Hagane

"A brilliant game that slipped into the cracks of time."

Introduction

Hagane was released in 1994 by Hudson Soft. It is a great game, however was never popularized. It's sad when a game this great is simply left behind without a second thought but unfortunately these things happen.

Gameplay: 9/10

This game packs in as much action and explosions as possible. From the first enemy to the last boss you are receiving extreme amounts of intense Cyborg-Ninja action. Just looking at the box art, you can tell this game is going to pack a punch so powerful that Mike Tyson himself would simply disintegrate at the feeling of it. With up to 11 different attacks, Hagane provides you with many means of destroying your enemies. It lost a point because it's basically just your run-of-the-mill sidescroller but exists in such a fashion that you want more. Always. Through mean tumbling skills and sword slicing action, Hagane turns into it's own archetype. Too bad this archetype was never used as a blueprint for future games, because if it was I would have imploded of action overdose by now.

Story: 3/10

There really isn't very much story in this game. Basically one clan killed another clan, but there was one survivor and he avenges all of his friends. This is the hollow shell of a story that is Hagane. The most story you will get out of this is what's written on the back of the box. I'm serious. However, I do not necessarily believe that this is a bad thing. If it were an RPG it just plain wouldn't work but this specific sidescroller is so addictive and compelling that if there were any semblance of a story it would most likely be a transparent spec of dust for the player due to the attraction that the gameplay provides.

Graphics/Sound: 10/10

The first time I saw these graphics I was in awe. I did not know that the SNES was capable of such beauty and vividness. The sounds are pretty generic however, standard midi with nothing special, but the graphics and art make up for that. When you launch a special attack, the screen does so many things, without slow down, at once, that I thought I was playing some never-before-released system between the SNES and the N64. This game makes the most out of the SNES' hardware.

Play Time/Replayability: 8/10

With an extra hard mode, and boy do I mean hard, and a few secrets hidden throughout the game, Hagane provides an experience that can be relived several times without getting boring. However, after playing it enough to write a FAQ on it, it gets horribly monotonous, but few people would play it to that extent so it's all good.

Final Mark: 9/10

Basically, go find this game. Now. Unfortunately this is not an easy task. I was extremely lucky to randomly pick it up and buy it not knowing any of it's features or anything of the sort. When you first play it, you will most likely die at the first level, but you will want to go back, and do it again until you figure out how to get past that specific spot. It's also a great game for the bad tempered because instead of throwing your controller you could just play the first level over and over again to vent your anger. Overall this would be one of my favorite games of all time and I urge anyone reading this to try it out.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/05