| Compati Hero | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre(s) | Sports, platform, role-playing, strategy, racing |
| Developer(s) | Various |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Family Computer, Super Famicom, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Sega Pico, PlayStation, GameCube, Dreamcast, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita |
| First release | SD Battle Ōzumō: Heisei Hero Basho April 20, 1990 |
| Latest release | Lost Heroes 2 February 2, 2015 |
Compati Hero[a][b] is a video game series published in Japan by Banpresto and Bandai Namco Entertainment that began in 1990 and features 16 crossover teams between Ultraman, Kamen Rider (also known as Masked Rider) and Gundam. Characters from other franchises have also been featured in some of the initial games, as well as in the Compati Sports series, such as Mazinger, Getter Robo, Devilman and Godzilla.
It was the first video game series to involve a crossover between animated giant robots and live action tokusatsu heroes from different established franchises.[1][2] The series makes this possible by using caricaturized versions of the characters (officially referred to as "SD" or "super deformed" characters), which allowed the different heroes and villains to co-exist and interact with each other without the need to reconcile their contrasting styles, settings, or sizes. This also made them appear cute. The first game in the series, SD Battle Ōzumō: Heisei Hero Basho for the Famicom, which mixed franchises that were originally licensed to Popy, was developed as a congratulatory present to Yukimasa Sugiura when he was promoted to president of Banpresto at the time,[1] and was soon followed by series of spin-offs and related games featuring the same cast of characters that developed into the Compati Hero Series. The crossover was also possible due to Banpresto's parent company Bandai holding the merchandising rights for all the properties associated with the series.
The series was successful with children thanks to the SD Gundam craze, but after the release of Charinko Hero for the GameCube, there were no new games afterward for nearly eight years. Banpresto released a new game in the series titled Lost Heroes for the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Portable in September 2012.
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- ^ a b Hamamura, Hirokazu. 『浜村通信 ゲーム業界を読み解く』 (Hanamura Tsūshin: Gēmu Gyōkai o Yomitoku, "Hanamura Journal: Deciphering the Video Game Industry") (in Japanese). Enterbrain. pp. 203–206.
- ^ Lopes, Gonçalo (12 March 2018). "Zany Super Famicom Great Battle Series Gets Translated Into English". Nintendo Life (in Japanese). Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2019.