Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak

Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak
Developer:	Pax Softnica
Publisher:	Nintendo
Platform:	Game Boy Advance
Release Dates:	JP: May 31, 2002 NA: April 8, 2003 EU: June 27, 2003

Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak is a Game Boy Advance game, developed by Pax Softnica and published by Nintendo. It was released in Japan in May 2002, and was followed by releases in America and Europe in 2003. It is the third game in the main Hamtaro video game series (second outside of Japan).

The Japanese version is titled Tottoko Hamutaro 3: Love Love Daibouken ~Dechu (とっとこハム太郎3 ラブラブ大冒険でちゅ)

Plot

At the start of the game, Hamtaro is having a nightmare. A hamster dressed in a black devil costume holding a trident is destroying the relations of various hamsters. Then, the hamster notices Hamtaro and attempts to attack him. Hamtaro is awakened by Boss, to whom he tells his dream. After this, the Ham-Chat Dictionary gets water spilled on it, leading to its contents being forgotten; Hamtaro has to refill it by communicating with other hamsters.

Hamtaro then goes to find Bijou at Sunny Peak and saves her after she gets trapped by a boulder. After that, they team up to resolve a misunderstanding between Oxnard and Pepper. The villain Spat - the character foreshadowed in Hamtaro's nightmare - then appears and tells about himself.

At the Clubhouse, Hamtaro and Bijou meet Harmony, who is tired from trying to stop Spat. Hamtaro and Bijou then go out to help repair hamsters' relationships and stop Spat from his mischief.

Gameplay

Like its predecessors, Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak is an adventure game. Set in the world of the Hamtaro, the player controls Hamtaro. The game expands on the gameplay of the earlier titles by adding Bijou as a partner. Together, they have to save the other ham-hams from Spat, an evil hamster with a hatred for any kind of relation, by learning ham-chat and visiting various locations.

The goals in Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak are to defeat Spat once and for all and to repair all the destroyed relations. A third quest, that supports those two, is to obtain all the "Ham-Chats". Ham-Chats are words, but also much more than that. At the start of the game, Hamtaro accidentally causes almost all the Ham-Chats in his Ham-Ham Dictionary to vanish, starting the hunt to fill the dictionary. Each Ham-Chat represents both a word (for communicating) and an action and/or motion. For instance, Lookie means to look. It is one of the most common Ham-Chats in the game, and solely has an action function. In that sense, action Ham-Chats often come with the necessary item (which is part of the Ham-Chat motion and doesn't show up in the inventory) and therefore, go another way than other adventure games in which the player already has all the actions available, but still has to get the required items. The other kind of Ham-Chat can only be used in conversations. A Ham-Chat like Perksie (Listen) for instance, only has value for conversations. New Ham-Chats are necessary to gain access to new parts of a conversation and get another Ham-Ham to do or give something.

Apart from Ham-Chats, the player also is required to obtain items (like a more conventional adventure game), though most of them are merely needed to complete minigames/side-quest. They are divided in inventory items, songs, currency and gems. Inventory items function like they do in any other adventure game and need to be combined with the Ham-Chats in order to proceed.

As in its predecessor, Ham-Hams Unite, this game allows you to put together the actions for Ham-Chat words to create dances, with a room just for this purpose in the Clubhouse. In Ham-Ham Heartbreak, however, there is an additional feature relating to "Ham-Jams."

You can pick up a variety of items such as sunflower seeds on the ground by selecting hif-hif or digging for them with digdig. Rocks can also be found in this game, but they serve a different purpose in Heartbreak. You can take the rocks and polish them in the RubRub Room in order to uncover gems.

Gallery

Artwork

Japanese box art.

Japanese advertisement

Nintendo Power article (April 2003 issue)

Tortoko Hamtaro 3 Love Love Adventure Dechu Nintendo Official Japanese Guide Books.

Screenshots

Title screen.

Instruction Manual

• US version

Videos

Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak Japanese Commercial

Japanese Commercial.

Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak Tv Ad (Game Boy Advance)

US Commercial.

Trivia

• After Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak, only one more Hamtaro adventure game was released: Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue.
• The game is mentioned in the Chronicle section of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, along with Hamtaro: Ham-Hams Unite! and Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Games. Rainbow Rescue is not mentioned, possibly because it was not released in North America.
• The rocks gathered in this game are used in the Rubrub Room to uncover gems and fossils for accessories.

External link

• Official Website (Japanese)