Guardian Heroes (ガーディアン ヒーローズ, Gādian Hīrōzu?) is a 2D side-scrolling beat 'em up and hack & slash action RPG video game in the vein of Final Fight or Golden Axe. The game features RPG elements. Guardian Heroes was developed by Treasure and released in 1996 for the Sega Saturn video game console. A sequel was released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance entitled Advance Guardian Heroes.
Guardian Heroes is often considered to be one of the greatest games for the Sega Saturn and the beat'em up genre by both critics and fans. The game allowed players to alter the storyline through their actions, such as choosing between a number of branching paths leading to multiple endings and through the Karma meter which changes depending on whether the player kills civilians or shows mercy to enemies. Its music was also praised, combining electronically composed tracks with electric guitar and saxophones. The music was composed by Hideki Matsutake, a former member of electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Nazo Suzuki.
Famous quotes containing the words guardian and/or heroes:
“But the house of the prudent countryman will be, of course, a place of honest manners; and Demeter Thesmophoros is the guardian of married life, the deity of the discretion of wives. She is therefore the founder of civilised order.”
—Walter Pater (1839–1894)
“All of childhood’s unanswered questions must finally be passed back to the town and answered there. Heroes and bogey men, values and dislikes, are first encountered and labeled in that early environment. In later years they change faces, places and maybe races, tactics, intensities and goals, but beneath those penetrable masks they wear forever the stocking-capped faces of childhood.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)