I've had this GBA game for ages, but never completed it back then. Was hesitant to start it up years later because I had a concern my vague positive memories were very rooted in nostalgia, but then I looked the game up here & saw its surprisingly high score (4+ stars) & decided to give it a go anyways.
I don't think I'm as fond of the game as others on this site are, but it's hard to deny that Ham-Ham Heartbreak being really polished & a very competent hand held experience most of the way through. The premise is really simple (main villain hates love/people getting along. Hence he attempts to make everyone fight) but it's still executed well despite the simple premise. The sprite work is also quite inspired & it compliments the dictionary system a lot with how creative some of the animations are.
...The game does have downsides though, especially regarding how obtuse progression sometimes can be. Make no mistake the game isn't hard, but you can very much run into situations where you run around for a surprising amount of time because there's some obscure text prompt/object to interact with you overlooked - leading you to comb through the whole zone backwards until you find what you missed.
Those moments do leave some frustration and it's also why I can't give a full on no reservations recommendation. It's a good game, think its more polished than most licensed games, but you have to accept 10-15% nonsense alongside it. Though if you can stomach that there's a fun 6-8 hour game in store.
I don't think I'm as fond of the game as others on this site are, but it's hard to deny that Ham-Ham Heartbreak being really polished & a very competent hand held experience most of the way through. The premise is really simple (main villain hates love/people getting along. Hence he attempts to make everyone fight) but it's still executed well despite the simple premise. The sprite work is also quite inspired & it compliments the dictionary system a lot with how creative some of the animations are.
...The game does have downsides though, especially regarding how obtuse progression sometimes can be. Make no mistake the game isn't hard, but you can very much run into situations where you run around for a surprising amount of time because there's some obscure text prompt/object to interact with you overlooked - leading you to comb through the whole zone backwards until you find what you missed.
Those moments do leave some frustration and it's also why I can't give a full on no reservations recommendation. It's a good game, think its more polished than most licensed games, but you have to accept 10-15% nonsense alongside it. Though if you can stomach that there's a fun 6-8 hour game in store.