Hebereke (series)
Hebereke (へべれけ) is a video game series developed by Sunsoft that was released primarily in Japan, with a few releases in Europe and one release in North America. It was one of the company's main franchises during the 1990s. Hebe, the main character of the series, became Sunsoft's main mascot during this period, appearing on the company's logo in several games and commercials. The series features a comical, yet surreal setting and characters. The title of the series comes from a Japanese colloquialism for drunkenness. The series covers several different genres from platforming to puzzle, though they are all set in the same fictional universe. Although there are 9 games in the series, only 3 of them were released outside of Japan: Ufouria: The Saga for the NES, Hebereke's Popoon for the SNES, and Hebereke's Popoitto for the SNES, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. All three of these games were only released in Japan and Europe, with no North American release, although Ufouria: The Saga would be released on the Wii Virtual Console in North America almost 18 years later, and on the Wii U Virtual Console in North America almost 22 years later.
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| Genre(s) | Various |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Sunsoft Success |
| Publisher(s) | Sunsoft |
| Platform(s) | Family Computer, Arcade, Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, PlayStation |
| First release | Hebereke September 20, 1991 |
| Latest release | Hebereke Station Popoitto May 26, 1995 |
The first Hebereke game for the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in the PAL region under the title of Ufouria: The Saga, which changed the names of the main characters, while two of them had their looks changed. A North American release was planned, but canceled; however, the PAL region version was later added to the Wii Virtual Console in North America. A later set of games for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System were also released under the Hebereke title, which retained the original names and looks from the Japanese version.
List of games
Developer Sunsoft used the characters and world featured in Hebereke in a series of games for Family Computer, Super Famicom, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, coin-operated arcades and mobile phones.[1]
| Hebereke
Original release date: September 20, 1991 |
1991: Famicom
1992: NES |
Notes:
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| Hebereke no Popoon
Original release date: December 22, 1993 |
1993: Super Famicom
1994: SNES, Arcade 2011: Microsoft Windows |
Notes:
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| Sugoi Hebereke
Original release date: March 11, 1994 |
1994: Super Famicom |
Notes:
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| Hebereke no Oishii Puzzle
Original release date: August 31, 1994 |
1994: Super Famicom |
| Notes:
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| Hashire Hebereke
Original release date: December 22, 1994 |
1994: Super Famicom
2011: Microsoft Windows |
Notes:
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| Hebereke no Popoitto
Original release date: March 3, 1995 |
1995: Saturn, PlayStation, SNES
20??: Mobile phone[2] |
Notes:
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| O-Chan no Oekaki Logic
Original release date: September 9, 1995 |
1995: PlayStation, Saturn, Super Famicom
2001: WonderSwan |
Notes:
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| O-Chan no Oekaki Logic 2
Original release date: September 27, 1996 |
1996: PlayStation |
Notes:
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| O-Chan no Oekaki Logic 3
Original release date: January 11, 2001 |
2001: PlayStation |
Notes:
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| O-chan no Oekaki Desu Wa[3]
Original release date: 2004 |
2004: Mobile phone |
| Notes: |
A game titled Hebereke's Pair Pair Wars was developed to be released on Neo-Geo arcade platform in 1996, but was not released.
Cameo appearances and related releases
- The Hebereke characters made a cameo appearance in Sunsoft's Mega Drive port of Lemmings, appearing in level 18 of the "Sunsoft" setting.
- O-Chan appears on one of the courts in Yeh Yeh Tennis (Wai Wai Tennis 2 in Japan) for the PlayStation.
- Hebereke was listed in the credits of Journey to Silius in 1990.
- The characters from Hebereke also made an appearance in Barcode World, along with other Sunsoft characters, but only as cards that come with the game.
- Hebe appears as a random encounter (by far the highest experience-granting enemy in the game) in Benkei Gaiden: Suna no Shou.
- In Honō no Tōkyūji: Dodge Danpei, has an extra secret password, HEBE, that gives you a menu to view all game cutscenes, including the ending.
- In Honō no Tōkyūji: Dodge Danpei 2, Hebereke appears in the ending image two times in voice circles.
- In the Shanghai series, the Hebereke characters made a cameo appearance in the mobile game, Shanghai Musume: Mahjong Girls.
- The Hebe from Hebereke was a brief as Artistic Photo of Symbol Art from Phantasy Star Online 2 on 2012.
- The characters from Hebereke appeared as guest characters as downloadable content in the remake of Penguin Wars for the Nintendo Switch on 2017 in Japan.
Merchandise
Comic strip
Uchimich "Ucchii" Ryoji, the series' character designer, drew a series of four-panel strips based on the games that were serialized by Tokuma Shoten in the Japanese magazine Family Computer Magazine (also known as "Famimaga" for short). During publication, the strip had its title changed to Pemopemo, only to be changed back to Hebereke. The first two years' worth of strips were reprinted in a collection titled Hebereke no Hon,[4] but the remaining strips were never republished. The comic was canceled in 1998, after the magazine changed its name to Famimaga 64.
A panel mangas based on video game Hebereke titled Dai Eppyo (だいえっぴょー, Daichi P), released for 4koma on August 12, 2013 and published by Comic Market in Japanese Markets.
Original soundtrack
A soundtrack titled Takusan Hebereke was released that features original versions of the music from the first three Hebereke games: Hebereke, Hebereke no Popoon and Sugoi Hebereke. The soundtrack also includes original versions of songs from another Sunsoft game, Gimmick! (known in Europe as Mr. Gimmick). The soundtrack was composed by Naoki Kodaka, Phaseout & MuteC, Masashi Kageyama and arranged by Hitoshi Sakimoto. It was published by DATAM Polystar and released on June 25, 1994.
Characters
The series sports characters and graphics that are typically Japanese cuteness in design, done in the style of Bomberman, The New Zealand Story, Kirby and particularly Hello Kitty. The series primarily involves a cast of four main characters and four minor characters.
Major characters
Hebe[5] (sometimes referred to as "Hebereke", Bop-Louie in Ufouria)
- Gender: Male
- Species: Small white penguin (Little boy in Ufouria)
- Voice actor: Megumi Hayashibara
O-Chan (Freeon-Leon in Ufouria)
- Gender: Female (Male in Ufouria)
- Species: Cat/Little girl wearing a cat suit (Lizard in Ufouria)
- Voice actor: Mika Kanai
Sukezaemon (Shades in Ufouria)
- Gender: Male
- Species: Ghost
- Voice actor: Norio Wakamoto
Jennifer (Gil in Ufouria)
- Gender: Male
- Species: Frog
- Voice actor: Shigeru Chiba
Minor characters
Boo
- Gender: Male
- Species: Purple bird
- Voice actor: Shigeru Chiba
Pen
- Gender: Female
- Species: Penguin/Little girl wearing a penguin suit
- Voice actor: Megumi Hayashibara
Utsu
- Gender: Male
- Species: Cat-like alien/Cat wearing an alien suit
- Voice actor: Norio Wakamoto
Unyo
- Gender: Male
- Species: Alien (wearing a helmet)
- Voice actor: Norio Wakamoto
References
- お手軽ゲーム満載！ケータイサイト「上海ｉパズル」 (in Japanese).
- http://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/soft/keitai/keitai_i.html
- http://www.sun-denshi.co.jp/soft/keitai/keitai_i.html
- Ucchii. Hebereke no Hon (in Japanese). Tokuma Shoten. ISBN 978-4-19-790013-8.
- へべれけ キャラクター紹介 へべ おーちゃん すけざえもん ヂェニファー. Retrieved on 01-26-10.