Хебереке: История серии Sunsoft

Video game series
the video game series

is a video game series developed by Sunsoft that was released primarily in Japan, with a few releases in Europe and one release in North America. It was one of the company's main franchises during the 1990s. Hebe, the main character of the series, became Sunsoft's main mascot during this period, appearing on the company's logo in several games and commercials. The series features a comical, yet surreal setting and characters. The title of the series comes from a Japanese colloquialism for drunkenness. The series covers several different genres from platforming to puzzle, though they are all set in the same fictional universe. Although there are 9 games in the series, only 3 of them were released outside of Japan: Ufouria: The Saga for the NES, Hebereke's Popoon for the SNES, and Hebereke's Popoitto for the SNES, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. All three of these games were only released in Japan and Europe, with no North American release, although Ufouria: The Saga would be released on the Wii Virtual Console in North America almost 18 years later, and on the Wii U Virtual Console in North America almost 22 years later. The first Hebereke game for the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in the PAL region under the title of Ufouria: The Saga, which changed the names of the main characters, while two of them had their looks changed. A North American release was planned, but canceled alongside Mr. Gimmick due to its quirky character design; however, the PAL region version was later added to the Wii Virtual Console in North America. A later set of games for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System were also released under the Hebereke title, which retained the original names and looks from the Japanese version.

The Hebereke characters made a cameo appearance in Sunsoft's Mega Drive port of Lemmings, appearing in level 18 of the "Sunsoft" setting. O Chan appears on one of the courts in Yeh Yeh Tennis (Wai Wai Tennis 2 in Japan) for the PlayStation. Hebereke was listed as a graphics designer in the credits of Journey to Silius in 1990. The characters from Hebereke also made an appearance in Barcode World, along with other Sunsoft characters, but only as cards that come with the game. Hebe appears as a random encounter in Benkei Gaiden: Suna no Shō, having the highest granting experience in the entire game. In Honō no Tōkyūji: Dodge Danpei, there is an extra secret password, HEBE, that gives the player a menu to view all game cutscenes, including the ending. In the Shanghai series, the Hebereke characters made a cameo appearance in its mobile spin off entry, Shanghai Musume: Mahjong Girls. The characters from Hebereke appeared as guest characters as downloadable content in the remake of Penguin Wars for the Nintendo Switch on 2017 in Japan.

Ryōji Uchimichi, the series' character designer, drew a yonkoma manga series based on the games that were serialized by Tokuma Shoten in the Japanese magazine Family Computer Magazine (also known as "Famimaga" for short) since September 6, 1991. On September 3, 1993, the strip had its title changed to Sugoi Hebereke (すごい へべれけ), which was eventually used for a fighting game for the Super Famicom. On September 30, 1995, the first two years' worth of strips were reprinted in a collection titled , but the remaining strips were never republished. It was eventually christened Pemopemo (ぺもぺも) on April 21, 1997, before getting cancelled on March 20, 1998, following the discontinuation of Famimaga.