Sega Nerds

The Port Report: My Hero (Master System)

by Warren on January 20th, 2007

 

Not every Sega Arcade game is available at home yet, so some times us Sega buffs have to find the best version available if we don’t want to turn to Emulation. Thus, the Port Report was born. Seganerds.com will brave the endless sea of Sega ports so you don’t have to! Keep in mind that the final score is not an overall game score, it’s a score comparing the game to it’s Arcade original.

Ever heard of My Hero? Odd’s are you haven’t, but My Hero (known as Seishun Scandal in Japan) is somewhat similar to say, Alex Kidd or to some extent Altered Beast. My Hero is either a clever parody of the Beat-Em-Up genre, or a sorry, walking cliche. Maybe we would know for sure if the game was better known. Unlike Alien Syndrome and Space Harrier, My Hero has been ported to a whopping one console; The Sega Master System. Let’s check it out.

Since the game isn’t very well known, I’ll explain the concept a bit. You play as “Steven” a “kung-fu master” who has to rescue his girlfriend “Remy” from a horde of thugs, ninjas and apes in space suits in a time traveling adventure. The game isn’t meant to be taken seriously, the Animation is pretty silly and the short, stubby sprites are pretty charming and give a game that would be pretty dull some personality, that I feel, makes it still appealing to this day.

The way the game reminds me of Altered Beast is the basic attacks and the constant need to keep moving. It’s not really a beat-em-up per say, it’s more of a bring-em-out, since the enemies just keep coming at you. You don’t actually beat anyone up either, every enemy dies in one hit (and fly directly into heaven, Wings and all) so it’s almost a test of reflex as opposed to a test of patience like some beat-em-ups.

The Arcade game was developed by Coreland and Sega in 1985, (they also jointly worked on “I’m Sorry” a game where you play as a Japanese Prime Minister who is being chased around stages by Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson. Seriously.) but Sega alone ported the title to Master System in 1986. Surprisingly, It’s actually a pretty poor port.

Some things are very different. You start off in the park for some reason, instead of the city. I just don’t get that change, whats the point? Also, a pretty useful attack has been removed. (Up and Attack, which is a sort of uppercut that defends against bottles that are dropped on you) It also seems like your arms have been shortened or something, since the punch attack is about useless now. The only attack that can be used effectively is the sweep, everything else just gets you killed quicker…and boy will you die. A lot.

This port is totally unforgiving. I realize the arcade one was score based and only three levels long, but come on. Give me a continue option at least. The player is given a measly three lives to beat the entire game with. You face wave after wave of thugs, make it about half way through the level only to be destroyed by some guy dropping a bottle out a window or some random fireball. I couldn’t even get to the first boss, let alone beat him. The arcade version is a breeze because it offers a continue option, so I seriously can’t believe it’s missing. A real bummer.

The music is about the strongest part of the port. It’s very similar to the Arcade version. I can’t say the same for the sound however, since it’s pretty limited. The gameplay’s about the same, but with one major flaw. In this version, you don’t need to move. The Arcade version forced you to advance (so you couldn’t have a cheap high score) when you just ducked and kicked the endless line of thugs by throwing a fire ball at you eventually. The console version doesn’t fix this cheat and you can have a ridiculous score in a matter of minutes. But then again, the game is so difficult, it’s about the only way to get a score.

My Hero for Arcade isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but it’s a nice clean looking game with stylized, colorful, sprites. On Master System, however, the graphics are bland (level one is very…green) and they loose almost all the charm the Arcade one had. The number of frames in the animation is cut in half and the spirites are tiny with loads of flicker. It really sucks this is the only port of My Hero, because it’s a very funny game.

On a site note, I’ve noticed some parallels between My Hero and Capcom/Clover Studio’s God Hand for Playstation 2. Aside from the obvious ‘girlfriend kidnapped’ storyline, both games let you kick and punch enemies into the upper stratosphere, are very rich in humor and have extremely similar box art. Coincidence? I think not.

My Hero for Master System gets a 5/10. It’s a little too different to be called a faithful port…and way too hard to enjoy as much as the Arcade original.

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