HEBEREKE PAIR PAIR WARS

by SUNSOFT

NEO GEO MVS NGM-099 (UNCONFIRMED)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

Developed in 1996 Hebereke Pair Pair Wars was a playful puzzle game which prominently featured the Sun Soft Hebereke series characters. Gameplay consisted of manipulating your on screen character to clear tiles by pairing 2 of the same together, very similar to memory matching games such as Concentration or Shanghai. The game was themed around Sunsoft's mascot, Hebereke, who has been featured in many of their other games such as Ufouria for the NES/Famicom. You can select Hebereke or choose from 7 of his friends from previous adventures.

Hebereke features 8 stages and 8 characters to select from. The backgrounds and characters were rendered in 3-D with nice CG graphics and are very well animated. The player must match the tiles on their side of the screen in order to clear the playfield and complete the stage. Matching 3 or more tiles at one time builds up the "Special" meter at the bottom of the screen, and depending on the stage, gives the player a variety of special moves. In the 2 player mode, erased blocks are sent to the opponents side to hinder them. The first player to capture all of the blocks or fill the opponent's screen with blocks wins.

BACKGROUND:

In 1986, Activision developed a video game version of the popular mahjong tile matching game Shanghai, and released it on multiple computer and console platforms. Sunsoft worked with Activision to release Shanghai for the Famicom and later released an arcade version as well. Several sequels would follow over the years. Pair Pair Wars really only used some of the basic elements of Shanghai. Sunsoft westernized the tile set, simplified the gameplay, and enhanced the theme by incorporing Hebereke characters and backgrounds into the gameplay.

Sunsoft only released 2 titles for the NEOGEO; Galaxy Fight in 1995 & Waku Waku Seven in 1996. Hebereke was also intended to be released in 1996, but was canceled in favor of the stronger WW7 which Sunsoft felt would sell more and perform better. An arcade operator here in the United States had a sample MVS cartridge of this game. Sadly, it was damaged along with alot of other games and equipment in a severe flood back in 1998. Several years ago we both tried to track down another one from his original source, an old coin-op distributor, but we had no luck.

INFORMATION TIMELINE:

-- January 1996 -- SUNSOFT provides the arcade flyer advertisement for the arcade industry.

-- February 1996 --SNK releases a six game catalog with screenshots of Hebereke.

-- February 1996 -- Hebereke Pair Pair Wars is shown at the 1996 AOU show.

-- March 1996 -- Game Machine magazine reports on the show and provides a screenshot.

-- April 1996 -- Consoles Plus #53 (French) reports on Hebereke at the show.

-- April 1996 -- NEOGEO FREAK #11 has an article with a screen shot.

-- April 1996 -- Game Machine magazine reports on the show and provides a screenshot.

-- May 1996 -- NEOGEO FREAK #12 publishes a 3 page article with dozens of screen shots.

-- September 1996 -- background screenshots are found hidden within another Sun Soft product.

-- October 1996 -- NEOGEO FREAK reports Hebereke coming soon for CART and CD systems.

-- October 1998 -- an arcade operator reveals a lost sample cart that was used for a location test.

-- September 2023 -- SUNSOFT releases the OST (original sound track) of the game.

CURRENT STATUS: UNSECURED


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