Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?

by NIS America

Product Features

• Multiple modes -- standard and Hell mode -- add help when needed and hours worth of gameplay fun.
• Players will get 1000 lives to beat this heart-pumping platforming side-scroller.
• A wide variety of land and air vehicles that rigged with over to top weapons.
• Music collection mode to find music tracks during game and replay them as background music.
• Ridiculously comedic storyline and characters taken from the Disgaea franchise given a life of their own in an all new game series.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001L8DKJ8
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 7 x 1.1 inches ; 2.4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: February 17, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,071 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #7 in Video Games > Sony PSP > Action > Shooter
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

In Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? players are treated to a single player spin-off from the popular role-playing (RPG) universe of Disgaea. Here players step into the unlucky shoes of a penguin called a Prinny and 999 of his comrades as you slash your way through various Netherworld areas in side-scrolling service to the Demon Lord Etna. Although the mission that you are saddled with is ridiculously comic, the action you face is not, so you're given 1,000 lives to work with and you can use everything you find on the battlefield to help you survive and succeed.

Classic side-scrolling action. View larger.

Challenging difficulty levels. View larger.

Multiple vehicles & aircraft. View larger.

The Story
Prinnies are the reincarnated souls of evil humans trapped in purgatory. Summoned by urgent order, the player in the form of the lowly Prinny rushes to meet his boss, Demon Lord Etna in her chamber. You arrive just in time to see Etna beating your fellow prinnies to a pulp. She is definitely in a bad mood, being even more abusive and violent than usual. As it turns out, someone has snatched her favorite dessert from the fridge. Eager to vent her frustration, she orders you to hunt down the ingredients to create a new Ultra Dessert and promises that if you do not deliver the goods by the next morning that you will learn what eternal suffering really means. Since you are at the very bottom of the netherworld food chain, if not its gutter, you have no choice but to snap into action.

Gameplay
Prinny is a side-scrolling platformer filled with classic flavored gameplay that requires timing of jumps and memorization of the patterns of enemy movements. As non-threatening as dessert making might seem, nothing could be further from the truth. In the game players are given 10 hours and the use of 999 identical comrades from the Prinny Squad to defeat demon bosses spread throughout the game's levels who possess the necessary ingredients to create a new dessert for Etna. Although this may sound like way more than enough help, surprisingly challenging gameplay that consistently has players one blow from either victory or defeat and the nature of the prinnies themselves will quickly change player's perception on this.

True to their origins in the Disgaea universe where their literal explosive nature makes them perfect cannon fodder to aim at enemies, prinnies are extremely volatile. Players can only only control one prinny at a time because you only possess one red scarf, which not only indicates your status as current game hero, but also keeps you from blowing up. Wave after wave of enemies within the game also conspire to exploit the prinnies' tendency towards combustion, and more often than not are successful, underlining the importance of your 999 friends. This means that players do not actually play as a single prinny. As one meets his end another takes his place and you are kept informed of how many prinnies you have left, as well as how many hours. Prinnies are not defenseless though. Players have use of a variety of attacks and moves like the 'Dual Sword Slash' to deal with enemies in front of you, the 'Hip Pound' which allows you to stun opponents with your bottom and standard platformer jump and sprint functionality for mobility. In addition, prinnies can lift and throw objects like bombs, stomp enemies and even pilot tanks and planes to bombard whatever gets in your way. The game comes with two modes: Standard Mode, which allows you to take damage up to 3 times before losing a life and Hell Mode where one blow means instant death. In this ridiculously comic adventure you will need every advantage if you hope to survive the cost of the ultimate sweet treat.

Key Game Features:

• 1,000 Units - Players will get 1000 lives to beat the toughest action of this platforming side-scroller.
• Lift & Throw - Prinnies are able to lift and throw objects on the battlefield.
• Vehicles - Steal and control powerful vehicles, like tanks and UFOs.
• Hip Pound: Jump and pound enemies to stun them. Then you can inflict multiple combo attacks for extra damage.
• 3D World with 2D Characters: In Prinny, character art is created using fluid 2D sprites, giving it a classic look with a comical tone. Battlefields and backgrounds, however, are created with 3D models. This allows for a smooth and unique combat action where certain attacks are rendered in a 3-dimensional view.
• Boss Battles Galore - 10 Major stages featuring many hidden characters and a boss waiting at the end of each.
• Music Collection Mode - Find music tracks during game and replay them as background music.
• Humor - Ridiculously comedic storyline and characters.

Product Description

The most over the top side scrolling action game ever comes to the PSP. Players will take control 1000 penguin soldiers called Prinny to find ingredients for the ultimate desert. Players must utilize anything they find on the battlefield to combat vicious predators in the Netherworld.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For the Masochistic Gamer, February 21, 2009

By 

S. Rhodes - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? (Video Game)

Pros:

+Cute adorable prinnies!
+Good music
+Beautiful game
+Simple gameplay concepts

Cons:

-Unusually difficult game to the point of frustration. The game's elements all come together and blend really well, but dying over and over again through what can mostly be considered trial and error makes what is a very fun game somewhat more frustrating

Prinnies, if you don't know, come from a cult classic SRPG by Nippon Ichi called Disgaea. They've become quite iconic in the series for providing humor and their constant use of the word "Dood". What they're probably best known for, however, is being those little penguins that when tossed at the enemy... explode.

Prinny: Can I Really Be a Hero? is not a Strategy RPG. It is a side scrolling platformer, in which you are on a quest to create the ultimate dessert. If the quest itself seems dumb... well, you haven't exactly played a Disgaea game, which is not known for having deep enriching stories. They're mostly known for having ridiculous premises and their humor. That is exactly what you get from Prinny.

Let us talk about what Prinny does right. The first is simple, it's a beautiful looking game. There are vibrant, colorful environments and backgrounds throughout each level. You'll recognize a few Disgaea characters and enemies as well. It's quite nice to see this kind of detail in a 2D platformer. The game also sounds incredibly good. There are some surprisingly catchy tunes. The voice acting is not exactly strong, but it isn't like nails on a chalk board either. It just needs a bit more emotion than what it gives you from time to time.

When it comes down to the gameplay Prinny has simple basic concepts. Like any platformer you'll jump a lot. But you've also got standard blade attacks as well as a ground stomp to take on your enemies with. There's not much more to the gameplay than this, but there doesn't have to be. It's simple to learn but difficult to master... really really difficult to master.

As you begin your adventure you are given 1000 lives. This is not a joke: 1000 lives from the start. Surely a game must be crazy to give you 1000 lives, right? Well, this is where Prinny's big problem comes in. The game is designed so that you'll die. A lot. Make no mistake, Prinny is an incredibly challenging (and frustrating) gaming experience. Most of it comes from level design and the jumping mechanic. If you remember what it was like to play Ghost n' Goblins or the old school Castlevania games, you have an idea of how jumping will feel in this game. The difference is that timing is much more important than in those games. In fact, aside from bosses, the majority of your deaths might come from jumping. The first time you might not think it's such a big deal. But after missing a jump more than 20 times (which can and probably will happen) it becomes quite frustrating. You can double jump, but the problem will still persist. You can't change direction once you begin jumping. It sounds like something that wouldn't be a big issue, but it's actually a huge one. Even worse is that after dying several times from missing or having the wrong timing with a jump... your reward just might be another very frustrating and unreasonable test in jumping. The good news is that there are a lot of checkpoints.

Another aspect which really contributes to the difficulty level are the boss fights. For the most part it's all about pattern recognition. But this means a lot of trial and error goes into defeating a boss. You'll learn their pattern eventually, but it might be after dying 25 times or so. After a while dying... becomes repetitive.

Normally, difficulty is a very good thing in a game. Gamers have been complaining about games being too simple lately. Prinny is the antithesis to simplicity, but for the wrong reasons. It's difficulty, for the most part, comes through design. But missing a jump more than twenty times or having to die at a boss more than twenty times just to learn how to do it is a bit excessive. The game in and of itself isn't very long, but you'll see that by the time you get to the end, you might have lost half your lives (and remember you begin with 1000 lives!). You'll definitely feel good if you can slug through the entire adventure, but it hardly seems worth the trouble to do so.

However, for what it's worth, the game is fun. But it would've been more fun if it weren't quite this difficult. The amount of death you'll run into can elevate from a simple "whoops" to sometimes wanting to throw your PSP across the room. In short, it's a fun game, but not if you're going to be frustrated easily by what could largely be considered meaningless deaths.

Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? is by no means a bad game. You just might have a lot of fun with it. But for the easily frustrated it can be a test in patience as much as it is a test in skill. If you're a die-hard Disgaea fan or a die-hard Platformer, you just might enjoy this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finnally dood., February 19, 2009

By 

M. Girardin (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero? (Video Game)

I've been waiting for another good platformer for a good long while and this one certainly delivers, it's tough, it's fun, it's funny and has some great art. It really has some nostalgic value since it's a very traditional platformer in many ways but it still brings a lot to the table.

The craziest part is you get a thousand lives, that's 1,000 prinny lives to get the job done. There's two difficulty modes, one you get 4 hits before you blow up and die, the hard mode you get one hit and you blow up, though in both modes you have 1,000 lives to complete the game. There's a good amount of Disgaea comedy to it, you'll hear dood more than probably all 3 disgaea games combined, but it's just a hilarious adventure.

I'm about half way through and it's really a great game, it's hard and frustrating at times but the game is so much fun and is so well done so it makes it worth it. I had purchased this direct from Rosenqueen and it came with a sound track, a prinny plush and a PSP prinny case, something you can't beat for a fan of the disgaea series / turn based strat games

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Box Set!, September 6, 2010

By 

Teresa G. Hobbs - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

If you are a Disgaea fan and are considering this game for your shelf DO NOT SETTLE for the retail version!!
Not only does this box contain the game, it also includes the complete soundtrack with a reversible cover, japanese lyrics, and an online comic page. The soundtrack is absolutely FABULOUS, don't trick yourself into thinking the soundtrack isn't neccesary, it is!
Buy this today or you'll regret it when you hear the soundtrack in-game. :)