Part 2: Your mission, should you choose to accept it.

Update 01: Your mission, should you choose to accept it.



Once more, with feeling! There's been an overwhelming call for keeping the default names, so let's begin!

[Note from the future: The images are .pngs after the first update, and the .gifs stop being so blurry after the third. Made a few beginner's mistakes the thread/Tech Support Fort were kind enough to help out with.]

Music!

You owe it to yourself to watch the opening cinematic. It's better in motion, and the music is excellent.

For those who can't access the video right now, here's a rundown:



A devilish hamster runs around, poking at the hearts floating above the heads of happy couples. Doing so cause them to break, destroying the relationship and sending both partners off in a huff.





One bout of villainous laughter later, they've spotted and singled out Hamtaro as a target...





...Much to our hero's distress, when he finds himself hurtling into the void.



Or it could just be a bad dream.



Fortunately, this nightmare is easily banished. Too bad not all of them are... Still, at least they give Kirby something to do.





...Good morning to you too, Boss.

I'm sure that someone's going to want to do an in-depth bio for major characters, knowing how goons are... But let's keep things simple for the moment. The helmet-wearing Boss here is a field hamster who fancies himself as the leader of the Ham-Ham main cast. Their Clubhouse is actually inside his burrow, which is where we are now.



...hamster wearing a devil costume?



Thank you, Mister Sympathy.



...That's better.



Naw, that'd be silly. And terribly cliché.





And with that, we have control. Pity that only the move and run buttons are working.

Since we don't have anything else to do, let's just head downstairs and...



...Smooooooooooth.







Why was Hamtaro carrying a dictionary around in the first place? Can he not remember the words that Ham-Hams use every day?







This is the game's reasoning for making us gather Ham-Chats; until we've heard one and copied it into this damaged dictionary, Hamtaro can't use that word or its action. The knowledge has been washed from his mind.

...Must have been some strong water in that bucket.



You need to learn from your mistakes.

<beat>



Beautiful segue there, Boss. Luckily for you, Hamtaro's the kind of guy who'd be happy to track down le petite mademoiselle.



After the mandatory tutorial, of course. Everyone loves those, right?

It's relatively brief, but let's summarise anyway.



After heading into the music room...



Okay, controls are extremely simple: Start opens the dictionary, Select gives us a Pause screen and B lets you run (which I don't think the game ever tells you). A will open up a little menu for interacting with your surroundings.

This menu is heavily context-sensitive, but there are four words you'll always see when you open it.



Hamha is our basic greeting, though only one of the many ways we'll begin a conversation.



Tack-Q means roll, and can be used any time we need a bit of force to get the job done. Most NPCs will have an extra few lines of dialogue for being attacked like this. (I'll probably throw some of the more interesting ones into bonus updates, if it turns out they'd break the flow too much being in the regular ones.)



Hifhif is actually a 'pick up' command in disguise, at least for most of its practical applications.





...up!

At least the game is kind enough to give us a reason for this. Oh, and those sunflower seeds? We're going to use those as currency.



The last of our four basic commands is Digdig, which does... Well, you can see for yourself. It's mainly used for digging up seeds or entering holes.



Though in this case, it nets us something special. We have no use for it right now, so let's just set it aside for another day.



That's okay; neither do we!



Anyway, that's the tutorial. We're almost ready to begin the game proper.





...taught you all I can. So... Go get Bijou!

Sure thing, Boss. But what about you?

Who? Me? Truthfully...I...I...uh... The Clubhouse isn't finished yet, so I should stay put!

Guess that's what those pickaxe signs toward the back of the room were for. Fair enough, Boss-ham.



...for me! Thanks, Hamtaro!

And with that, we finally have total control!



We're booted out onto the map with a new place to visit, but let's take one more look around the Clubhouse to round out the update.



In the few seconds it takes to come back, the postham seems to have slipped by us.





...You came up with that yourself, didn't you.



Here's what I think of your little slogan, buddy.



...



...That pouty face.



Moving on, there's a hamster-sized television to Lookie at and re-watch the opening cinematic, appropriately titled 'Nightmare'. There's space for a couple more, too.



This table... We can't do anything with it right now, and we won't need to touch it for a long, long time. But remember that it's there!



Hamha, Boss.



The railroading made that abundantly clear already, thank you.



Oh boy, there it is. Our very first 'Heke?'

Used as a sound of cluelessness and confusion, Hamtaro manages to make this sound an awful lot. It really makes him seem a little bit dim.



Resting on the nearby table, we find the aptly-named Snoozer... The ham-ham we tripped over earlier. He's almost always sleeping, yet he seems to know more about whatever's going on than he should.

Oh, and do you see what I see?





New Ham-Chat Get!

We're already on our way, folks!





Oh, and remember how I said Snoozer knows about stuff he really shouldn't? This means he gets to be the game's hint system. If there's something left to do in an area, this guy will nudge you toward it.





Not that he has much to say at the moment, of course.



The instant we stop talking to him, he goes right back to sleep.



The music room we visited for the tutorial is locked up tight, but there's another room right beside it we can enter.



This is the photo studio, where we get to dress up and get our pictures taken... Once we actually have something to wear.





Hey there, Barette.



take your picture...

That's okay, hun. Guess we'll be back when this Seamore character is around.

Oh, and...



Take that!





...Oh. Uh... Pardon?



On that slightly awkward note, it's time to wrap things up! See you next time, when we visit the scenic Sunny Peak!

Bonus Video:

Our starting Ham-Chats, plus one.