''Rent A Hero'' is an

action role-playing An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

series released by Sega for the

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...

console in 1991 with a large emphasis on humor. The game features the same graphic engine previously used in the development of '' Sword of Vermilion''. However, ''Rent A Hero'' has an unusual innovation for the genre. Instead of using standard

turn-based In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based. Real-time Real-time games have game time progress cont ...

battles, fights are in a similar format to 2D fighting games.

Plot

Taro Yamada, or lives in the town of Corja in Japan with his mother, eccentric father and younger sister Alyssa; the family moved there after his father changed jobs. He received his Combat Armor by accident during their house-warming party, when he ordered pizza from 'Sensational Cafeteria' or SECA and instead received the suit. After realizing the suit gave him incredible strength and that he is required to pay for the armor, Taro decides to become a hero for hire, performing various heroic tasks and odd-jobs for the townspeople of Corja.

Release

''Rent A Hero'' was released for the

on September 20, 1991, in Japan by Sega. It was later released on the Wii's

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Uni ...

download service on April 17, 2007.

Remake

''Rent A Hero No. 1'', a remake of the original Mega Drive game, was released for the Dreamcast in 2000. It features similar events to ''Rent A Hero'', this time adding Rent A Hiroko, a female counterpart of Taro. The fighting engine used for the game is the same used for Sega's ''

SpikeOut ''Spikeout: Digital Battle Online'' is a 3D beat 'em up video game developed by Toshihiro Nagoshi, and released by Sega for their Model 3 Step 2.1 arcade system board in 1998. An update, ''Spikeout: Final Edition'', was released in 1 ...

'' games and allows the player to receive hints via in-game email. The game was enhanced and given online capabilities by Coolnet Entertainment for the Xbox in 2003, and also translated into English for a North American release in what would have been the first ''Rent A Hero'' overseas release. However, the English version of the game was never released due to distribution problems, and the Xbox version remained only in Japan as had previously happened with the original Dreamcast version. In 2008, the unreleased English-translated version of the game got leaked and appeared on torrent sites in an apparently complete state, with only minor text errors present. This version was very close to completion and was reviewed by GamePro and Electronics Gaming Monthly in February 2003.

Reception

On release, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

'' magazine scored the Dreamcast version of the game a 30 out of 40.''ドリームキャスト – レンタヒーロー No.1''. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.51. 30 June 2006.

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

called it "a bordering-on-cheesy, yet outstanding action-RPG". They praised the 3D combat system, comparing it to ''

'' and ''

Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Dreamcast. '' Shenmue III,'' developed by Suzuki's company Y ...

'', as well as "the meticulous attention to detail" in "around five large neighborhoods, each with plenty of houses, universities, and restaurants" as well as a

video arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such a ...

with

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...

s. They also praised the animation and "brilliantly rendered graphics", concluding that "the gameplay is tightly focused, it looks great, and definitely has a soul".

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

called it a "wacky" game that is "definitely unique and uniquely Sega". They praised the battle system, comparing it to ''

Virtua Fighter is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original '' Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' ga ...

'' and ''

Dynamite Deka ''Die Hard Arcade'', known as in Japan, is an arcade beat 'em up video game released by Sega. It was the first beat 'em up to use texture-mapped 3D Polygonal modeling, polygon graphics, and used a sophisticated move set by contemporary beat 'em up ...

'', as well as the "admirable" camera work, "rock-steady 60fps" and "fluid" character animation. They criticized the character models for not looking "as nice as" ''

Soul Calibur In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

'' or ''Shenmue'', but praised the environments for having "a texture quality that rivals" ''

Sonic Adventure is a 1998 platform game for Sega's Dreamcast and the first main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' game to feature 3D gameplay. It follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Big the ...

'', indoor and outdoor designs that "are nothing short of breathtaking" and "a large number of suburban homes" where "each house is unique". They concluded that it is "a humorous, irreverent joy to experience" and a "surprisingly excellent game."

Other media

Taro is available in ''

Fighters Megamix is a 1996 fighting video game developed by Sega AM2 for the Sega Saturn. It is a video game crossover of various 3D arcade blockbusters by Sega, from the complete cast of '' Virtua Fighter 2'' and ''Fighting Vipers'' to Janet from ''Virtua C ...

'' as an unlockable character. He is one of few characters to use projectile attacks, and one of the strongest fighters. However, he has an additional handicap: above his life bar are battery symbols, that deplete the longer a fight lasts, if they deplete fully, Taro's armor will disappear. In this state, he will not be able to perform a number of moves, including all projectile moves, and he will also take more damage. On July 12, 2016, it was announced that

Steve Pink Steve Pink (born February 3, 1966) is an American actor, director and writer. He is the director of the comedy films ''Accepted'' and ''Hot Tub Time Machine'', and the co-writer of the films ''Grosse Pointe Blank'' and ''High Fidelity (film), H ...

will direct and co-write with Jeff Morris a film version of Rent-A-Hero. There has been no news on this since.

References