For anyone who doesn't know, Hamtaro is an animated japanese series that aired years ago, aimed at younger audiences, of which Nintendo, at one point, got the rights of to make videogames based on the shenanigans of the cute hamsters.
So, I started playing on my old Game Boy Color one month ago and I had stumbled in an old copy of "Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!" for the system. This reminded me about the first Hamtaro title I played on the GBA, back when it was still a new thing, so I decided to give it a go and...
I was actually amused by how polished it was!
Now, granted, it's a pretty simple game, with very simple mechanics, clearly aimed at kids...But in a world where people calls colorful, toony games "kiddy" to insult them, I was surprised by how this game series is an actual kiddy game that has a lot of care put into it, as well as actually subtle education elements.
The games could be considered some sort of simplified point-and-click adventure games for kids...Just without the point-and-click part!
The first title has Hamtaro going around different locations, looking for his friends to get them to go back to the clubhouse for a party and having to solve simple but varied situations through the use of the Ham-Chat system: in a few words, it's a peculiar dialogue system through which Hamtaro is able to converse with other hamsters and characters or execute different actions.
At the start of the game Hamtaro will have only a handful of words to use (like "Hamha!" as a general greeting), but solving puzzles and finding friends, the lil hamster will learn new words to solve more situations or be able to do more actions, like digging, climbing, rolling and more.
The game in general encouraged experimentation and, because of its very simple nature, the kid only had to go around and try out the different Ham-Chat words to find the solution to a certain problem or to acquire important items or new words to use somewhere else. It even had a sort of two-way branching end-challenge where, depending by which actions the kid would do first, he'd be faced with a different problem to solve.
The GBA titles following the GBC ones pretty much take the original formula and tweaks it adding more mechanics and overall they're very good, well-polished titles for younger kids, also helped by how cute they look, especially with the animations being so full of personality that maaay cause your sugar levels to reach the danger zone. I personally love it!
In an age where gaming is considered "serious business" by many, it's kinda fun to look at this game series and seeing it being so free of shame for just being an actual game aimed only at kids and being so good at managing to be a true videogame experience without falling into the edutainment trap and feeling more like disguised homeworks.
It's a cute small first approach for kids toward the adventure game genre and it's kind of a shame that Nintendo never published any more titles like this, even without making use of the Hamtaro license. Have you ever tried one, back in the day ? Are there more examples of games like this that I may be unaware of ?
So, I started playing on my old Game Boy Color one month ago and I had stumbled in an old copy of "Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite!" for the system. This reminded me about the first Hamtaro title I played on the GBA, back when it was still a new thing, so I decided to give it a go and...
I was actually amused by how polished it was!
Now, granted, it's a pretty simple game, with very simple mechanics, clearly aimed at kids...But in a world where people calls colorful, toony games "kiddy" to insult them, I was surprised by how this game series is an actual kiddy game that has a lot of care put into it, as well as actually subtle education elements.
The games could be considered some sort of simplified point-and-click adventure games for kids...Just without the point-and-click part!
The first title has Hamtaro going around different locations, looking for his friends to get them to go back to the clubhouse for a party and having to solve simple but varied situations through the use of the Ham-Chat system: in a few words, it's a peculiar dialogue system through which Hamtaro is able to converse with other hamsters and characters or execute different actions.
At the start of the game Hamtaro will have only a handful of words to use (like "Hamha!" as a general greeting), but solving puzzles and finding friends, the lil hamster will learn new words to solve more situations or be able to do more actions, like digging, climbing, rolling and more.
The game in general encouraged experimentation and, because of its very simple nature, the kid only had to go around and try out the different Ham-Chat words to find the solution to a certain problem or to acquire important items or new words to use somewhere else. It even had a sort of two-way branching end-challenge where, depending by which actions the kid would do first, he'd be faced with a different problem to solve.
The GBA titles following the GBC ones pretty much take the original formula and tweaks it adding more mechanics and overall they're very good, well-polished titles for younger kids, also helped by how cute they look, especially with the animations being so full of personality that maaay cause your sugar levels to reach the danger zone. I personally love it!
In an age where gaming is considered "serious business" by many, it's kinda fun to look at this game series and seeing it being so free of shame for just being an actual game aimed only at kids and being so good at managing to be a true videogame experience without falling into the edutainment trap and feeling more like disguised homeworks.
It's a cute small first approach for kids toward the adventure game genre and it's kind of a shame that Nintendo never published any more titles like this, even without making use of the Hamtaro license. Have you ever tried one, back in the day ? Are there more examples of games like this that I may be unaware of ?