OMG! Guardian Heroes HD to Release for XBLA
Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 5:26PM
Ernie in guardian heroes, news, sega, treasure, xbla, xbox360

Header image by Modus

I'm not a religious man by any means, but I think that may change. About once a month, I remember the incredible Sega Saturn - and acceptable Game Boy Advance - game, Guardian Heroes. I remember how it may have been the greatest beat 'em up I played as a youth, with awesome art, frantic action, a killer soundtrack, and 40-plus characters to mix it up with. Good old days. Whenever I fondly recall Guardian Heroes, I pray for a new take on the series, and for the past few years my prayers have gone unanswered. Until today!

I could not be any happier to write this. My fingers are harmoniously humming Valgar's snappy theme as they slide across my keyboard in glee. Guardian Heroes is getting the full HD treatment for Xbox LIVE Arcade. Re-mastered graphics, local and online co-op, 12-player online arena battle mode, and even completely new play modes like time attack and arranged mode. This is the second best day of my life. The best day will be Guardian Heroes' release date, sometime this summer.

In case you have never heard of or played this opus, here's a little backstory. Guardian Heroes is a 2D, side-scrolling beat 'em up with RPG elements (see: character progression) developed by Treasure, released in 1996 on the vastly underrated Sega Saturn. The ability to choose branching paths allowed Guardian Heroes multiple endings and a new way to play each time you tackled the engaging story mode. I can't event describe how much of a masterpiece this title is. Just know that your childhood suffered greatly if you never gave this game a spin, but all will be righted this summer. Excitement!

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