In the west, Enix is probably most well-known as the publisher of many popular role-playing
games, such as Star Ocean, Illusion of Gaia, and perhaps the king of JRPGs, Dragon Quest.
But in Japan, the company has had a long history of dabbling in other industries outside of
gaming, and one example of this is GanGan Comics, which publishes manga.
One of their serial publications, Monthly Shonen GanGan, began running a musically-themed
fantasy adventure series called "Violinist of Hameln" in 1991, and as its popularity
began to rise, the decision was made to bring the comic into the world of video games.
Released in 1995 for the Super Famicom, Violinist of Hameln, or "Haamerun no Baiorin Hiki,"
as it's known in Japan, is a 2D sidescrolling action adventure game done in the same colorful
style of Capcom's Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, Konami's Rocket Knight Adventures,
and Accolade's Bubsy, In Close Encounters of the Furred Kind.
Ha ha, just kidding about that last one.
Anyway, you play as Hamel, a selfish, jerky hero of legend and are accompanied by a talking
crow named Oboe, and Flute, a young, kind girl whom Hamel meets at the onset of our
adventure.
The three of them are traveling north to defeat an evil army of monsters unleashed on the
world years ago, who now reside in Hameln, where they have established their capitol.
The game is divided up into four chapters, called "movements" here, since it's a musically-themed
game, and each is made up of a town, several action stages, and a boss battle.
In town, you can talk to villagers and use coins to recover health or buy items that
will aid you on your quest.
You can play any level over again after its completion, which is useful for collecting
coins and power-ups, but only for the chapter you're currently playing, and before defeating
the boss.
Hamel does combat not with swords nor other conventional weaponry, but by playing music
with a special, over-sized violin.
By finding musical notes scattered about certain levels, the power of his attack can be increased
up to three times.
But if you happen to lose a life, these effects are lost as well.
Other moves at his disposal are a jump, a crouch, and the ability to pick up and throw
objects.
There are also a couple of secret moves, revealed after the end credits.
Extra lives are gained with 1-up items, health can be recovered by collecting fruits, and
maximum health is increased by acquiring a large heart item.
Pretty standard stuff for a platforming game, but what sets Violinist of Hameln apart from
other similar games is its partner game mechanic.
Flute will always trail Hamel wherever he goes, and is mostly controlled by the game's
AI.
By pressing the X button, however, you can command her to either follow you, or stop
and wait where she is.
She is set to follow you when the word "call" flashes in front of Oboe, and when the word
isn't there, it means the current command is set to wait.
Flute is there to help Hamel progress through each stage, but how you treat her and the
way in which her help is utilized in this game is enough to make certain so-called feminists'
heads explode.
Along your journey, you'll find a variety of different dolls that you can force Flute
to wear as a mascot costume.
There are sixteen in total, and most are used to progress through the game somehow, often
by jumping on poor Flute's head.
For example, the first doll you find is that of an ostrich, which allows you to cross over
spiked areas.
Just look at her face...she is not amused.
Later, you'll find costumes that allow you to traverse water, and others that let you
fly.
It's great that there is such a variety of costumes to use, but some are only used once
or twice, and others are made nearly obsolete with later pick ups.
In order to switch costumes, you must hit start to bring up a menu and then return to
the game.
Sometimes it feels a little tedious having to go back and forth between the pause menu
and the game, but it's no big deal and after a while you won't even really notice it.
In addition to helping you move around the various stages, Flute can be turned into items
used to attack enemies.
You can turn her into a frisbee and throw her in the air, transform her into a deadly
bomb and obliterate everything on screen, or toss her around as a curling stone and
watch her bounce around a level sporadically.
Pretty sadistic stuff.
Often, you just pick her up normally and chuck her at walls and enemies, and in fact this
is encouraged since it earns you money.
This game literally forces you to objectify women and exploit them for cash, so there
you have it: Violinist of Hameln for the Super Famicom--most sexist game ever made.
But all joking aside, the costume system is a lot of fun to use, and at times makes some
levels seem almost like puzzles.
Flute is invincible, but has a health meter that, when drained, will sometimes cause her
to lose coins when hit.
And boy will she get hit over and over again.
But thankfully, there is a wallet item you can buy early on that prevents the loss of
money.
As Violinist of Hameln draws heavy influence from music, it only makes sense that the soundtrack
would be fantastic.
The game's OST contains some of the best music on the Super Famicom in my opinion, which
is a nice mix of 16-bit renditions of classical music.
This is a truly great game, but like all games, it's not without its flaws, minor as they
may be.
Flute does a pretty good job of sticking close to Hamel in each stage, but once in a while,
she'll get stuck somewhere and you'll have to wrestle with the controls a bit to get
her to catch up.
The game's length is also a tad bit on the short side, and I estimate most people could
complete the game in under four hours on their first playthrough.
Violinist of Hameln utilizes neither a save nor password system, and must be completed
in one sitting.
Finally, the game is relatively easy, and I didn't have much trouble getting through
it except for a few sections.
However, I will say the second chapter boss in particular seems extremely difficult when
compared to other bosses and the game as a whole.
The game ends on a cliffhanger, and it's unfortunate that a sequel was never made.
If you have a Super Famicom, or the ability to play Japanese games on your SNES, Violinist
of Hameln should definitely be a part of your gaming library.
It is a bit hard to find and a complete copy of the game can be more expensive than most
of the other Super Famicom games, but it's well-worth hunting down.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this video--please rate and comment, and check out my channel
for more videos like this one.