Half-Minute Hero for PSP Shipping Tomorrow

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Jessica Chavez here. XSEED games mid-level peon, editor and one of the people partly responsible for bringing Half-Minute Hero to your unsuspecting PSPs. I’m here to talk a little about the game, flaunt its secrets, and most importantly, explain away the title that reminds too many gamers about their bedroom exploits.

So 3, 2, 1, START!

Half-Minute Hero is NOT the title of a porno with a very small budget. It actually had a modest budget and most characters stayed clothed.

The Exception:

Half-Minute Hero Nekkid

What Half-Minute Hero is, is a speed RPG/RTS (Real Time Strategy)/Shooter/exercise in affectionate satire. It’s a frantic, multi-mode, 8-bit foray into a seemingly stereotypical RPG that will test your skills against the clock and probably make you wonder how wearing a “Charisma Wig” and “Swimming Goggles” can possibly help you save the world.

Only 30 seconds, huh…?

30 seconds may not seem like enough time to save the world, let alone play an entire game, but Half-Minute Hero promises to deliver a true time challenge…over the course of many-many stages, modes, bosses and maps. (Over 20 hours of gameplay and each mode contains 30-50 distinct stages to be exact.) So fear not, brave player. For a 30 second game it’s decidedly more meaty than the title implies.

Half-Minute Hero Meat

There are four main adventures in all, each starring their own unique protagonist with similarly unique, story-driven goals and final bonus modes that can be unlocked if you manage not to sprain your fingers trying to keep up. Players can enjoy a solo adventure along the lines of the main story, challenge each other to a one on one battle, or engage in a multi-player free for all against the clock.

The main mode, Hero Mode, is a speed RPG complete with leveling up, weapon/armor collecting and saving the world, all in 30 second episodes. In this mode you play as the unlucky traveler who strives valiantly to vanquish evil before the world is destroyed…and before the Time Goddess REPOs everything but your undies.

Evil Lord Mode is an RTS game that employs a ‘chain-system’ of summoning monsters to complete stages. Similar to paper-rock-scissors, the chain-system allows monsters summoned by the player to tackle enemies based on their characteristics. In this mode the player will take control of an evil lord so gorgeous that all are driven to madness at a single glance of his perfect ivory skin.

Princess Mode features fast shoot-em-up-style gameplay and the heartwarming tale of a girl and a crossbow that can punch holes in a mammoth. Several mammoths even.

Knight Mode puts the player in the position of a less-than-bright (but ever so earnest) bodyguard who must protect a character known as the Sage until a special spell that destroys all evil can be cast. As we like to say, “He tries a lot…and dies a lot.”

Each mode utilizes a “half-minute” rule where certain tasks must be completed before 30 seconds go by. There are additional even more punishing unlockable modes, but only the most skilled of time managers will get this far…

Half-Minute Hero also has a lot rocking music, grandiose villains and bat-umbrellas. What to know more? Ask and ye shall receive!

Half-Minute Hero Spoon

Half-Minute Hero will be shipping in North America tomorrow, October 13, 2009 for $29.99 exclusively for the PSP.

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2 Comments

54 Author Replies

  • Thanks from me as well for all the replies! They’ve been at LEAST as funny as the blog post itself, and informative to boot! :D

    I work at GameStop, and I’m pretty sure my store STILL hasn’t sold out of RGC. I shall redouble my efforts, for the good of us all! *Salute*

    • You\’re welcome! I try to make sure and answer these when I\’m in the clutches of a true sugar high and/or suffering from a brain injury to give the replies…flavor.

      As for your unique positioning in a Gamestop store to further our nefarious ends, we salute you. We rely on cool people like you to let the masses know what\’s a good game worthy of play. And hell, every time I pass one I go in and personally nudge RGC to a very visible spot and tape a $5 bill to it to attract \’customers\’. I also stick a sausage to it if the mood takes me and I have enough tape.

  • Hey Xseed, I love all your games, I’ve bought Brave Story and you’ve prooved to me that you guys know how to make RPGs. However, before I buy Half-Minute Hero next week when it comes out for PSP Go, I have some questions for you.

    1. Does Half-Minute Hero support anyway for players to load music from the XMB into the game so we can have custom soundtracks. And if not, do you plan on making a patch for the game that allows it?

    2. Is there a way we can play some missions without the 30 second time limit? I know that’s the name of the game, but it is an RPG, and that would be nice.

    3. What is the length of the game on, lets say, normal mode? Have you guys tested it? Even so it’s a Half-Minute game, it is an RPG, which should range from 8-10 hours in length in one play through.

    I’m probably going to buy the game regardless (the demos rocked!), but if you could answer some questions, that would be awesome!

    I’m also a game developer for the PSP and I know how annoying it is to answer questions, heheh.

    • Thank you! Let me see if I can convince you to invest in our latest offering as well.

      To answer your questions:

      1) Hmm. It seems there\’s no music load to customize the soundtrack and no patch scheduled at this time, but if you manage to beat one of the secret levels…you might get something nice in that regards.

      2) The premise is a 30-sec limit but in reality you can \’pray\’ to a statue and reset time, so stages will actually take you much more time. But, if you mean can you play without any time limit I\’m afraid only adhoc mode has that feature. (multi-player mode) Believe me though, it\’s more fun than stressful with the 30sec timer and you can explore the full map by replaying modes to see what happens if you go a different path to victory so you won\’t miss anything cool or secret. :)

      3) The length of the game on normal mode (if you play all modes including the 2 secret modes) takes anywhere from 15-20 hrs. It just depends on how much of a completionist you are and replaying to get better times adds more gameplay. Not bad for a \’30 second\’ game, huh?

      Anyway, hope that helps and hope you\’re getting excited to get it. It\’s only a few days away!

      P.S. You\’re a game developer for the PSP? Ooooo. Anything I know? Anything I should play?

  • Even though this is late, I just ant to say *thank you* for putting this game out on a disc.

  • heerooo mude yea!

    • Oh my god, I just downed 3 mojitos, too!!! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh…uuuuuurrr…….*

      *(a soft \”urk\” followed by crying sounds)

  • this game look awesome i been play this since Japanese demo i pay attention to awesome game that are fun and funny and very good so xseed i am going to pick up a copy today so i can enjoy the full game and stop play the demo of half minute hero.

  • Thank you, XSEED, for bringing this amazingly fun game over! You’ve been bringing over some great games, I hope HMH is successful for you.

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