Peak fiction
Bop Louie, a humble hero. Where his Japanese counterpart takes the glory of the "Hebe"reke series, Bop relinquishes the title to the sheer joy that comes from the trusted group of four. Even within the saga itself, an experience in a genre which demands traversal, while Bop Louie may command the speediest playstyle, most relevant abilities are signature to the others. Bop Louie will never morph into the whirling machine of powers and chaos that so many other protagonists in this space delve into. He looks temptation in the eye and responds "No, I say to you. My friends are my strength, and without them I am no better than the very monsters I seek to overcome".
Shades, despite drawing on motifs associated with confident characters of the time period, lacks this sheer willpower. A fragile ego, Bop Louie sugarcoats his abilities as "you can jump very high" despite Shades' athletics being focused on travelling farther, a necessary concession to give to a friend incapable of acting without appearing the most talented in the room. Even with such insecurities, a second side to Shades shines through when using his secret attack, a cartoonish slapstick move in which he draws strength by exposing his true face to the world. This struggle to be taken seriously, even when most wouldn't mind either way, is eternally relatable, and perhaps alludes to some of Sunsoft's own catalog. For what illuminates this conflict better than Trip World's grandiose opening of two puffballs fighting over a flower, only to follow this up with a middling Kirby effigy? And yet, Shades persists in both the Japanese and European versions of the saga, a global superstar loved by all except himself.
Gil, another constant to each retelling of this experience, has remained not out of love but out of indifference. An aquatic denizen with an unflattering image, they fit in both Hebereke's esoteric cutesiness and Ufouria's cartoony coolness, but are at home in neither. Tossed around unceremoniously through rip currents, their boons of fast travel to the team will never be recognized. But Gil never loses sight of themself, even in their most lonely hour. For when there is a task to be done, shouldering the burden for the rest of the team is enough.
Freeon Leon. A name powerful enough to persist well beyond the scope of the world of Ufouria. A trailblazer who challenges frigid wastes and stormy seas without a hint of fear. Much has been said of her declaration to the world, "im freeon leon". But can you even comprehend what it means to stake ones claim in such a mighty existence? To feel every ton of weight that Freeon Leon handles during her legendary journey? Well, there is only one way to possibly perceive the breadth that legacy.
And that is to submerge yourself in true ufouria.
Shades, despite drawing on motifs associated with confident characters of the time period, lacks this sheer willpower. A fragile ego, Bop Louie sugarcoats his abilities as "you can jump very high" despite Shades' athletics being focused on travelling farther, a necessary concession to give to a friend incapable of acting without appearing the most talented in the room. Even with such insecurities, a second side to Shades shines through when using his secret attack, a cartoonish slapstick move in which he draws strength by exposing his true face to the world. This struggle to be taken seriously, even when most wouldn't mind either way, is eternally relatable, and perhaps alludes to some of Sunsoft's own catalog. For what illuminates this conflict better than Trip World's grandiose opening of two puffballs fighting over a flower, only to follow this up with a middling Kirby effigy? And yet, Shades persists in both the Japanese and European versions of the saga, a global superstar loved by all except himself.
Gil, another constant to each retelling of this experience, has remained not out of love but out of indifference. An aquatic denizen with an unflattering image, they fit in both Hebereke's esoteric cutesiness and Ufouria's cartoony coolness, but are at home in neither. Tossed around unceremoniously through rip currents, their boons of fast travel to the team will never be recognized. But Gil never loses sight of themself, even in their most lonely hour. For when there is a task to be done, shouldering the burden for the rest of the team is enough.
Freeon Leon. A name powerful enough to persist well beyond the scope of the world of Ufouria. A trailblazer who challenges frigid wastes and stormy seas without a hint of fear. Much has been said of her declaration to the world, "im freeon leon". But can you even comprehend what it means to stake ones claim in such a mighty existence? To feel every ton of weight that Freeon Leon handles during her legendary journey? Well, there is only one way to possibly perceive the breadth that legacy.
And that is to submerge yourself in true ufouria.
I like to think that Bop Louie willed the other party members abilities into existence during their introductions.
That being said, this game is awesome and if you're the type to even have a passing interest in it, you will enjoy it.
That being said, this game is awesome and if you're the type to even have a passing interest in it, you will enjoy it.
Lovely game, a true metroidvania. It's really fascinating to see a game this old having all the elements you would expect to see in modern games.
The map system works great, exploring is not burdensome at all. As the game is so small, it doesn't really take too long to get anywhere and simply looking around will guide you to the critical path.
Still, this is a game from 1991 and that's most obvious in the game's punishment for death. It is not too severe - you don't lose any items or upgrades but you always respawn at the beginning (the middle of the map) with very little health. Grinding for HP takes a ridiculously long time, but there are quite a few game sections where small slip ups can kill you very quickly.. as well as some boss encounters that will likely take more than one attempt.
The bosses are generally quite simple to figure out, but controls are not the most responsive in this game and when I made mistakes they often felt sort of unfair.
Still, these are minor nitpicks - the game overall is breezy and fun, oozing charm from every pore and feeling incredibly modern in a lot of ways. Highly recommended!
The map system works great, exploring is not burdensome at all. As the game is so small, it doesn't really take too long to get anywhere and simply looking around will guide you to the critical path.
Still, this is a game from 1991 and that's most obvious in the game's punishment for death. It is not too severe - you don't lose any items or upgrades but you always respawn at the beginning (the middle of the map) with very little health. Grinding for HP takes a ridiculously long time, but there are quite a few game sections where small slip ups can kill you very quickly.. as well as some boss encounters that will likely take more than one attempt.
The bosses are generally quite simple to figure out, but controls are not the most responsive in this game and when I made mistakes they often felt sort of unfair.
Still, these are minor nitpicks - the game overall is breezy and fun, oozing charm from every pore and feeling incredibly modern in a lot of ways. Highly recommended!
One of the weirdest localizations of all time. Like I know why they made Totally Rad, I understand that. What was the value of turning a penguin into a Funko Pop? Unknown. Freon Leon is an all-time good character name though.
Anyway the game's fine, but mainly held together by charm. The english script has an unbelievably terse quality that makes me smile everytime, and the characters are all lovely to look at. But it's like, it's fine right? It's just pretty much fine. Like it's no Castlevania 2 alright? One of the weird things about the pacing is that there's no health upgrades until the back third of the game at which point you get a bunch at once and have no hope of efficiently filling them. Mostly, the game's not too tough, but there's some tricky bits and you have to go back to one specific point when you die. And also it's a password system but listen. It's 2024 I didn't have to deal with that. I honestly feel like I'll like the new one better! Not planning to find out any time soon though. I have a lot of games to play and it's like 30 bucks.
Anyway the game's fine, but mainly held together by charm. The english script has an unbelievably terse quality that makes me smile everytime, and the characters are all lovely to look at. But it's like, it's fine right? It's just pretty much fine. Like it's no Castlevania 2 alright? One of the weird things about the pacing is that there's no health upgrades until the back third of the game at which point you get a bunch at once and have no hope of efficiently filling them. Mostly, the game's not too tough, but there's some tricky bits and you have to go back to one specific point when you die. And also it's a password system but listen. It's 2024 I didn't have to deal with that. I honestly feel like I'll like the new one better! Not planning to find out any time soon though. I have a lot of games to play and it's like 30 bucks.
A super charming and tastefully simple metroidvania. It really came out as a fully formed adventure, with wonderful character designs, animations, and presentation. Once you get in the zone, the challenge is pretty easy to read but can be hard to actually do, and before I started playing with save states, some areas tested my patience. While it wore on me in the end, it's an overwhelmingly happy experience that feels way ahead of its time.
A very cute Metroidvania that lets you explore the weird world with Hebereke and his three buddies who each have their own sets of skills that you can switch between at will.
Hebe and the crew are adorable. Surprised to find a Metroidvania on the NES that's this fully featured, even though it's only a few hours long. I kept getting a glitch that cut out all my music during gameplay instead of when paused...
I wish Jennifer had a drill, because waiting for these bombs to pop is really really boring.
I wish Jennifer had a drill, because waiting for these bombs to pop is really really boring.
Heroes, optimism, brightness, positivity, trust morality, friendship, bonds are concepts I absolutely hate. I prefer more mature concepts like anti heroes, protagonists who are also antagonists, genocide, depression, sadness, lose, betrayal, ptsd, moral relativism and grayness. That's probably why I like Castlevania more than Ufouria and other NES platformers tbh.
"It's just a brand identity it doesn't make a difference" Yeah no, a platformer being intended for people who want to make friends or people who want to be a badass will obviously make a difference in literally every aspect crying emoji
"It's just a brand identity it doesn't make a difference" Yeah no, a platformer being intended for people who want to make friends or people who want to be a badass will obviously make a difference in literally every aspect crying emoji
im freeon leon
i amrried FREEON LEON. luckiest FORTRESSGALUADE in tehw orld
Maybe the best NES metroidvania. Really cute art style, fun characters and good platforming. That said near the back half this game does gut punch with that sunsoft era nes difficulty
its just a cute lil game i remember trying out on a whim one time
i dont remember TOo too much about it but its a nice time, only giving it the Played stamp here because i feel like i dont remember enough to say i saw the ending if at all
i dont remember TOo too much about it but its a nice time, only giving it the Played stamp here because i feel like i dont remember enough to say i saw the ending if at all
is that fishsticks on the box
one of the best platformers on the NES. feels very adventurous and sincere but also delirious and aimless. my favourite enemy is a frog stood atop a pedestal who when jumped on, simply nods in acknowledgement, as if to taciturnly say "yes, you did that right. if you do it a second time, i'll be destroyed."
GAMER'S TIP: as soon as you unlock Freeon Leon, select them and try crouching for one of the greatest crawling animations ever put in a game.
GAMER'S TIP: as soon as you unlock Freeon Leon, select them and try crouching for one of the greatest crawling animations ever put in a game.
I saw the announcement for Ufouria 2 and knew I had to check out the 1991 game. What a lovely, clunky game. I think majority of my experience with Ufouria was actually being very frustrated by the controls, waiting like 3 minutes for Gil's eggs to explode, forgetting where certain parts of the map would take me, etc. etc. but the overall package has that kind of simple charm that makes it all worth it.