Ufouria: The Saga 2 revives a NES cult classic in fluffy style

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Sunsoft is resurrecting Hebereke, known in the west as Ufouria, with a fluffy new platformer. Hereā€™s the trailer for Ufouria: The Saga 2ā€¦


Japanese developer Sunsoft is probably best known in the west for the likes of Blaster Master or its 1980s Batman tie-in games. But among its many releases during its 80s and 90s heyday was Hebereke on the NES, released in the west as Ufouria: The Saga.

Originally released in 1991, Hebereke was a likeably odd platformer populated by some adorable characters, including a penguin in a bobble hat (Hebe), a cat, a ghost wearing a pair of shades, and a green alien-type-thing. Those characters were renamed and redesigned somewhat for the later US and European release in 1992, but still, Ufouria: The Saga soon became something of a cult classic. Certainly, copies of the original game cost a lot of money to buy these days.

Over 30 years on, and Sunsoft has announced a sequel for the Nintendo Switch (thanks, Time Extension/Gematsu!). In Japan, itā€™s called Hebereke 2; in the west, itā€™s Ufouria: The Saga 2, though both versions retain the charactersā€™ original eastern designs.

As you can see from the trailer above, it all looks thoroughly charming, with fluffy, handmade-looking characters that recall Goodfeelā€™s Kirbyā€™s Epic Yarn and Yoshiā€™s Crafted World. Levels appear to scroll from right to left, unusually, and there are nods to later games in the Hebereke series ā€“ including Popoons, which are the Puyo-like blobs that appeared in the puzzler spin-offs that popped up in later Hebereke games.

Hebereke 2/Ufouria: The Saga 2 is due for release in early 2024 for Nintendo Switch. If it does well enough, maybe weā€™ll see modern, fluffified takes on those later puzzles mentioned above, like Heberekeā€™s Popoon. Hereā€™s hoping.

The trailer above is the western version. For comparison, hereā€™s the Japanese one:

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