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[PixyJunket]

A TRUE HERO ALWAYS COMES TWICE.

What: Half Minute Hero: The Second Coming
When: April 4th, 2014
Where: Exclusively on PC via Steam.
Why: Half Minute Hero did well on Steam and MAQL was willing to take a chance on the sequel.
How: $19.99. Owners of Half Minute Hero on Steam will get a 25% discount (or possibly coupon).

Siliconera did an interview with the producer Esteban Salazar about the localization & more.

Video:

April Fool's Day Reveal Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g30sLbr9aU

Multiplayer Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I8ouYtOnD8

Release Notes:

After years of rubbing and waiting, English speaking Half Minute Hero fans are finally getting a chance to play the legendary sequel to the manic arcade RPG.

Instead of offering a four different types of Half Minute gameplay, The Second Coming serves up five delicious helpings of what everyone loved about the first game, Hero 30 mode.

Will these five Hero 30 scenarios link together to reveal a greater story? You'll have to play it to find out!

Outside of the Story Mode, The Second Coming has a four-player online Multiplayer Mode, an Endless Battle Mode and a Time Attack Mode.

The Steam version comes with a map editor powered by Steam Workshop.

The Goddess Room feature will be in this time, which houses an art gallery and music player.

Achievements are in and Trading Cards are being worked on.

Some Notes From an Import Player

IIRC, there are some things that get changed up a bit for the 2nd game.

-World Map!(?): Unlike the original game which sorta had you jumping from scenario to scenario, you can actually traverse a World Map between Quests!

-Global Level: This relates to the above. While quests typically act as they normally did in the original game (i.e. Level up a bunch from Lv1 to defeat Evil), you now have a Global Level you can raise between Quests.
So instead of starting from Lv1 every Quest, you get something of a head start now. (Of course, it raises nowhere near as fast as it would in a Quest.)

-Party Members: Apart from Hero 300 and some Hero 30 quests, you were pretty much by yourself for a lot of the game. Now you can have additional party members to assist in battle!

-Visible Enemies: Yup, enemies are now visible on the map, so you don't have to quite wander around aimlessly trying to get into a fight.
Additionally, once you get strong enough, you can just straight-up insta-kill them by running into them (a la Earthbound).

Special Abilities: Instead of just throwing yourself at enemies, your guys also get Special Abilities to put more hurting on some enemies. (Of course, the bad guys get some of this as well...)

Dungeons: Yeah, there's actual dungeons complete with enemies, multiple floors, teleporters, and all sorts of terribly fun stuff.

A Hero's Moving Castle: In case one of those screenshots didn't give it away, you get a castle. With mecha-legs. It also fights giant-sized monsters by running into them (because how else would it attack?).

Music: Seriously, the game's got some really good tunes.
(Then again, if you played the 1st game, you'd know this as well.)

Screenshots:

Please refrain from port begging, as it adds nothing to the topic and does nothing but derail discussion.
Saying that you would rather have it on [XXX] but are buying it on PC anyway also adds nothing to the discussion.

 

[Puru]

That's a bit expensive, i think i'll pass and wait for a steam sale.

Can't wait to play it, first one was definitly a pretty fun game for what it was.

 

[backlot]

I'm super excited for this. Only a few days away too!

 

[fek]

Earlier than I expected, awesome.

 

[The Grim Heaper]

$750 for this is pretty great, I was expecting more.

 

[Zero-Crescent]

Sooner than I thought. Nice.

 

[MThanded]

So now we are preemptively enforcing standard forum rules in titles of threads?

edit:
Only 1000 dollars.

 

[ambientmystic]

All my money, day 1 on Steam. Tens of hours were spent on the 1st iteration of the game.

Loving that OT title by the way, you got to nip that crap in the bud.

 

[Aeana]

So excitedddd.

Don't need the port begging stuff in the title, it'll be taken care of regardless.

 

[mothball]

I had forgotten how good the first game's music is.

 

[Coppanuva]

So now we are preemptively enforcing standard forum rules in titles of threads?

Kinda reasonable given that it was originally released on the PSP in Japan (same with the original title that was brought over here).

Anyhow I'm hyped. Kinda sad it's only the one gameplay mode this time though, I liked the variety in the original release.

 

[MrBS]

Day one!

 

[Haunted]

I might be in if the price is right. 25% off for loyal fans is a nice bonus.


Still have to finish the first one, though!

 

[ghostface pizzakid]

I'm soooooooooooo there

 

[cj_iwakura]

Make like Andamiro and hit me!

 

[Rlan]

Man, the art style for this one looks waay better than the original's HD port. The "HD" version of the game looked poor, but even the pixelated version was hard to look at:

Versus this one:

And holy shit, Good English font spacing and sizing? From a Japanese developer? I've had to deal with so much poor spacing on XBLA and iOS Japanese titles for so long it basically became a lost art.

 

[InfiniteNine]

Woo~! Going to get this ASAP.

 

[TheSlySoul]

My guess is the price is probably $10-$20 since it seems to be a digital release only. Cannot say I blame them. Retail release takes way too much money.

 

[COPLonesteban]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.
• The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.
• Achievements are in and I am working trading cards for soon after launch.
• I am doing all the marketing by myself *cries*
• The fans are amazing and thanks for making an OT!

 

[pje122]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.
• The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.
• Achievements are in and I am working trading cards for soon after launch.
• I am doing all the marketing by myself *cries*
• The fans are amazing and thanks for making an OT!

Have you played the game? How is it?

 

[Sorian]

So excitedddd.

Don't need the port begging stuff in the title, it'll be taken care of regardless.

This is coming to the GBA right? It better be or else.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.
• The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.
• Achievements are in and I am working trading cards for soon after launch.
• I am doing all the marketing by myself *cries*
• The fans are amazing and thanks for making an OT!

I hope you considered the in-character Time Goddess marketing!

Like, have snarky banner ads featuring her with appropriate quips.

Hell, I'd make some if you wanted.

 

[Enk]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.
  [*]The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.
• Achievements are in and I am working trading cards for soon after launch.
• I am doing all the marketing by myself *cries*
• The fans are amazing and thanks for making an OT!

It better not be!

:shakes fist:

 

[TheSlySoul]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.

Nice, $20 is the perfect price point for this. Day 1 easily. I am curious

Spoiler

is the 5th mode Hero 300 or something totally new?

 

[jblank83]

I can also give away free stuff!

Ok, thank you.

*waits*

 

[Eusis]

This is coming to the GBA right? It better be or else.

The GBA can clearly do better than that. I want a classic Game Boy version.

And Virtual Boy, for those of us who don't want to get Oculus Rift.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.
• The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.
• Achievements are in and I am working trading cards for soon after launch.
• I am doing all the marketing by myself *cries*
• The fans are amazing and thanks for making an OT!

Half Minute Hero 1 is amazing.

Have my babies.

Gimme free game.

Etc.

 

[COPLonesteban]

Have you played the game? How is it?

Well, I'm a bit biased, but I like it more than the first game. The single player has a lot more story and the art is stylized more like 16-bit than 8-bit. The map editor rocks. You can really get creative with it and our testers loved playing around with it. The coolest thing we did is making it work with Steam Workshop so people can vote up maps and save their favorites outside the game, which wasn't possible on the PSP version.

 

[AzureSkies]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.
• The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.
• Achievements are in and I am working trading cards for soon after launch.
• I am doing all the marketing by myself *cries*
• The fans are amazing and thanks for making an OT!

I'd just like to thank you guys for bringing over the sequel, I loved the original and was disappointed when it seemed like the sequel would never be brought over. I'm just happy that has all changed, I'll be buying it when I get my next paycheque!

 

[TheSlySoul]

Well, I'm a bit biased, but I like it more than the first game. The single player has a lot more story and the art is stylized more like 16-bit than 8-bit. The map editor rocks. You can really get creative with it and our testers loved playing around with it. The coolest thing we did is making it work with Steam Workshop so people can vote up maps and save their favorites outside the game, which wasn't possible on the PSP version.

Sounds great. Thanks for translating this game. It sounds like you guys did not have a huge budget. Will spread the word around!

 

[COPLonesteban]

I'd just like to thank you guys for bringing over the sequel, I loved the original and was disappointed when it seemed like the sequel would never be brought over. I'm just happy that has all changed, I'll be buying it when I get my next paycheque!

You don't know how much it means to hear stuff like this. Most of the time people just complain that we didn't do enough T_T. I hope you enjoy the game!

 

[The Grim Heaper]

COPLonesteban, the actual price is $999.99, correct?

 

[COPLonesteban]

Sounds great. Thanks for translating this game. It sounds like you guys did not have a huge budget. Will spread the word around!

The reality of game dev is that no one has a huge budget unless you are some crazy AAA mass-marketed title. I do what I can and hope people appreciate it. Word of mouth is definitely a huge help, so thank you!

 

[COPLonesteban]

COPLonesteban, the actual price is $999.99, correct?

All I'll say is that there is ONE lie in our marketing right now.

 

[Kumubou]

ALL THE MONEY (literally). I was so sad at how badly the original version did on PSP and thought the sequel would never get localized... but well, itshappening.gif. And an enhanced PC port? All praise the Time Goddess (and Gaben).

...but I really want to see it

Spoiler

on my computer right now ;_;

The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.

Yoooooooo

So if you have full 3D VR support... in a 2D game... and the Time Goddess can manipulate time... uh... *asplodes*

 

[Ryne]

Definitely will keep an eye on this.

 

[PixyJunket]

Hi everyone, I'm the producer behind MAQL's Steam titles. I can confirm a few things for you! I can also give away free stuff!

• The game will cost about half what a PSP game would.
• The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.
• Achievements are in and I am working trading cards for soon after launch.
• I am doing all the marketing by myself *cries*
• The fans are amazing and thanks for making an OT!

Thank you so much for giving Half Minute Hero a second chance on PC and for, of course, pursuing the sequel.

Unless a non-linear 2D Metroid pops up this year, this is going to be my biggest game release of the year.

Can I give a tip on trading cards? Go with an odd number, and lower is generally better (five and seven seem to be the sweet spots).

Good luck with the release and the marketing, hopefully some of us more excited fans are helping do what we can.

The Oculus Rift support is NOT a joke.

 

[COPLonesteban]

Yoooooooo

So if you have full 3D VR support... in a 2D game... and the Time Goddess can manipulate time... uh... *asplodes*

It's more of a neat feature rather than a full VR experience, but you can enable OR mode within the game. I'll say more on launch day.

 

[Zonic]

Wait, the PSP version of HMH on PSN is $10.....so if it's 1/2 the price of a PSP game......IT'S ONLY $5 FOR THE SEQUEL?!

All seriousness, as someone who enjoyed the PSP original & the Xbox Live port, I'm looking forward to getting this. Probably should get HMHSMNCUB one of these days as well.

 

[COPLonesteban]

Here's some free codes for the first game!

Spoiler

PZE2R-7CQTV-WFZFP
M0Z3I-B5LJG-6G0TY
PMLP9-LVT6R-8T0XY
0AQBM-PDLKQ-0MD48

 

[Professor Beef]

Here's some free codes for the first game!

Spoiler

PZE2R-7CQTV-WFZFP
M0Z3I-B5LJG-6G0TY
PMLP9-LVT6R-8T0XY
0AQBM-PDLKQ-0MD48

I took the last one. Thank you very much!

 

[Blu(e)]

Fufk. I'm not near a PC. Wish the steam app allowed you to redeem codes. Thank you for the codes anyways.

 

[COPLonesteban]

Fufk. I'm not near a PC. Wish the steam app allowed you to redeem codes. Thank you for the codes anyways.

Sent you a PM

 

[The Return of]

Time is a flat circle!!!

Awesome, I'm really glad this is finally coming to US. This is day one, hell I'll gift the game to a friend as well!

 

[Chance Hale]

Massive fan of the first game which I completed fully on the PSP so I'm glad we're finally getting the sequel, even if it's on steam. Looking forward to Friday!

 

[Zonic]

Holy crap yeeeesssss grabbed the first code! Thank you so much. Now I just hope I'll get the time to play it.

 

[Aeana]

COPLonesteban, in the future, if you are going to give away things like game codes, wrap them in the tag so only members can see them.

 

[C.Olimar788]

Woah I just came into this thread to see what people were saying about this and I took the third free code. Thanks a bundle! Half-Minute Hero is a game that I had been looking at for a long time but never quite managed to pick up myself. I'm excited to finally try it out!

And if it's awesome I'm practically contractually obligated to get the sequel, huh?

 

[Blu(e)]

Sent you a PM

Thank you so much! I'll finally be able to give the first game a try.

 

[jblank83]

Thank you for the code. Was able to get a buddy to redeem it for himself, as I already have the game.

Half-Minute Hero is one of the best, and very much looking forward to the sequel. Will buy. Will play. Will tell a friend.