Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak [Game Review]

Release Date: May 3rd, 2002
Beaten: (TBA)
Platform: Gameboy Advance

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Blog Edited: November 2021

Hamtaro is one of those series that was extremely popular in Japan and then only did fairly well in North America- while in Japan it started out as a manga, in the States, I only ever saw it as an anime running on Cartoon Network. The name alone says a lot because Hamtaro is a hamster that has adventures while his owner is out doing whatever. It reminded me a lot of Toy Story in that the hamsters all have these grand adventures and then rush home back to their cages before the owners can notice that they are missing. Hamtaro has these adventures with other hamsters known simply as the Ham-Hams and they get up to all sorts of goofy antics, with the occasional threat of a cat. The hamsters all possess very distinct personalities and it was a fun show to watch. While the anime did run from 2000-2006, I do feel like I became interested in the series much later in its run, and for awhile, I was rather obsessed with it.

So, when I saw that Hamtaro had a game out, I had to have it…and I received it for some holiday or other. Back when this game came out, I was in Middle School. It must have been 7th or 8th grade making me 12-13 years old. I didn’t know that there had been other games that had come out for Hamtaro, nor was I into doing the deep-dive I do for video-game history now. I had the little pencil toppers and the little play kits with the different characters in the series, and that was good enough for me. Also, while I owned a Gameboy Advance, I didn’t have very many games for the handheld specifically, which also made this game rather special for me. Occasionally I might get to borrow something from a friend, but ultimately when I got a game whether it be old, new, sucky, or awesome, I was stoked because I was often playing the same games over and over again and always loved something new.

But, that’s enough rambling, lets get into the review!

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The Review

• The Story:

The story in this game is rather simple but entertaining which is the premise for a majority of this game. The game literally starts with the main character (Hamtaro) who is having a nightmare about a devil-hamster that is destroying the relationships of other hamsters (or Ham-Hams). When Hamtaro is spotted by the fork-wielding hamster, he is attacked and awakes in a cold-sweat.
Hamtaro goes downstairs and trips on a fellow ham-ham (hamster) causing him to land in a bucket of water- this in turn had gotten the ham-ham dictionary wet which means that Hamtaro has forgotten all of his ham-chats (which we will go into detail about later). This first part of the game is set in the ham-ham clubhouse run by a hamster named “Boss”. After Boss sees what has happened to your book, he runs you through some of the basic ham-chats and then tells you to go out and find a hamster named Bijou. Also, after telling Boss about your nightmare he makes a joke that maybe you were seeing the future. Well, this is pretty much the case as you go out to find Bijou and then find that the world is being pestered by that same hamster in the devil costume.

So, the story goes that Spat the hamster is on a mission to destroy love, and a different hamster named Harmony is out to stop him. Harmony bids you and Bijou to go out and restore love, thus filling up a love meter so that Spat can be stopped once and for all…and uh…that’s it. Like I said, very simple and straight to the point. There are little stories and quests along the way as you explore the various levels, but, this is the main plot that drives the game forward.

•  Game Mechanics:

The game mechanics are not hard. As a Hamster, all you can do is run around…the hard part are the puzzles. While listed as an adventure game, this is more of a puzzle game (in my opinion). As mentioned before, you are trying to fill up the ham-ham dictionary…and these words that you learn allow to perform actions.
For example, the word “hiff-hiff” when used, allows Hamtaro to sniff around and find hidden objects. This is necessary for finding people and finding things such as Sunflower seeds (which is used as currency).

Other words allow Hamtaro to drive a boat, scratch things, do a special dance to get into secret areas, or even team up with Bijou for a super action such as climbing on top of one another’s shoulders to reach new heights. That’s another thing…you play as two Hamsters in this game which have to work together in order to solve puzzles. Sometimes only Bijou can get certain results while at other times, only Hamtaro can get certain reactions to happen. Some words need two Hamsters to execute their power, and etc. you get the gist of this, right?

So…the basic of this game is that you will see Hamsters that are distraught all over the map. Sometimes they have lost something they must find, and oftentimes there has been a misunderstanding which must be fixed by using certain words to bring two Hamsters back together. You basically play love-guru in this game, and every time you complete a puzzle, your love meter goes up. The love meter is Harmony’s power source, and it is the only way to ultimately stop Spat.  Crossing the map alone requires puzzle solving…as said before, certain words are needed to perform certain actions. Objects are required for fixing bridges, pulling levers, and doing other things which allows new areas to be accessed. It is your typical puzzle-solving game, minus any real platforming. But, while it seems simple enough, the game can get really complicated at times, and getting that 100% completion can really seem impossible most of the time. There is also a lot of back-tracking. Most levels can not be fully completed until you get certain words from different areas…then you can travel back to previous levels and finish off whatever scenarios were left over. So while the main plot might be pretty straight-forward, the way this game operates is anything but!

• Mini-games & Extras:

While the main goal of the game is to restore love and happiness in hamsters across the various maps/worlds, there are a few little extras in the game that are fun to do in your spare time. The level called “FunLand” actually has a few mini-games that can be played with various prizes being offered as a reward- and you can even try and go for the high score. There is a dancing contest where you use ham-chats as your dance moves, and you can dance to the various songs you have collected in your travels. These contests are ranked and as you win more contests, the difficulty increases. While the dancing contest is needed for a main quest in the game, it is also something you can just do for fun. There is a photo booth where you can take pictures (and the most recent photo shows up as your start menu picture)- this is probably one of my favorite things to do since you can dress up Hamtaro and Bijou and then change the photo background for some neat pictures. Lastly, there is rock shining! You shine rocks to discover various crystals and stones. The more your love-meter is filled, the more rare of gems you can find when shining rocks. So, while that doesn’t seem like a ton of extras, it really is the small things that matter.

Pros & Cons:

While this game has many things I adored about it, there were also some things I just could not get over…so lets go into some pros and cons when it comes to this particular video game: This game is not based on 100% completion which is a good thing, but, it does add something a little extra for those that go the extra mile (which I always did enjoy)!

Also, this game is just adorable. I love the style, the animations, and just the small little details that make this game stand out. It’s bright, it’s cheerful, and it has a lot of great humor in it. The soundtrack is also pretty good as well, and I even loved all the different Easter Eggs in the game (like the Zelda reference and the Super Sentai reference). I also liked the collection mechanics when it came to the crystals, and, like I mentioned above, the fact that you can use the photo booth to make your own start menu screen was always something that I loved about the game.

One thing I noticed back-in-the day (when I first played this game) was some glitches that occurred while playing…sometimes there were certain conditions that needed to be completed in order to progress in the game, but after completing them, you still could not move forward for some odd reason. It might have been because you talked to the person too many times or the game thought it had already given you the item, but you would then be stuck. I forget where it was, but towards the end, there is a guy that gives you a catapult…or he is supposed to. I never could get the damn catapult even when all the conditions were met so I found myself restarting the game 2-3 times just to get stuck at the very same spot. I don’t remember how I fixed this issue, but eventually I got what I needed and was able to move on. Of course, this was back when I was still in Middle School and I can’t say that I ran into the same issue when playing the game as an adult.

My biggest pet peeve with this game had to be the back-tracking. I don’t mind going back to a level every once in awhile, but the amount of back-tracking in this game was just absolutely insane! Having to talk to the same hamsters and use new words you picked up two levels after, just to get some new scenario was so annoying. I would have rather just worked with two levels at a time rather than having to keep back-tracking through three or four levels because there was a word that was super easy to miss and/or you had to leave a level and then come back to that same level later to activate the event.

While I agree that games should not always give you a banner for your current objective…knowing when someone still has a quest or something would really, really help once in awhile. Though, I do believe that once a zone is 100% complete, the sunflower on the map is supposed to spin or something.

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CONCLUSION

Overall, as said before…this is not a bad game. It may seem childish but it was really fun to play, and I found myself playing it over and over again throughout the years. Not only is it just fun and funny with a lot of stupid jokes, perverted pokes, and toilet humor to boot…it also makes references to other popular games and series within Japan. This game was the place where I first heard Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and I have been in love with that particular piece ever since.

The worlds are bright and colorful with a billion things to do, and for a GBA game, you will invest a lot of time in this. There were very few times where the game was anything less than fun and enjoyable. It had its moments where I got frustrated and wanted to quit (due to the annoying back-tracking) but those moments were few and far in between which was really nice. While sometimes you might be stuck and find yourself wandering about, when you know your next objective, the game has a really steady pace.

While I am not usually a fan of puzzle games, I actually liked having to figure out what I could do to make the story progress. I liked figuring out words and combinations to get into secrets areas, and really liked those moments where I finally figured out a harder puzzle and could give myself a pat on the back. When I originally wrote my review for this game, I gave it a rating of 7/10- that was because even with everything good about the game, it is not meant for all ages and will only appeal to a certain group of people. A lot of people might not invest much time in a game like this due to it being more for kids, even with all the adult humor sprinkled in. If I were to rate it today, I think I would rate it the same. As I said before, the game looks and sounds great, but it would only be attractive to certain audiences, and even though the game has a good length to it, the replay-ability is actually really low. I only ever played it multiple times because I never beat the game until picking it back up this last time, and after playing through it from start-to-finish, it really is something that is a “one and done” experience.

But tell me, what do YOU think?

Were you ever a fan of the Hamtaro series? Have you played the other Hamtaro games? Which hamster is your favorite? If you played this game, which level was your favorite? What is your favorite ham-chat? Did you also laugh when you found the poop on the stick (be honest)?

As always, let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comment-section down below. Thank you so much for your continued support on this blog as I continue to touch-up old reviews. More posts are on the way, and I will see you all in the next one!

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