Half-Minute Hero is a japanese RPG condensed into a 30 second time period. Everything is uber-simpified and the gameplay is super lightning fast. Marvelous refers to it as a "Hypersonic RPG". Battles consist of your character automatically smashing his body into the enemy until one of you dies. It's completely ridiculous and stupid until you realize that that's all you do in a turn-based RPG anyway. Normal battles take about one second and there are zero load times. You can customize your guy and find lots of secrets. Indeed, Half-Minute Hero is often more about figuring out what to do and how to do it efficiently than about great storylines or battle systems or whatever. The game is packed with charm and is totally goofy. Where else can you have a plot where the bad guy goes "Crap, I'm a bug! I hate bugs! I'm going to fix this by destroying the world."
HMH XBLA is basically an enhanced port with improved features and new visual filters.
- New graphic style (see the XBLA trailer at -- this graphic style is pretty nasty in my mind and goes against the retro feel that the entire game is built around. Fortunately you can turn it off and go with the oldschool graphics if it bugs you. - Online multiplayer - HMH had some local co-op stuff but nobody was ever able to play it because it was a PSP game. Now you can play four player over Xbox Live. I actually have no idea how it works but I'm guessing it's a time attack where you all race to kill the boss first. - Leaderboards for every quest - 12 new quests. I believe some of them may be multiplayer-only but I'm not sure. They're referring to the multiplayer as "Super Hero Wars" so I'm guessing this will be more of a focus than the original had. - All the other modes from the original Half-Minute Hero have basically been rebuilt into the RPG. The original HMH had other modes besides the RPG - an RTS, a weird top-down shooter and a protect-the-sage mode. The RPG was always far and away the best part of the game so it's cool to see them focus on its strengths. (source: http://www.siliconera.com/2011/06/15/yes-princess-and-evil-lord-modes-are-in-half-minute-hero-super-mega-neo-climax/) - DLC forthcoming; no hint on what it is yet - a 30 minute "quick look" with Gamepro staff if you want to know more - http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/219651/gamepro-live-half-an-hour-with-half-minute-hero/
Reviews
The embargo is still up, I believe, which means only tiny sites no one has heard of have reviewed it. Not that scores matter on something like this.
dunno. I probably spent 15-20 hours on HMH PSP. it's got multiple difficulties and is a time attack kind of game so there's a lot of replay value there. you could probably walk through the main quest in 10 hours but there's a lot more if you want it.
it depends on what they've done with the alternate modes and how much content is there. I'm going to assume there's less because they probably didn't make 90 RPG quests for that mode. I kind of figure it's one big quest for each mode. that'd be cool.
there's an overarching narrative to HMH that's actually got a huge payoff in the end. the final quests of HMH are really great.
you should not be passing on this, HM. you would love this game and $10 is tough to beat.
I do agree that the PSP version will probably be the superior one though. this is the ultimate portable game. the only way this one ends up superior is if the online multiplayer and leaderboards really add a lot to the game. I'm sure this version will be just fine but there's something to be said for a quality portable game.
Ehhh....probably not; it's not like I've completed every sidequest in the original HMH yet. (Mostly because I'm not a big fan of the way they did hard; it's obnoxious to beat a mission for the first time on hard because you can't stop and think when presented with text, and yet hard doesn't add much difficulty once you have a plan).
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
System isn't too important - this could come out tomorrow on the PS3 and I wouldn't bite at it. I'm sure it'll be a fun game, but I dunno how much I'd play it. Multiplayer could make it more compelling, though, that should be fun if you get four good people together.
it's got awesome music too! I never realized it until the end of the game where the music makes for some super climactic moments. it's rare that bombastic buttrock hits the spot but in this game it fits like a glove.
I enjoyed the PSP demo, and I wouldn't mind playing it on there! I think this game is more suitable for a quick handheld experience over a sit-down console one. Maybe I'm wrong!
I saw this game and cursed my lack of PSP, and now my suffering is about to end. Cannot wait to try this game out.
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"There's no bliss in shifting blocks around until they line up? Guess you've never played TETRIS. From Russia with FUN, mother ****er" - AbsoluteZero
I think I've broken the 30-second rule I set for myself pretty flagrantly at this point, so allow me to wrap up by saying I fell in love with this game, immediately. It's got a funny script, it's easy to learn, and I can complete a whole quest while I wait for my tea to steep. The requirements for each quest gradually build from "teensy" to "small." That difficulty curve did little to prepare me for quick, frequent death in multiplayer, though. Also, the relative lack of extra content versus the PSP version (those single spinoff missions in the place of series of RTS/shmup/action missions) is lamentable. Regardless, if you take anything away from this review -- if, in the spirit of the game, you just skimmed it in a rush -- it's that the main game is something that everyone should try, even briefly ... not that you'd have the choice to play it any way but briefly.
I've been wanting to play this game ever since the very first PSP trailers. Got gutted when I realized it was PSP-only. This is like a dream come true.
okay, quest 13 down (more like 18 but whatever). #1 on a couple of the stages. I'm currently two seconds ahead of #2 on quest 11. that'll last about 3 hours.
too bad I won't be able to play again until Sunday at the earliest, argh
this game is pretty cool. although looking at my friend's leaderboard and seeing tranny's ridiculous scores is a little depressing! I'll never top that! I definitely think I'm gonna buy it.
and yeah I agree that the game is kind of unplayable with the analog stick, d-pad has worked pretty well for me though
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omg did u red text from last night dats so me LMAO : ) im not a slut i jus liek 2 haev fun LOL : )
I played the first few levels a little bit too much. this game is a speed running dream with the leaderboards and the friend ghosts. it gives me an incentive to get good times and a barometer for how I'm doing that the PSP version never could. god bless online.
I've yet to try the multiplayer mode. anyone got any impressions?