 When I do these Why the Hype videos, I usually approach it from one of two angles. One, why is this game considered as good as it is? And two, why is this cartridge so obscenely expensive? In the case of Higane, the final conflict, it's the latter. This game goes for an average of nearly $500 on eBay. That is clinically insane. Why the hell is it so expensive? Well, for one thing, there seems to be this story out there that this was a blockbuster exclusive game, that it was only available for rent and not for purchase anywhere. The only time you could have a chance to buy it is when your local blockbuster decided to dump some inventory. This story popped up out of nowhere when it was mentioned in a classic gaming review video posted in 2009, and it boosted the price of Higane all the way up to where it is now, despite the fact that there is absolutely zero evidence of this game ever being exclusive to blockbuster. Well, let's take a look at the back of the box. It says for sale. Huh. I looked in the July 1995 Game Fan Magazine. Nope. Just regular reviews. GamePro Magazine. July 1995. It's just a single page review, but the August 95 issue has an ad from Chips and Bits that has agonized for sale for $59. Huh. Nintendo Power Volume 70. There's six pages detailing the game complete with maps, but not a single mention of any sort of tie to blockbuster video or this game being rental only. You know what this story sounds like? It sounds like back in the mid-2000s, somebody decided to try and jack up the price of this game by using a made up story, and CGR and later Mike Matei just decided to roll with it without checking into it and the story caught on from there. Let it be known that there is no evidence out there that this was ever a blockbuster exclusive. The only explanation I can think of is that maybe the PAL version was, but blockbuster was only in Ireland, Denmark, and a couple other countries with a handful of stores in Australia, so to make a promotional game with such little distribution really wouldn't make much sense either. Anyway, if you can prove me wrong on this, leave a comment. So how about the game itself? If you remember about a year ago, I named Hagané the hardest game on the Super Nintendo. On the surface it looks like just another side-scrolling action-platformer, but ah-ha! You play as a ninja! Not only that, but as a ninja cyborg. And ninja gameplay mechanics in this setting are rarely a bad thing. Look no further than the Shinobi series, Ninja Gaiden, Strider, Run Saber, on and on. So why is this game so hard? Well, just look at the sheer amount of stuff going on here. And this is just the first stage of the first level. The thing about Hagané though is that it's tough as hell, but it's still accessible because the player has so much freedom to do so many things. Every button on the controller does an attack of some kind, whether it's your four weapons to choose from that you can upgrade, a sword, throwing stars, grenades, or this chain thing. There's clear screen attacks, the summer salt thing, jump kicks, sliding, just a huge array of stuff at your disposal. You're going to need every single one of those moves though because it's three hits and you're dead, although you can upgrade your health to a certain extent. There's also some crazy enemy and level design here. The fourth stage of the first level has you trying to outrun a wall of flames and you have to be fast or you're screwed. See, this is tough, but it's not absurdly unforgiving like the Turbo Tunnel in Battletoads. The second level opens things up a bit more, putting more of an emphasis on platforming instead of dodging. Also, there's these disappearing platforms, ugh. Level 3 eventually leads you to this crazy mode 7 stage where you have to dodge everything while staying on this platform. It's like a sped-up version of the second half of level 4 in Super Ghouls and Ghosts. I want to keep stressing though, Higani isn't the kind of difficulty as something like Super Ghouls and Ghosts. That's the sort of game where you as a player have to conform to the game's rules. Higani has more open-ended and allows you more freedom. In fact, my biggest criticism here is that it might be too open-ended because if you really wanted to, you could just sprint past every single enemy in the game without killing anything. Still, the designers seem to be at least slightly aware of that and do a nice job of putting enough obstacles in your path to prevent you from just sprinting all the way through to a boss fight. Another downside is that you can only use most weapons in four directions and not ate like how it was in Super Castlevania IV, for example. I think what they were going for here is that if you wanted to hit something at a diagonal angle, you had to switch weapons and use the grenades. I get that, but it's still kind of a pain. So yeah, Higani worth the price to pay for the cartridge? Ha ha ha. No. Go pay your rent instead. If you really want a cartridge for this game, the Super Famicom release is usually about $100. Still, if you're able to emulate or play this on a flash cartridge, give it a chance. This level is insane, but once you get the hang of what your ninja cyborg character's abilities are, this game is fun as hell. Although I will say if you grew up with the Genesis and you've played Shinobi 3, this really isn't all that different. It's kind of sort of like the Super Nintendo's answer to this Shinobi games. The same way Run Saber was the SNES's answer to Strider. But yeah, you want a challenge? Check out Higani. No saves, no passwords, just skill and speed accompanied by some great music and kick-ass visuals.