History VideoGame / RentAHero

[[caption-width-right:200:Cover of the 1991 title]] '''Rent A Hero''' is an ActionAdventure with slight BeatEmUp elements made by Creator/{{Sega}}'s [=AM2=] division in 1991 for SegaGenesis. It starred an ordinary boy, Taro Yamada (his default name), who one day phoned to a cafeteria and was given by the delivery man a battery-powered super suit. He wore it thinking it was just a funny costume... but when he discovered it gave him actual SuperStrength and other nifty gadgets, he decided to become a Rent A Hero, a local superhero for hire employed by an agency named SECA. Now Taro/Hero goes around the districts of Aero City helping the citizens, with mundane tasks like delivering food or finding missing children, but later on more intensive missions involving corporate theft, counterfeit money and TheMafia.

* ThemeNaming: Mr. Leek, a hitman, and Miss Tomato, an IntrepidJournalist. [[spoiler:They end up together.]]

* ShoutOut: Several to other Sega properties.

** Inspector Zenikase is most certainly a reference to [[Anime/LupinIII Inspector Zenigata]]. The remake makes it visually [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_super/1/14912/797830-image_072.png clearer]].

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The Curse of King Glutenramen. Some archeologists unearth a sarcophagus, awaking the spirit of a pharaoh that possesses one of them. Hero then has to kick his undead ass. You still get paid for completing the mission, but it has nothing to do with anything else in the game, and it's a blatant insertion of fantasy elements in an otherwise fairly realistic game.

* PhenotypeStereotype: Parodied. The Yamadas are the most typical Japanese family possible: salaryman father, housewife mother, adolescent son and a little girl. However, they're all [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_super/1/14912/797810-image_051.png blond and blue-eyed!]] It's probably part of the AffectionateParody of American superhero comics, though (look at the game cover above).

[[caption-width-right:200:Cover of the 1991 title]] '''Rent A Hero''' is an ActionAdventure with slight BeatEmUp elements made by Creator/{{Sega}}'s [=AM2=] division in 1991 for SegaGenesis. It starred an ordinary boy, Taro Yamada (his default name), who one day phoned to a cafeteria and was given by the delivery man a battery-powered super suit. He wore it thinking it was just a funny costume... but when he discovered it gave him actual SuperStrength and other nifty gadgets, he decided to become a Rent A Hero, a local superhero for hire employed by an agency named SECA. Now Taro/Hero goes around the districts of Aero City helping the citizens, with mundane tasks like delivering food or finding missing children, but later on more intensive missions involving corporate theft, investigations and TheMafia.

* BlandNameProduct: In the remake all brands and product names are spoofs of actual ones, with one exception; see ProductPlacement below.

This time the game was supposed to receive a Western release, being translated into English, and it was supposed to come out for the North American XBOX in 2004. Unfortunately, though, a development delay resulted in a sharp decrease of retail orders, so the release was indefinitely postponed... and then the American publisher was shut down by the parent company. The almost fully-translated English release was even reviewed by some sites, though, and it can be found nowadays in some corners of the internet.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: It's probably unintentional, but the Rent A Hero outfit makes Taro look kind of like a younger VideoGame/CaptainCommando. Fan artists were [[http://postimg.org/image/49u93kzer/ quick to notice this]]...

* TheMafia: Parts of Aero City are under their control. One mission has Taro hired by the police to bust a meeting among the city of Molden's five most important mafia families.

* PhenotypeStereotype: Parodied. Taro's family is the most typical Japanese family possible: salaryman father, housewife mother, adolescent son and a little girl. However, they're all [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_super/1/14912/797810-image_051.png blond and blue-eyed!]] It's probably part of the AffectionateParody of American superhero comics, though (look at the game cover above).

A remake, called ''Rent A Hero No. 1'', was released for [[SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] in 2000, receiving an upgrade from top-down and side-scrolling (for the battle sections) pixel graphics to a free-roaming 3D world not unlike ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' (made by [=AM2=] as well), but keeping its quirky and humorous tone and adding even more cameos and nods to several Sega properties. This time the game was supposed to receive a Western release, being translated into English, and it was supposed to come out for the North American XBOX in 2004. Unfortunately, though, a development delay resulted in a sharp decrease of retail orders, so the release was indefinitely postponed... and then the American publisher was shut down by the parent company. The almost fully-translated English release was even reviewed by some sites, though, and it can be found nowadays in some corners of the internet.

A remake, called ''Rent A Hero No. 1'', was released for [[SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]] in 2000, receiving an upgrade from top-down and side-scrolling (for the battle sections) pixel graphics to a free-roaming 3D world not unlike ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' (made by [=AM2=] as well), but keeping its quirky and humorous tone and adding even more cameos and nods to several Sega properties. This time the game was supposed to receive a Western release, being translated into English, and it was supposed to come out for the North American XBOX in 2004. Unfortunately, though, a development delay resulted in a sharp decrease of retail orders, so the release was indefinitely postponed... and then the American publisher was shut down by the parent company. The fully-translated English release was even reviewed by some sites, though, and it can be found nowadays in some corners of the internet.

* PhenotypeStereotype: Parodied. Taro's family is the most typical Japanese family possible: salaryman father, housewife mother, adolescent son and a little girl. However, they're all [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/scale_super/1/14912/797810-image_051.png blond and blue-eyed]]! It's probably part of the AffectionateParody of American superhero comics though (look at the game cover above).

* RandomEncounters: Justified by the fact that at first Hero meets only a few thugs and hoodlums while traveling across the cities, but when he starts interfering with the affairs of criminal gangs and TheMafia they will send increasingly more hitmen and killers after him.

* CultClassic: Only in Japan, though.

* NoExportForYou: Twice. Poor Taro...

'''Rent A Hero''' is an ActionAdventure with slight BeatEmUp elements made by Creator/{{Sega}}'s [=AM2=] division in 1991 for SegaGenesis. It starred an ordinary boy, Taro Yamada (his default name), who one day phoned to a cafeteria and was given by the delivery man a battery-powered super suit. He wore it thinking it was just a funny costume... but when he discovered it gave him actual SuperStrength and other nifty gadgets, he decided to become a Rent A Hero, a local superhero for hire employed by an agency named SECA. Now Taro/Hero goes around the districts of Aero City helping the citizens, with mundane tasks like delivering food or finding missing children, but later on more intensive missions involving corporate theft, investigations and TheMafia.

* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Happens to Taro's father when his son is testing the super suit. The father is wearing a {{Kaiju}} costume to amuse guests and Taro "fights" with him after wearing the suit, unfortunately he doesn't know it actually works... The trope is also played more realistically than in most cases: Taro's dad does not die because the GoofySuit he was wearing cushioned the impact, but he's still in terrible pain for a good half of the game.

Most of the tropes listed use names found in the fan translation of the Genesis game.

'''Rent A Hero''' is an ActionAdventure with slight BeatEmUp elements made by Creator/{{Sega}}'s [=AM2=] division in 1991 for SegaGenesis. It starred an ordinary boy, Taro Yamada (his default name), who one day phoned to a cafeteria and was given by the delivery man a battery-powered super suit. He wore it thinking it was just a funny costume... but when he discovered it gave him actual SuperStrength and other nifty gadgets, he decided to become a Rent A Hero, a local superhero for hire employed by an agency named SECA. Now Taro/Hero goes around the districts of Aero City helping the citizens, with mundane tasks like delivering food or finding missing children, or more intensive missions involving corporate theft, investigations and TheMafia.

The game is an AffectionateParody of Sega a decade before ''VideoGame/{{Segagaga}}'' (made by the same team, by the way), but also of {{Sentai}}, American superheroes and Japan's culture and society between the 80s and the 90s. Because of this, it was [[NoExportForYou never released in the West]], and its many cultural references made it so that it never received a complete FanTranslation until 2015, when one was finally released on the Romhacking.net site.