We announced Guardian Heroes for XBLA last week, and the response was great! It’s amazing to see so much excitement around this game. But one thing that generated a lot of questions and comments was the statement “Guardian Heroes has been re-mastered with enhanced graphics”. A lot of you wanted to know exactly what that meant, so here are some more details for you!

In HD:

• Characters – upgraded to HD quality
• Visual Effects – newly created in HD
• Fonts – newly created in HD
• Gauges – newly created in HD
• Close-ups of Characters (in the character select screen) – newly created in HD

Same as Saturn:

• Backgrounds
• Music
• Story mode

Changes:

• Voices – some are from the Saturn version, some are newly created
• Arcade mode – paths are the same as the Saturn version, but AI’s are new
• Versus mode – improved from Saturn version with additional rules and a more polished game balance)
• Extra modes – newly created for XBLA version
• Saturn Mode: All visuals are the same as the Saturn version except for the font and screen aspect ratio

And because I know you want comparison shots, here they are!

With HD

Saturn Mode

Hope that clears it up for you! If you have more questions about Guardian Heroes, please ask them in the comments. I may not be able to answer them all, but I’m happy to tell you anything I can.

Today is a very exciting day in community, it’s always a treat when we bring out a game that we know is going to excite our fans. What better way to do this than to announce the return of a true SEGA gem from the Saturn era: Guardian Heroes! Read on for the full press release…

SEGA of America, Inc. and SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced the upcoming re-release of Guardian Heroe, a classic Action-RPG Brawler by celebrated developers Treasure. Originally released for the SEGA Saturn™ in 1996, Guardian Heroes has been re-mastered with enhanced graphics, online co-op and battle modes, all-new modes of play, and more. The game will be available via Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this fall.

“Ever since we began to make SEGA’s classic Dreamcast and Genesis / Mega Drive titles available for modern systems, the fan response has been overwhelming – and the demand for their favorite games has been pouring in,” said Haruki Satomi, VP of Digital Business at SEGA. “Players have been clamoring for this treasured favorite from the Saturn days, and we cannot wait to show them what we have got for them – all of the fantastic side-scrolling action, branching story paths, and distinct characters, now in a fully HD, widescreen presentation with online support. ”

Guardian Heroes brings the Saturn favorite to life with new HD graphics, presenting Treasure’s iconic fast-paced gameplay on a new generation of hardware, with all of the convenience of purchase via instant download. The game also features:

Action-RPG Brawling: Choose one of four heroes to level up and guide along a branching storyline with five different endings
Friends, Foes, and Fighters: Play the game’s Story Mode alone or with a second player, or challenge Versus Mode with up to 12 players at once
Extended Gameplay: Time Attack Mode, Arcade Mode, Arrange Mode and more allow players to explore every nuance of 45 different fighters
Fully Re-Mastered: All-new graphics and visual effects bring the classic to life in a completely high-definition, widescreen presentation

As an active member of the SEGA community, I can say with certainty that Guardian Heroes is a name I’m regularly seeing across the internet for game requests. We hope you are as excited as we are!

Concept Art

As a special release for community, we have signature art assets available! We hope you enjoy these concept images, with more on the way for this classic, signature SEGA title!

Randy

Discuss! Feedback!

Already feedback on this release has been nothing short of amazing, we’re really excited to see what people think of this announcement! If you have a special memory or story from your past that involves Guardian Heroes – tell us about it!