Hero Core; and Daniel Remar!

I dunno if you've ever played this gem, but you should. I know that a ton of people know of his other game Iji, and while it is an amazing game, Hero Core is Remar's crowning achievement.

Here is a review I wrote for it over at TIGdb, just like I did with La-Mulana.

Spoiler: Click me for review!

Hero Core is a game that will certainly frustrate those who didn’t grow up with or who aren’t familiar with retro gaming. Back in the 80s/90s, there were a slew of games that had absolutely PUNISHING difficulty. I don’t know what it’s like everywhere else, but in my neck of the woods, punishing difficulty in retro games has come to be known as, “Nintendo Hard.” Making things worse, some games didn’t exactly TEACH the player how to play the game; games like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where you’re just thrown right into the game without any clear indication of what you’re supposed to do.

While Hero Core can and will have a high difficulty curve (particularly in the Hard and Annihilation difficulties) and doesn’t hand-hold, but Daniel Remar does it again when it comes to ingenious level design and slowly introducing new gameplay mechanics.

Most people would consider Remar’s Iji his magnum opus, I stand by my opinion that Hero Core is his most outstanding work. As simplistic and minimalistic as the graphics may be, the rest of the game offers a rich, deep, and engrossing experience that is almost nonexistent in gaming today. You play as Flip Hero (a funny name considering he’s the hero, and really all he does is fly around and flip back and forth), a robot created alongside many MANY others by Cruiser Tetron, a huge warmongering robot who continues to produce his robotic legions, despite the fact that the war he was created for has long since been done. Tetron’s “base” is located in a huge asteroid, in which there are 9 different areas, each with their own boss creature and thousands of robots trying to stop your forward progress. All the while, a “Hunter Killer” is on your tail, popping up at random times.
The game is quite large, taking about 30-60 minutes to complete the Normal difficulty. Of course, once you start getting into the Hard and Annihilation difficulties, that number will go up. Hard mode introduces an entirely reworked map, new (and more difficult) enemy patterns, and blisteringly difficult battles. Annihilation puts Flip Hero into a side-story mission, where he has to investigate and clear out the starship Ciretako. If you had a hard time with Hard mode, I’d say skip Annihilation until you’re a bit more skilled with the game.

So, what does Hero Core have to offer you, besides being one of the best independent games next to La Mulana and Cave Story? Fun and engrossing gameplay, simple but effective graphics, a fantastic soundtrack, a variety of unlockable difficulties and even an endless mode. If you like a challenge, enjoy retro games and want to experience something truly amazing, I’d suggest checking out Hero Core. It stands as one of the best indie games ever made.

It really is a delight for retro gamers everywhere, so if you haven't played it yet, I suggest you do.

Also, Remar recently came out with Hyper Princess Pitch, which is an awesome little arcade style area-shooter that's a remake of the DOS game Operation: Carnage.

Here are links!

http://www.remar.se/daniel/herocore.php
http://www.remar.se/daniel/pitch.php

 

Remar! <3