1992 | Sunsoft | NES, Evercade
Sunsoft is back, baby! With the recent release of Ufouria 2 on Switch and Steam I figured it would be a fantastic idea to revisit one of the most bizarre and fun NES adventure games after nearly 20 years (god, I feel old). As luck would have it, Evercade would once again provide the game for this review with the Sunsoft Collection 2 cartridge, which also includes my other favorite Sunsoft thing; Zero, the Kamikaze Squirrel! Alongside City Connection, Sunsoft recently remade the original Hebereke as Hebereke Enjoy Edition, but for the sake of my nostalgia I wanted to revisit the original NES release that we got over in the PAL territories. Let’s pyoooo!
You might know the main character of the Hebereke series, Hebe, from this time as Sunsoft’s mascot, appearing as part of commercials, advertisements and all over magazines. Despite being the face of the company, the series would enjoy numerous installments in relative obscurity. The first game in the franchise would release in 1991 for the Famicom and would, in a rare move, release for the NES in Europe around 1992 as Ufouria: The Saga. While there were plans to release the game in North America, this version would ultimately end up getting cancelled. Despite the game being fundamentally the same, both the story and characters received major changes. The biggest change was to the character’s designs, sprites and names. Hebe was changed to “Bop Louie” and went from penguin to snowman. Other changes include changing O-Chan from a cat suit wearing girl to a lizard named “Freeon-Leon” and the names of Sukezaemon to Shades, and Jennifer to “Gil”. While I can’t find a proper reason for this change, Hebe’s design overhaul likely has to do with the fact that he can remove his own head to throw at enemies.
Ufouria opens up with a cutscene where Bop Louie tells the story of how he and his friends found a big hole, after which his friends drop down into it. Now it’s up to Bop Louie to find them, restore their memories, collect three magic keys and face off against the evil Uhnyon (get it? Like Onion?). It’s a simple premise that is vastly different from the big trek through time and space to save their home worlds during an all out intergalactic war as presented in the Japanese version. Much of the game plays similarly, but with different motivations leading the characters. The changes to the story are likely made to simplify the premise and make it a bit more straightforward.
Ufouria lets you explore a large interconnected world in typical metroidvania fashion. You go around the different zones to collect items to help you on your way, including your attack abilities. During your travels you encounter your friends, who’re suffering from amnesia and attack you. By defeating them you restore their memories and have them join the party, after which they are playable. Each character has its own special moves that allow you to access new areas. Bop Louie has the ability to climb walls, Shades jumps really high and can hover, Freeon Leon has the ability to swim and walk on ice, and Gil sinks like a rock and can regurgitate exploding eggs. As you unlock more abilities you can explore more of the world and along the way you face a bunch of bosses. Well, I say bosses but it’s more like a few variations of the same one. Outside of the final boss and one or two mini-bosses, you’ll be facing the same big headed alien, except sometimes he has friends, or sometimes he flies. While these fights provide a decent challenge and change of pace, it’s noticeably lacking in variety.
Ufouria is a fantastically laid back metroidvania that emphasizes exploration over challenge. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t provide you with some rather nail biting situations, like a very tight sequence of jumps over pits of lava or a sudden bossfight you weren’t ready for. However, it never makes the challenging aspects of the game its focal point. Instead you get to freely explore the world and its quirky and fun inhabitants without too much constraints. Thanks to the password system you can immediately hop back in after you died somewhere without losing your items. The soundtrack is fantastic, providing some very upbeat and addictive tunes with that joie de vive that is so specific to the NES. The sprites are incredibly loveable and expressive and add so much life to the entire game. I’m an especially big fan of the existential dread of Freeon’s crouch animation. Despite releasing in 1992 it doesn’t feel like a game from that era. There’s a certain polish to the design and responsiveness that feels surprisingly modern. Ufouria had the unfortunate timing of releasing in the holiday season of the same year as the launch of the Super Nintendo, which resulted in the game largely being overlooked and thusly receiving a very small print run. Even though it is an excellent adventure, it was sadly doomed to fade into the same corner of obscurity as Mr. Gimmick’s NES release. Luckily Sunsoft has recently released the remake with Hebereke: Enjoy Edition as well as a long overdue sequel with Ufouria 2. If this review sparked any interest in the franchise then go check these out to get down to Hebereke town!
Butt scoot/10
TanookiChickenAttack 