBoy for what it's worth. Don't remember the name of it.
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Post by r0ck3rz on Mar 9, 2009 18:37:09 GMT -5
Daiku no Gensan - Kachikachi no Tonkachi ga Kachi has a rom translation as "Gen the Carpenter." Not sure if you generally cover that sort of thing.
I was wondering if you guys were gonna do an article on this one myself. Played the PSP game last year(that'll be worth checking out in English), and thought it was a ton of fun, so I looked up the rest of the series.
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Post by MRSKELETON on Mar 9, 2009 23:32:42 GMT -5
Kirby looks suspiciously like this guy when he has the hammer ability.
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Post by DojoCasino on Mar 15, 2009 5:57:39 GMT -5
LETS GET BUSY! Haha, I've never actually heard of these games before, the arcade game is pretty cool. Great graphics too. I'll have to check out the other games some time  |
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Post by MRSKELETON on Mar 16, 2009 22:03:18 GMT -5
Yeah, also - The gameboy game, puzzler. It's almost carbon copy (with a little different sprites) of another GB game, ninja/samurai kid or something.
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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 17, 2009 17:52:13 GMT -5
Huh, did not know about that one. Thanks for the heads up!
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Post by Shellshock on Apr 19, 2009 11:33:11 GMT -5
Hey, guys, resurrecting an old one here. I recently played half way through the English release of the PSP game before abandoning due to its frustrating slowness, and noticed some things that might be useful for the article:
-The "Normal" and "Master" difficulty levels are barely distinguishable. Bosses gain a few more hit points and enemies become a little faster (which is actually more enjoyable), but you can start right off from "Master" without a problem.
-The "anger balloons" as mentioned are not just that, but more of "emotion" balloons that represent the NPC's state of mind. By hitting them Gen helps NPC's overcome their fears, frustrations, etc.; triggering funny special events in the background of the action. You'll also collect "Thank you" letters from them.
-The bit about sluggishness not ruining the game is up for debate, in my opinion. Gen's moves are so slow that stupid mistakes are very frequent. Besides, the underwater stage is probably the worst case of slowdown ever recorded in a videogame. This is where I abandoned the game.
-The side-swipe move Gen has is a slower but stronger hit. When connected it smashes enemies into the background with funny effects, sometimes discovering secret passages.
-You can also mention that Gen rides in lots of contraptions during his adventure. Something not very common in regular platformers.
-The English version's localization quality is usual Atlus standard, which is awesome. It also lets you keep the Japanese voices with English text.
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Post by Ganelon on Apr 19, 2009 20:01:48 GMT -5
Yeah, I haven't been this annoyed with controls since the 16-bit era days...
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Post by brianc on Apr 20, 2009 3:13:19 GMT -5
Is the PSP game the R-Type Final of the Hammerin' Harry/Daiku no Gen San series?
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Post by Shellshock on Apr 20, 2009 11:09:08 GMT -5
Is the PSP game the R-Type Final of the Hammerin' Harry/Daiku no Gen San series? ?? If you are confused about that last screenshot of a shoot'em-up, that's just a stage in Hammerin' Hero. |
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Post by brianc on Apr 21, 2009 0:28:38 GMT -5
Is the PSP game the R-Type Final of the Hammerin' Harry/Daiku no Gen San series? ?? If you are confused about that last screenshot of a shoot'em-up, that's just a stage in Hammerin' Hero. I'm not confused. I made the comparison becuase R-Type Final is a game with a ton of features, but disappointing gameplay and Hammerin' Hero sounds like the same deal. They are also both from Irem. |
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Post by Shellshock on Apr 21, 2009 9:28:41 GMT -5
Oh ok. You mean if Hammerin' Hero was supposed to be the ultimate, last Hammerin' Harry in the series? I don't know if any of us can truly tell, since most of the series is Japanese-only and it's hard to say how popular really is over there.
I really think if Hammerin' Hero had no slowdown problems, it would be a great action game. It has beautiful presentation, very cute art design, a ton of charm, an incredible amount of detail in its backgrounds, and Atlus' localization.
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Post by brianc on Apr 21, 2009 9:41:01 GMT -5
Oh ok. You mean if Hammerin' Hero was supposed to be the ultimate, last Hammerin' Harry in the series? No. R-Type Final is generally viewed as one of the worst games in the R-Type series, but it stuffs a ton of unlockables and levels into one game. R-Type Final also suffers from a ton of slowdown. What I was asking was if Hammerin' Hero was a game that was a game stuffed with a ton of extras but brought down by flaws like R-Type Final, because, from the sounds of it, Hammerin' Hero is a game with a good amount of stuff like R-Type Final, but brought down by flaws like R-Type Final. |
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Post by Shellshock on Apr 21, 2009 13:58:10 GMT -5
Oh ok. You mean if Hammerin' Hero was supposed to be the ultimate, last Hammerin' Harry in the series? No. R-Type Final is generally viewed as one of the worst games in the R-Type series, but it stuffs a ton of unlockables and levels into one game. R-Type Final also suffers from a ton of slowdown. What I was asking was if Hammerin' Hero was a game that was a game stuffed with a ton of extras but brought down by flaws like R-Type Final, because, from the sounds of it, Hammerin' Hero is a game with a good amount of stuff like R-Type Final, but brought down by flaws like R-Type Final. In general, yes. I guess you could make that comparison. Still, R-Type is a regular-speed game with slowdown throughout one stage plus scattered sections of others; whereas Hammerin' was designed to always move slowly, but will almost freeze in place when the real slowdown kicks in. It will definitely test your patience to continue. Also, as you know, slowdown in shoot'em-ups isn't as frowned upon as slowdown in a platformer/action title. We are more used to it, and sometimes even welcome it. Specially since R-Type was never known for being frenetic or requiring a high dose of reflexes. Hammerin' Hero is a much better, polished product than R-Type Final in every way. Its only serious drawback is its speed. It's funny because it occurred to me that an easy fix for it would be to play it on an emulator at 25% more speed. If a PSP emulator does exist, of course. |
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