Ufouria has a history I have only brushed up on recently, mostly because I wasn’t aware of the original Ufouria. When it came out on the NES, it was given the old redesign for English audiences, with different character designs and names. Over 30 years later, Sunsoft has given Ufouria a sequel in the form of Ufouria: The Saga 2.
In Ufouria 2, an alien called Utsujin crashes onto the planet, spreading gloopy creatures called Bumyons across the land (and covering some of the locals in the process). It is up to the Penguin called Hebe to get their friends together and stop the alien and their dangerous globs.
In this side-scrolling platformer, the main character is the aforementioned Hebe the Penguin. Making up the rest of the team is O-Chan, a cat person/someone in a catsuit, Sukezaemon the ghost (with a hat), and Jennifer, a water creature/angler fish. Outside of Hebe, each character brings a unique ability – O-Chan can swim across the water, Sukezaemon can hover/float across greater distances, and Jennifer can explore underwater. Their abilities are how the different surrounding areas are unlocked, with the areas being gated until you unlock the right character.
To deal with enemies, you have a ‘butt bounce’ to squash them. You can also throw creatures called Popoons to stun enemies or remove the alien goop. Ufouria 2 is pretty easygoing for most of the game; sure you’ll die if you’re not careful, but for the most part, you should be able to get through relatively unscathed.
While Ufouria 2 has a ‘Metroidvania’ structure to it, it’s more of a Metroidvania-lite (don’t worry, I felt as bad writing it). While progress to new areas are gated by which characters you have with you, it’s rare that there’s other abilities needed within that area, unless it’s maybe to reach a much-needed Utsu-can.
Utsu-cans are an important item to collect in this game, but first, I need to explain the game’s vending machines. Ok, so there is a vending machine near Hebe’s tree house. From this vending machine, you can buy upgrades and unlock abilities. You’ll use coins (or buttons) you collect in the world to unlock extra health, new items to appear in the world, or special moves. This vending machine is restocked with new items to purchase once you collect enough of the Utsu-cans, most importantly one off special items. These special items are needed to actually unlock each of Hebe’s friends. While you battle them/free them of the globs, they’ll return to Hebe’s house, waiting at the vending machine and request that special item.
Until you’ve got enough cans to restock the machine, you’re not progressing anywhere. Secondly, you’ll also need the coins to purchase them, which adds another wrinkle to progressing. Fortunately the cost to purchase isn’t too high, but the game slows down quite early on, having to scour for the cans as you have limited areas to backtrack through.
What I didn’t expect from Ufouria was that the areas outside of Hebe’s house were randomly changing layouts. It keeps each area fresh for any time you need to go back, and you will need to go back. It does make it a little harder to collect the somewhat necessary Utsu-cans peppered throughout each area/level because you can’t just memorise everything.
Ufouria 2 is a charming platformer, and its most immediately noticeable feature is the delightful art and craft visuals. The characters are designed mainly to be made from felt. A nice touch is when characters have stray bits of felt standing on end to make it look more authentic. Another nice touch is that the text is conveyed through bead art, leaning right into the art and craft aesthetic.
It’s not just the visuals that add a fair amount of charm to this game; it’s a genuinely funny and intentionally silly game. It’s mainly through the dialogue throughout the game, little comments from the characters that pop up as you’re working through an area, or the short cutscenes when progress is being made. Not being familiar with the original game, there is a surprising amount of cheeky toilet humour here, which is by no means a complaint. The visual style and humour help carry the game when Ufouria 2’s few frustrations pop up.
If you want to rush through, you could finish Ufouria 2 in 2-3 hours. However, I found myself backtracking a little more than I would’ve liked due to the game not always conveying information well. It remained enjoyable to play, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel like it dragged the pace in the last third of the game. It’s still not an overly long game, but it also doesn’t overstay its welcome once you know what the game is asking of you.
It’s been a long while between Ufouria games. Even If you haven’t played the original, The Saga 2 is a fun time. The cute art style combined with some old-fashioned platforming and charming and funny interactions between the cast of Mr Hebe and his friends makes for a good playthrough. While the pace can be off at times, and the last few areas of the game lead to a little too much backtracking, overall, it doesn’t keep it from being an enjoyable platformer that will leave you with a smile.
Rating: 3.5/5
It's Black, Back Again.
Mercs, Vectorman and ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron.
Makes sense to us.