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Half-Minute Hero speeds onto PC September 27
Half-Minute Hero is coming to PC on September 27, priced at $9.99 according to its listing on the Playism portal. It will also be available on Steam. This is the second port of the 2009 PlayStation Portable game, following its arrival on Xbox Live Arcade last year. The PC port includes all of the XBLA version's extra content, including the alternative high-res look.Meanwhile, there remains no word on Half-Minute Hero's sequel reaching Western shores. Hero 30 Second, which focuses on and expands the first game's Hero 30 mode, was released in Japan last year on PSP.%Gallery-164540%
Half-Minute Hero coming to XBLA as 'Super Mega Neo Climax' edition
Hey, Half-Minute Hero is coming to Xbox Live Arcade! Okay, usually we try to ease you into the subject of our posts a little more gently than that, but we assumed that if you were the type of person to be excited by the announcement that Half-Minute Hero was coming to Xbox Live Arcade, you probably have a pretty short attention span. We've probably already lost you, haven't we? You're not reading this at all. Now we have to start dropping aberrant words until we regain your attention. Bombogenesis. Ronkonkoma. Bumbershoot. Hey, you're back! Yes, according to a listing from the Australian Classification Board, Marvelous Entertainment is bringing Half-Minute Hero to the XBLA platform, complete with a delightful new subtitle: Super Mega Neo Climax. Short attention span or no, we're going to find it difficult to get this one out of our mind until we get more information. Stay tuned! [Thanks, Perry!]
Half-Minute Hero sequel announced, hitting Japan Nov. 4
Famitsu recently pulled the lid off of an upcoming sequel to one of last year's ... well, one of last year's weirdest games ever, Half-Minute Hero. According to Andriasang's translation of the reveal, the game will still place a heavy emphasis on hasty adventuring -- though time will now freeze while the player is on the overworld map, giving him or her plenty of time to explore the game's five RPG scenarios. A four-player co-op mode, a quest creation tool and an "Infinite" mode which tasks you with toppling the game's biggest bosses in succession are also new additions. The best part? The sequel is titled Hero 30 Second, which should ensure no small amount of confusion amongst future video game historians. According to Famitsu, the game's tentatively dated in Japan for November 4, and is currently 77 percent complete, which is just mind-boggling in its specificity.
Jikan de Fantasia lets you play as a more-than-Half-Minute Hero
It appears Jikan de Fantasia, a new RPG hitting PSP this summer in Japan, is taking some heavy inspiration from Half-Minute Hero. Makes sense, considering this new adventure is from Opus Studio, the same team responsible for Marvelous's quirky action RPG. Like its predecessor, Jikan de Fantasia blends hack 'n slash RPG gameplay with a time-bending twist. However, instead of condensing an RPG to thirty seconds, you can set the amount of time you want to spend. Have only five minutes on the subway? Have a thirty minute bus commute? You'll be able to set your own time limit, and the game will create an adventure that fits your schedule. According to Famitsu, Jikan de Fantasia deconstructs the core mechanics of an RPG, from leaving your hometown, meeting NPCs, and exploring dungeons to fighting a final boss, and reassembles them to create an experience that fits the time you want. For those that found the thirty second gameplay of Opus's last adventure a bit too manic, this experience should be far more compelling.
Play a Half-Minute Hero demo for a few minutes next week
If the thought of buying before trying seems as alien as making a sandwich out of textbooks and old toilet paper tubes, then you'll want to keep reading: Rising Star has announced that a demo of Half-Minute Hero will hit the EU PSN next week. Dubbed "Hero Mode," the demo will allow players to select between three missions included in the final game. Half-Minute Hero features a series of quick challenges blending together a menagerie of genres, such as RPG, RTS and even shoot-em-ups. It's currently set to release in Europe on February 12. [Via Videogamer]
Half-Minute Hero finds time for Europe
If you've been following Joystiq, you should be familiar with Half-Minute Hero, the zany RPG in which the apocalypse threatens to arrive every thirty seconds. Rising Star Games is taking care of the European release of the game, which will be readied on February 12th, 2010. A press release describes Half-Minute Hero as a "love-letter to 8-bit classics," thanks to its retro inspired graphics. Disturbingly, Rising Star Games' Martin Defries says "it's a game which keeps on giving - but like an inexperienced teenager: 30 seconds at a time." We're not entirely sure what that's supposed to mean, but we would advise not keeping your kids around this guy.
Marvelous lost money on most of its Wii releases
Pretty much everyone can guess why No More Heroes is being released again -- Marvelous needs money. During a Q&A presentation (PDF link, Japanese) about its fiscal Q2 2010 earnings, Marvelous boldly revealed that three out of its four 2009 Wii releases lost money, though it didn't say which was the winner. Muramasa sold 47,000 units in Japan, the company said, not specifying American sales. Arc Rise Fantasia, which will be published Stateside by Ignition, sold 45,000 copies. Little King's Story sold 26,000 copies in Japan, 37,000 copies in North America, and 67,000 in Europe. Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga, which came out in September in North America, sold just 16,000 copies (Japanese sales, which started in October, are not mentioned). Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility on Wii somehow sold 57,000 units in 2009 despite being a 2007 release in Japan, a 2008 release in America, and not out until October in Europe and Australia. Because of lower development costs, Marvelous said, PSP software was more successful, with four out of five releases making money on similar sales numbers. Half-Minute Hero was Marvelous's overall best-performing title, at 70,000 copies sold. [Via Siliconera]
One-day sale on Half-Minute Hero
XSEED's Half-Minute Hero is all about compressing game genres, including RPG, RTS, and shmups, down into 30-second increments. So it's only appropriate that a price drop on the game is also under a strict time limit, as it is with this Amazon Deal of the Day. For today only (or until Amazon runs out), the game is marked down to $18.98. Sure, it would be even more appropriate if the sale only lasted half a minute, but then we wouldn't have time to write this post about it and tell you. Our post would look more like this: "hey guys haflmintue hero on sale cheap amazonlike 19 bucks" %Gallery-68352%
Rising Star's Q1 lineup for Europe includes Fragile, Way of the Samurai 3
Rising Star Games has announced a European release for Fragile (as Fragile Dreams), Namco Bandai's action-adventure game about exploring a haunted, post-disaster Japan, in March 2010. That's around the same time XSEED plans to bring the Namco Bandai title to North America. Also in March, the publisher will release Rune Factory Frontier on Wii, and Avalon Code and My World My Way on DS. Before that, in February, Rising Star will release Half-Minute Hero on PSP, and, through "affiliate label" Gamebridge, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Way of the Samurai 3. We've got Rising Star's full lineup listed after the break.
Half-Minute Hero can't rescue Quebec
If you're looking for a UMD version of Half-Minute Hero in Quebec, stop trying. A Destructoid reader looking for the game was surprised it had skipped a release altogether in the Canadian province -- and it's all thanks to the law. "Canadian distribution is always tricky because of the bilingual law that Quebec enforces, so for titles with limited distribution we do not create a second bilingual version specifically for Canada because it's too expensive. Unfortunately, that's what happened to Half-Minute Hero," an XSEED representative stated. Thankfully, digital distribution offers a workaround. PlayStation Network appears to be exempt from Quebec's bilingual laws, so a simple visit to the PlayStation Store is all it takes to bypass the French language police.
Spend a few minutes with this Half-Minute Hero trailer
Okay, Half-Minute Hero is finally seeing release. In addition to launching an official site for the game, XSEED has released one last trailer for the game that gives you a good overview of all the wackiness you can expect from the game. Does it look familiar? Yeah, but now this one's in English, a language commonly used by Joystiq writers and readers. Half-Minute Hero hits UMD next week, and PSN a week thereafter.
Half-Minute Hero rushes to UMD on October 13, PSN one week later
Okay, so it's pretty clear all of us are going to buy Half-Minute Hero. The only questions left are: when? And how? XSEED's bringing the clever micro-RPG game to retail stores on October 13, with a digital PSN release to follow one week later on October 22. "Timing is just off for whatever reason," we were told by a PR representative. Half-Minute Hero's bite-sized gameplay makes it an ideal game to throw on your Memory Stick. But, will gamers have the patience to wait an entire week for the PSN version? By our calculations, you could play Half-Minute Hero over 25,000 times on UMD before the PSN version comes out! %Gallery-68352%
First Half-Minute Hero demo coming tomorrow
If you read the headline carefully enough, you'll notice that there is more than one demo coming out for the upcoming PSP Half-Minute Hero. However, the first demo will be available on the PlayStation Store tomorrow. It's quite possibly the zaniest game to hit the platform in a long time, forcing players to vanquish evil in 30 second bursts (seriously!). Hero mode is just one of four different modes hidden in the full game. It's hard to effectively describe the frantic gameplay through words. Thankfully, you can completely ignore our opinions and just give the demo a spin. %Gallery-68352%
Half-Minute Hero may be PSN exclusive, demo coming in August
There were three letters that went through our heads when we played XSEED's English adaptation of the upcoming Half-Minute Hero. For those not in the know, the PSP-exclusive "RPG" has a clever twist: the gameplay occurs in frantic thirty second chunks. (For detailed impressions, read our hands-on here.) The English demo we played retained the same action and charm as the Japanese original -- only this time, we could understand what was going on. Certainly, Half-Minute Hero has a niche appeal. However, anyone who tries it out should be able to understand what makes the game so brilliant by giving it a try. We were told by an XSEED representative that a downloadable demo is planned, and that it should be available some time next month. The demo will feature two stages from the "Hero 30" mode, where you have 30 seconds to level up and destroy a wizard that threatens to destroy the world. Those expecting a UMD version of Half-Minute Hero may be disappointed to know that XSEED is looking into making the game a PlayStation Network exclusive. Games like Patapon 2 and Holy Invasion of Privacy Badman! both skipped the UMD format. A game that's as pick-up-and-play as Half-Minute Hero does seem ideally suited for PSN distribution. %Gallery-68352%
Half-Minute Hero was based off a side project Flash game
Half-Minute Hero wasn't always meant to be a commercial title; it was originally just an ordinary flash game until producer Kenichiro Takaki saw its potential. Takaki, along with the game's director Kotaro Yoshida, explained in the latest issue of Famitsu PSP+PS3 (via PSP Hyper) that Half-Minute Hero was inspired by some of Yoshida's work he had done during his spare time, specifically a Flash game that only took him a day to make. Takaki was amused with the concept and pitched the idea of making a retro game for PSP, liking the fast-paced gameplay and old-school art style most of all. From there, the rest was history. If you've yet to see Half-Minute Hero, be sure to check out our gameplay clips. We instantly fell in love with it and we think you just might, too.
XSeed brings localized Half-Minute Hero, Lunar: Silver Star Harmony to E3
XSeed just announced its E3 line-up, which includes two PSP games we've heard about before: Half-Minute Hero and Lunar: Silver Star Harmony. You might remember Half-minute Hero as Hero for 30sec (the new name sounds so much better), which was that bizarre micro-RPG we've been drooling over for the past couple of months. As for Lunar: Harmony, it's a remake of the original Lunar game from Sega CD. Both games were previously Japan-only titles but are now coming to North America. Expect both to arrive sometime in the fall.
Devil King mode of Yuusha 30 is still ... strange
It's been a while since we ran a story about Yuusha 30 (Hero for 30 Seconds). The bizarre RPG, as you may know, has quite a unique premise: it happens in 30-second bursts. With less than three weeks until its Japanese release, we get a peek into one of the many modes found in the game. The "Devil King" mode works, according to PSPHyper, like a real-time strategy game, but this video is a bit too chaotic for us to really figure it out. We're not exactly sure what's going on, but we're pretty certain we like it.
Yuusha 30 multiplayer mode is, unsurprisingly, 30 seconds long
If there's one game that absolutely must get a US localization soon, it's Yuusha 30. The upcoming PSP RPG has players frantically going through a retro-styled adventure world in hectic 30 second bits. The game's (Ad-Hoc only) multiplayer mode takes the 30 second idea one step further. Four players will go head-to-heaad against each other to see who can be the first to defeat the Devil King. With only 30 seconds of play, it'll be interesting to see how players will be able to fight each other, in addition to the boss. We're hoping the network play will allow for quick rematches -- it would really suck to wait more than 30 seconds to jump into such a short game.[Via PSPHyper]
Hero for 30sec: Story trailer
Honestly, the story for Hero for 30sec (Yuusha 30) isn't as interesting as its unique gameplay and style, though you'll still want to watch this trailer (found after the break) to get a better understanding of the game. Hero for 30sec follows a war between humans, who are on the verge of extinction, and 51 demon kings. See, it's the result of a 500-year-long battle ... which you'll only get to play the final 30 seconds of. Make sure you stick around and watch the whole vid (it reveals a new four-player ad hoc mode!), otherwise you might miss some hilarious-looking CG near the end. [Via PSP Hyper]
Hero for 30 seconds: Princess gameplay video
By now, you should already know that Hero for 30 Seconds is a really odd game. It has four different gameplay modes -- one of which we've already explored thoroughly. We'll soon get a chance to try out yet another one, Princess Mode, as the official website notes that a new demo will hit the Japanese PlayStation Store on March 27.Princess Mode appears to be a side-scrolling shooter with the objective of finding healing herbs to revive a dying king. Of course, staying true to the game's theme, everything has to happen in 30 seconds. Check out the trailer above and watch the princess take on a horde of woolly mammoths. She's pretty tough, isn't she?[Via PSP Hyper]
