''Hammerin' Harry'', known in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as , is a series of platforming video games developed and published by

Irem is a Japanese video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher and manufacturer of pachinkos. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Software Enginee ...

in 1990. The titles were developed and published for the arcades,

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and

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PSP platforms. The series is centered around the titular Harry (or "Genzo Tamura" in the original Japanese), a hammer-wielding carpenter who protects his hometown of Beranme from the corrupt construction companies that mean to tear it down.

Games

The following is a list of games released in the series.

Reception

The original arcade game received positive reviews from critics. John Cook of ''

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'' gave it a 93% score.

Julian Rignall Julian "Jaz" Rignall (born 6 March 1965, London, England) is a writer and editor. He has also produced content for corporate websites such as GamePro Media, publisher of ''GamePro'' magazine and ''GamePro.com'', marketing collateral and advert ...

of ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') is a British-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot web ...

'' magazine gave it a 91% score. '' Sinclair User'' magazine gave it an 87% score.

Spin-offs and related releases

The first spin-off in the series was , a quiz game released for the Game Boy on December 19, 1992, exclusively in Japan. Others were various Japan-only,

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Gambling in Japan, Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of l ...

machines, as well as home ports of them for

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

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-operated PCs and

. Outside of the franchise, ''Hammerin' Harry'' was represented in a Japan-only Game Boy title, '' Shuyaku Sentai Irem Fighter'' along with three other Irem franchises: ''

R-Type is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...

'', '' Ninja Spirit'' and '' Mr. Heli''. ''Hammerin' Harry'' can be seen on the arcade flyers of '' Ninja Baseball Bat Man'', also by Irem.

Anime

An anime series based specifically on the PSP title ''Hammerin' Hero'', titled as , aired on GyaO's website in March 24 until June 9, 2008. There were 24 9-minute

webisode A webisode (portmanteau of "web" and "episode") is an episode of a series that is distributed as part of a web series or on streaming television. It is available either for download or in streaming, as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cab ...

s aired. A DVD compiling the episodes was released in April 2009.

Re-Release

On April 18th, 2023 Retro-Bit announced the re-release of Hammerin’ Harry and Hammerin’ Harry 2 as Collector's Edition NES cartridges. Friday, 26 January 2024

References

External links

Official ''Ikuse! Gen-san'' anime website
* {{Nippon Animation films 1990 video games 2008 anime ONAs Anime based on video games Anime series Arcade video games Irem games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nippon Animation Platformers Video game franchises introduced in 1990 Video game franchises Video games developed in Japan Platformers by series