Many of us were surprised — and a little bit nostalgic — when Japanese developer and publisher Sunsoft announced it would be holding a digital event. The stream took place yesterday after an earlier announcement that cute NES favourite Gimmick! would be making a return later this year. And while the company mostly just teased its future, it did reveal that it will be bringing back another NES action adventure — one that we've called "surrealist" in the past here at Nintendo Life!
This time, it's Ufouria: The Saga, the first game in the Hebereke series. The game originally launched on the NES in 1991 in Japan and the following year in Europe. North America had to wait until the Wii eShop days before it got a chance to help Bop Louie find his friends. (Thanks, Gematsu!)
Known as Hebe in Japan, the game's penguin-like star (at least in Japan — Bop Louie is a snowman) needs to explore an interconnected environment (think Metroid, but cuter) to save his friends. Once you've retrieved them, you can play as them to utilise their special traversal abilities — such as Freeon-Leon, who can swim and walk on slippery surfaces.
It's amassed a cult following in more recent years, but back in 1992, critics were a little more frosty towards the Metroidvania. We certainly thought it had its charm when it hopped onto the Wii U eShop a few years back and praised all of the little details that went into the game: