The first trailer for Sega’s re-release of Guardian Heroes may be the most important half-minute of your day.
For those of you who missed Guardian Heroes when it first hit the Saturn back in ’96, allow me to explain why you should be so incredibly excited about the title’s upcoming Xbox Live resurrection.
Guardian Heroes is an attempt by Gunstar Heroes creator Treasure to leave its mark on the beat ’em up genre. Essentially the Japanese developer saw the Final Fights and River City Ransoms of the world, and said “that’s good, but they need a whole lot more insanity.”
Treasure took the basic “walk forward and assault people” template of the beat ’em up genre, added simple roleplaying game mechanics, covered that in the developer’s trademark hyper-kinetic yet witty gameplay and nearly psychedelic aesthetics, and dumped the whole thing on the then-still-relevant Sega Saturn. The game was brilliant and is widely hailed by fans as the ultimate example of its genre, but since the Saturn didn’t exactly set sales charts ablaze, few people have ever actually played the original Guardian Heroes.
No matter though, as its upcoming Xbox Live Arcade iteration brings updated HD graphics, online co-operative play, a time attack mode and an arrange mode in addition to all of the original title’s gameplay options.
Now do you understand why this trailer is so wonderful? This is your chance to punch people in a modern update of the most perfectly-crafted people punching simulation of the last century.
What’s that? Hyperbole, you say? Listen pal, I’m a gaming journalist. We don’t do hyperbole.
