Poll of the Day > Hybrid Heaven on N64 looks interesting.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The game has average reviews but the concept and atmosphere look so damn cool.
I probably won't buy it but I might watch a Let's Play or something.
Any PotDers played it?
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I did. It was fun for a bit. The game had some interesting features and elements (such as upgrading body parts and even suplexing your enemies) but to me, it was missing "something"

If you find it for really cheap, probably be worth picking up. Not worth paying $50 for or anything like that

Ya, I'm kinda an expert on it. I've done several at home speedruns of it.

It actually has very good level design... despite having very limited vertical look there are hidden secrets everywhere.

And as someone who is a fan of iconography I adore the cute little items.
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I loved that game. It was a Christmas present my mother one year. It wasn't one of the games I had asked for or even one that I had heard of. None of my friends had heard of it either. So I was a little disappointed at first. But it turned out to be a game that I really enjoyed.

I was surprised to see it in the first topic on the board when I opened up my browser.


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6/10 - good game, but you need to aim a little higher to unseat the other great action rpgs on the n64, such as quest 64
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CTLM posted...

If you find it for really cheap, probably be worth picking up. Not worth paying $50 for or anything like that

It's going for about $25-ish Canadian cart-only, which isn't that bad really. Again I'm not 100% sure if I actually wanna buy it or just watch a playthrough on Youtube.

Lokarin posted...

Ya, I'm kinda an expert on it. I've done several at home speedruns of it.

Did you upload your speedruns anywhere?

Bugmeat posted...

I loved that game. It was a Christmas present my mother one year. It wasn't one of the games I had asked for or even one that I had heard of. None of my friends had heard of it either. So I was a little disappointed at first. But it turned out to be a game that I really enjoyed.

Don't you just love nostalgic little memories like that?
I got a PS1 for Christmas when I was little with a game called Croc: Legend of the Gobbos. I loved the hell out of that game and was disappointed to learn when I was way older that critics and internet hated the game.

OniRonin posted...

6/10 - good game, but you need to aim a little higher to unseat the other great action rpgs on the n64, such as quest 64

That was another game I looked into, along with Aidyn Chronicles. Of the 3, Hybrid Heaven looked most interesting.
I've heard that for Aidyn and maybe even Quest 64 you gotta look at the english-translated Japanese versions because the english versions of the plot were butchered very badly.
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OniRonin posted...

6/10 - good game, but you need to aim a little higher to unseat the other great action rpgs on the n64

That's one thing I didn't like about the 64: it did not have a lot of great RPGs. Had some great games. RPGs were a neglected genre for the most part

Ferarri619 posted...

Did you upload your speedruns anywhere?

Nope.

It's been a while, as I recall I ran into a problem with my TV and my DVD recorder broke.

When it comes to physical consoles, I was only successful in getting ONE speedrun uploaded.
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CTLM posted...

OniRonin posted...

6/10 - good game, but you need to aim a little higher to unseat the other great action rpgs on the n64

That's one thing I didn't like about the 64: it did not have a lot of great RPGs. Had some great games. RPGs were a neglected genre for the most part

Thanks to the boneheaded decision to stick with cartridges. The Playstation became the rpg machine of that gen because it had the space to do it.

CTLM posted...

OniRonin posted...

6/10 - good game, but you need to aim a little higher to unseat the other great action rpgs on the n64

That's one thing I didn't like about the 64: it did not have a lot of great RPGs. Had some great games. RPGs were a neglected genre for the most part

Thank's for explaining - my friend told me this joke but i didn't understand it until now
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DeathMagnetic80 posted...

Thanks to the boneheaded decision to stick with cartridges. The Playstation became the rpg machine of that gen because it had the space to do it.

The SNES could have big 2D RPGs on carts though. Couldn't the N64 have gotten watered down ports of Breath Of Fire 3, and other 2D RPGs, or something?
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Ya, the N64 could have had HUGE RPGs... but the environment was favouring full cinematics, which took up too much space (modern CODECs we take for granted now didn't exist at the time)
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Lokarin posted...

Ya, the N64 could have had HUGE RPGs... but the environment was favouring full cinematics, which took up too much space (modern CODECs we take for granted now didn't exist at the time)

Lots of the FMVs on PS1 weren't even voiced though.
Again, couldn't they have just watered them down for N64? Replace FMVs with text and images like they had on SNES.
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Ferarri619 posted...

Lokarin posted...

Ya, the N64 could have had HUGE RPGs... but the environment was favouring full cinematics, which took up too much space (modern CODECs we take for granted now didn't exist at the time)

Lots of the FMVs on PS1 weren't even voiced though.
Again, couldn't they have just watered them down for N64? Replace FMVs with text and images like they had on SNES.

Looking back, it feels like a lot of coulda woulda shoulda. Part of the problem really was so many companies like Square jumped ship or didn't get on board because they didn't want to be limited by the cartridge format anymore. Many criticized Nintendo for sticking with it for so long and it probably gave the N64 an early grave. Who knows how successful it would have been had it used CD format

Plus, IIRC, Miyamoto is on record saying that "what kind of sad person even likes RPGs?"

But that might be apocryphal.

Ogre Battle 64 is plenty big
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Lokarin posted...

Plus, IIRC, Miyamoto is on record saying that "what kind of sad person even likes RPGs?"

But that might be apocryphal.

Ogre Battle 64 is plenty big

I thought it as was big. 1st time I played beat, I didn't use a guide. I said to hell with this and bought one. I saw how much I really missed.

As for Hybrid Heaven itself...

The combat is incredibly nuanced in ways it didn't need to be. It's perfectly acceptable to just play the game by using one swoll leg to kick everything and using regular logic to step away from danger.

But when you dig deeper... there's shenanigans going on. Your crit rate is affected by sub-pixel position precision. Almost every enemy has a spot you can always land a critical on, and it's hella tiny. Furthermore, you have to meet certain conditions like staggering their head/arm/torso first.

So while a front kick or a side kick or a backhand or a hook or a straight punch all seemingly do the same damage (based on your skill with that specific move/bodypart notwithstanding) can all impact an enemy in different locations.

One of the easiest to do is the first enemy you fight, Scilla I believe (it's been a while, but the blue guy with a red head and two little dingledang claw arms). Wait until the enemy is about to do his move (they gesture). Then take one step backwards, wait for energy to restore, one step forward to the left, and then hope the enemy does the correct punch...

You will take a critical every time from this action.

It's been at least 10 years though, so I don't remember the crit zones of every enemy or even if every enemy can be crit aside from the base random chance.
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CTLM posted...

Ferarri619 posted...

Lokarin posted...

Ya, the N64 could have had HUGE RPGs... but the environment was favouring full cinematics, which took up too much space (modern CODECs we take for granted now didn't exist at the time)

Lots of the FMVs on PS1 weren't even voiced though.
Again, couldn't they have just watered them down for N64? Replace FMVs with text and images like they had on SNES.

Looking back, it feels like a lot of coulda woulda shoulda. Part of the problem really was so many companies like Square jumped ship or didn't get on board because they didn't want to be limited by the cartridge format anymore. Many criticized Nintendo for sticking with it for so long and it probably gave the N64 an early grave. Who knows how successful it would have been had it used CD format

Well, it would have still had FF games had they went with CDs. That's pretty much the only reason Square jumped ship.