Review: Half-Minute Hero

Cliches can be a tense edge to stand on. On occasion, they’re welcome because we know them, we’ve experienced them. We feel nostalgia when revisiting them. At other times, they’re tired, worn beings who we’d prefer to see put down rather than continue on in their dogged existence. Whichever way any one player feels about a cliche, the very definition of the word means that it’s something that’s been done enough times that it’s predictable. Half-Minute Hero uber-enhances every single RPG cliche we’ve seen over the past 20 year, but does it in the most unique way I’ve ever seen.

The first thing immediately noticeable from any screenshot or glance at the game itself is that it looks terrible. This is a game that boasts robust NES graphics on a portable system capable of an amazing workload. But that’s also kind of the point. It’s a throwback both in its storytelling and in its look. Yes, the characters and areas are totally pixelated and awful, but they’re also completely charming. The only giveaway that it’s even on the PSP at all is the title screen and occasional anime shot. Otherwise, this game could port to a cartridge for play on our dusty old Nintendos.

Half-Minute Hero boasts four different main modes of play, followed by two unlockable modes that, in a sense, wrap things up. One might not notice at first glance or even after playing through a few of the modes, but there is an overarching story to the game. Much like with any classic RPG, there is a good side and an evil side. Naturally as the hero, or band of heroes, players will fight for good, and every mode see the heroes fighting against the evil Overlord and his summoning henchman Noire.

The Hero mode is a straight up role-playing game. The spiky, yellow-haired hero chases Noire all over the continent attempting in vain to halt the resurrection of the aforementioned Overlord. Along the way, he is forced to stop an entire army of evil bosses each given a spell of destruction by Noire that only takes 30 seconds to cast. This means players have 30 seconds to stop said spell or it’s literally game over. Fortunately, on our side is a good deity who controls time, and for an ever-increasing fee she will rewind the clock back to 30 seconds. This is a staple of every map, and while there are a few that can be completed in less than half a minute, most will require a visit to her most exalted statue.

The Dark Lord mode is similar in scope, but players take the reigns of one of the villains from the first mode, and it’s here that we actually begin to see the overarching timeline. The purple-haired, pretty-boy Dark Lord has a woman, and Noire went and turned her into a bat. The Dark Lord’s goal is chasing Noire down and forcing him to fix his mistake. This mode plays similar to a real-time strategy game, but also borrows elements from games like Overlord, where minions are summoned and flung recklessly at enemies. The same time rules apply, and while currency works slightly different, it’s still a 30 second race.

Once one of the first two modes is completed, the Princess Mode is unlocked. The Princess is a spunky royal brat whose father has taken ill. Determined to find his cure, she commandeers his crossbow and retinue of knights and sets out into the world. This mode plays like many dual stick shooter games, only without the dual sticks. Players can move in eight directions and shoot in the four cardinal. The Princess has a curfew of 30 seconds (harsh!) and must complete her goal on each level before the time runs out. This is perhaps the simplest and shortest modes, but still quite entertaining, particularly given the Princess’s fiery personality.

Each mode is separated by a span of 100 years or so, and 100 years after the Princess finally cures her ailing father, players take up the armor of the Knight. This mode is perhaps the strangest, and boasts a style of gameplay I’d never seen before playing Half-Minute Hero. It’s survival in nature, and the goal of the Knight is to protect a Sage while he casts a spell of anti-destruction. And as might be surmised, this spell of light takes 30 seconds to cast. Protecting the Sage isn’t as simple as it sounds because though we play as a Knight in this mode, he’s surprisingly limited in what he can do. He can throw objects, latch on to enemies to slow them down, and just out and out ram them. However, it all works, and clever placement of the Sage and a smart strategy in dealing with the enemies will win out every time.

Describing the final two modes would require some spoiling of the story, which is surprisingly good despite it mostly being a giant joke. Suffice it to say, the game does a superb job of bringing all the modes and characters together at the end in true RPG fashion. It’s also difficult to pick out any one mode and say that it’s superior to the others. The Hero mode is easily the longest, most important to the narrative, and boasts the most depth, but the others have their merits as well. I personally enjoyed the Knight mode and would have liked more of it. They’re all incredibly fun, and the Hero mode at least has replayability beyond the initial quest, with secret paths to unlock for more levels and titles on every map to acquire.

It’s difficult to identify any issues with the game simply because any criticisms one might have are almost necessary to the game’s goal. I would have preferred a different method of item control in the Hero mode. The Hero gains weapons and armor in every level, but is unable to use the more advanced pieces on earlier levels, which makes sense, but it also makes acquiring the majority of them fairly useless. They’re often worn once and never thought of again. I would have loved to see more depth in the non-Hero modes as well. The Dark Lord gets spells, the Princess can upgrade her crossbow, and the Knight gains experience and traps to build along the way, but none of them quite get the Hero treatment. The Hero mode is by far the longest as well. Beside a few minor annoyances though, this game is nearly perfect for what it is; a portable experience that seeks to poke fun and pay homage to a slew of different game styles and to the glory days of Nintendo. The 30 second window also makes it great for the small chunks of playtime that are sometimes necessities of a PSP.

Half-Minute Hero is the kind of game we may only ever see one of. It’s difficult to imagine it being re-created any differently. A sequel to something like this is possible, but even then how does one legitimately pull off a sequel to a game that’s just a speedy mimic of so many other games? I suppose we’ll see, and I’d personally like to see them try because this is definitely one of the most enjoyable PSP games in my collection and definitely the best on the system that I’ve played this year. And despite not having any PSN trophies or any incentive to the task, I found myself continually turning it on to grab that next title or chase that elusive 100% mark for each mode. I can’t remember the last time I immersed myself that much in a portable game, and yet that’s another way in which it brings back the nostalgia of former days.