Ufouria: The Saga 2 brings the long-awaited return of a cult classic from the NES era, but can it continue the legacy?
Ufouria: The Saga was originally a scrapped game. The North American release was canceled in 1991, and although the game appeared in Japan and Europe, it still stands alone in a sense. Sunsoft built an entire Hebereke series out of it, but those games were just spin-offs for puzzles and mini-game collections. And that’s a loss, because the first Ufouria was an engaging side-scrolling game that was more complex than other cutesy action games and more accessible than other maze-driven games on the NES.
Sunsoft never revisited that formula— not until this year, that is. Ufouria: The Saga 2 has a notable new look and a modern, self-parodying tone, but it aims to make up for decades of missed opportunities. This return to form begins with a very laid-back alien invasion. One day, the penguin hero Hebe wakes up to find his homeland invaded by blobs brought by UFO pilot Utsujin, and the only antidote comes from the native Popoons, sporting spheres. collected and thrown by a penguin named Hebe and his friends. Those friends are all attacked by alien blobs, but soon Hebe frees them and recruits O-Chan, a human-looking girl in a cat suit that allows her to go on water and clings tightly to icy surfaces; Sukezaemon, a solemn ghost sipping tea, wearing sunglasses and a winged hat (reminiscent of Dr. Slump’s Mercury or Arale); and Jennifer, a fish man who freely plunges through the depths that hinder his companions.
Like the original game, Ufouria: The Saga 2 is rooted in gradual exploration, falling into the genre that some call Metroidvania and others call “action questing” and I call “You may need a map for this.”Each new character recruited and each new ability acquired opens up areas of the world, but here such exploration follows the rules of a game Typical side scrolling. There are items to collect and enemies to pounce on, but Ufouria 2 retains the first game’s ethos of requiring you to hold down the directional pad to take down enemies with precision.
Hebe and his companions also summon Popoons from thin air and throw them to stun attackers or clear alien slime structures while vending machines beckons with even more power-ups and new features. Those automatic purchases push the game forward, but earning money for new items isn’t difficult. Ufouria 2 breaks things up more than the usual action-seeking game (and the first Ufouria), dividing its world into distinct stages. Each level offers an optional challenge, requiring you to take no damage, complete the course within a time limit, or maybe just defeat a specific enemy.
The true test of any action platform game, and perhaps any game, lies in how much fun it is doing nothing in particular: running, jumping, exploring, and bouncing off big springboards. at strange angles. Ufouria 2 nails this firmly. The controls are just flexible enough, and character swapping is made easy — you can jump off a cliff as the versatile Hebe, switch to Sukezaemon floating in mid-air, then dive down as Jennifer. Most levels are random in their choice of obstacles and enemies, which further alleviates the tedium of traversing Popoitto Cave for the 20th time.
Another plus is that Ufouria 2 always seems cute, deep and almost primitive. The characters have a fuzzy appearance, plush toys, and animation with a stop-motion style, similar to Yoshi’s Crafted World, and the levels are cozy, colorful backdrops. Some people may miss the empty and surreal atmosphere of the first Ufouria, but Ufouria 2 is always welcome. The characters are filled with precious details: Hebe fluttering his stubby wings as he dances, O-Chan lying on his back and crawling on the ground instead of just crawling, or Sukezaemon calmly sitting down to drink tea.
Sunsoft was behind some of the NES library’s most memorable tracks, and Ufouria 2 cleverly relied on Naoki Kodaka’s remixes of the original score. It’s a nice mix of intrigue, and the game wisely doesn’t give the characters voice dialogue other than squeaks and beeps and more difficult-to-describe noises. There’s even a button dedicated to making them sing with no obvious tactical advantage. It’s so cute.
Their mission is also entertaining, with the quartet reacting to the discoveries with quips and deadpan analysis. It’s easy to become a fan of them (and wonder why Sunsoft hasn’t pushed them as mascots more over the years). They are entertaining even in regular gameplay, with subs occasionally complaining about their lack of playtime or the useful items they find. Tap the button and they’ll offer coins and power-ups…or perhaps just a piece of trash they’re proud to find. The game even includes cameos for altered characters from the original Ufouria’s Western, where Hebe becomes an alien snowman named Bop-Louie and O-Chan is a dinosaur named Freeon-Leon.
Ufouria 2 is the only truth Limitations? It is very rarely a challenge. Common enemies are predictable and show little variety; most bosses can be defeated with the same general strategy, and overall the game is no more difficult than a light Kirby title. Higher difficulty settings can be unlocked to make enemies a bit more aggressive, but even then, you can still complete Ufouria 2 without ever losing the tiny amount of life mine. And if you lose them, you’re only fined when Hebe uses half of your money to eat and drink freely.
Ufouria 2 is neither as intense nor as expansive as modern outings in its genre. There’s no vast network of caves where you can freely attack every corner with your newly acquired weapons. There are no intense boss battles that force you to use every trick you’ve learned. There are no plot twists other than a small plot twist at the end. However, this was Ufouria’s initial appeal; on a system with labyrinthine, punishing Metroids, Blaster Masters and Legacy of Mages, this is a game where nothing is too far away and getting there is never dull. It’s not about hiding the brutal difficulties in cute packaging, as its late-era NES companion Mr. Gimmick did. That’s right, the Ufouria 2 is as cute as it looks.
Underneath its finely crafted felt cover, Ufouria 2 feels like a Super NES title, a sequel that Sunsoft should have made circa 1993, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Indeed, there’s something fresh and pure about a game that doesn’t try to stretch itself to fit some forced idea of ”content” instead of innate enjoyment. It doesn’t have the breadth of similar Mario, Yoshi, and Kirby outings, but it’s ultimately just as enjoyable. For those who appreciate easy-to-use side-scrolling games, Ufouria 2 is a joy that never fades.