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Underhero game cover art.

Underhero

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Updated Mar 18, 2021 at 07:10PM EDT by Zach.

Added Mar 18, 2021 at 10:13AM EDT by Phillip Hamilton.

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Overview

Underhero is a role-playing video game developed by Paper Castle Games, a team consisting of four developers, that was released in 2018 across multiple platforms. The game puts players in the shoes of the "Masked Kid," an evil underling who betrays his boss and takes over for a failed hero to save the world. Underhero plays like a traditional side-scrolling platformer but implements RPG elements, with a turn-based combat system inspired by the Paper Mario series.

History

In September 2015, Paper Castle Games created an Indiegogo[3] page with a flexible goal of $12,403 to raise funds for the development of their video game Underhero. On September 20th, the developers posted a demo video of the game to YouTube[4] announcing its addition to the Steam Greenlight program (trailer shown below). A demo for the game was also released that month on the game's itchi.io[5] page.



Underhero did not reach its crowdfunding goal, earning only $372 by the time the page closed. Despite this, the developers continued to work on the game, documenting the process on their Tumblr[6] dev blog, routinely releasing songs, artwork and video clips relating to the game (examples shown below).


DER HERO

On September 19th, 2018, the complete version of Underhero was released to Steam. On February 11th, 2020, it was released on PS4, and on February 14th, it was released on Xbox One. On February 27th, it was then released on Nintendo Switch.



Soundtrack And Physical Release Problems

Underhero's soundtrack was produced by composer Stijn van Wakeren and received considerable praise from fans of the game. The first track from the game released by Paper Castle is titled "Overture," and was released on YouTube[7] on November 22nd, 2016 (shown below), gaining over 26,000 views in four years (shown below).



On September 19th, 2018, the day of the game's full release, the soundtrack was released on multiple platforms under video game music label Materia Collective,[8] notably not seeing a release on Steam (further examples shown below).



On March 15th, 2021, Twitter[9] user and composer of the game Wakeren posted a series of tweets revealing that he and the developers at Paper Castle planned to release a physical edition of Underhero including a CD copy of the soundtrack (shown below). This involved contacting and getting permission from Materia Collective, who owns the release rights to the soundtrack. According to Wakeren, their repeated attempts to contact Materia Collective were largely ignored, halting Paper Castle from producing a physical release. Wakeren also mentions how Materia Collective repeatedly ignored requests to put the soundtrack on Steam.


Stijn J @StijnvanWakeren ... I want to share my experience with @MateriaColl They are preventing us from releasing the Physical Bundle of Underhero, as well as having prohibited me from releasing my soundtracks on Steam for years now. .. 1/14 Stijn J @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... Replying to @StijnvanWakeren First off, I want to make clear that if I had any other option I wouldn't be making this statement. Sadly, this is where we're at...2/14 27 3 1 76 Stijn @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 A little while ago, work started on getting Underhero (a game I composed the soundtrack for) a physical release. This would include a physical CD release of the soundtrack...3/14 ... 27 3 1 67 Stijn @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 Since I signed the soundtrack with Materia Collective (more on that later), we will need their approval for it to be released. So naturally, we approached them about this. ..4/14 ... 27 2 66 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... Long story short, we've been pleading to them for months now, included a drafted agreement which is ridiculously generous, and we still haven't gotten anywhere... 5/14 1 17 2 68 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 If we do get a response it'll be something along the lines of: "We'll look at it next week!" Followed by months of radio silence. That brings us to where we are now... 6/14 ... 27 2 69 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 We have a physical bundle of the game we want to release but we can't until Materia Collective decides to give me the light of day... 7/14 1 27 2 66 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... I'd like to also state that this isn't anything new. These problems have been going on for years. Back when I started composing professionally, I decided to sign the handful of soundtracks I had with Materia. It seemed like the smart choice at the time...8/14 27 3 69 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 So far, Materia has made it impossible to release any soundtracks to Steam. Which I'd like to mention is the most important place for game soundtracks. Especially during launch... 9/14 27 2 1 69 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 ... I've tried many many times to get them to set-up my soundtracks on Steams, but it has always ended in radio silence. All the while having to reply to eager fans "We're doing our best to get it to Steam!". . 10/14 27 2 1 66 Stijn @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 I don't even care too much about all the revenue l've missed. It just sucks that people are not able to get their hands on the OSTS. Same now, with the physical release. .. 11/14 1 67 Stijn@StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 I don't think it would be unfair to say that everything Materia Collective was supposed to make easier, they ended up making outright impossible... 12/14 27 2 69 StijnJ @StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 And again, I'm not writing this in bad faith. If I'm honest, the people at Materia have always seemed like kind people. Nonetheless, I don't know what else to do... 13/14 1 67 Stijn@StijnvanWakeren - Mar 15 I hope that this can be resolved painlessly. If Materia Collective really doesn't have time for me, I would love to get the rights to my music back. Or to have this be resolved in any way. 14/14 88

Later that day, the Twitter[10] page for Paper Castle Games, @papercastledevs, tweeted support for Wakeren, echoing his sentiments in a statement of their own (shown below).


Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs We can no longer keep silent about our experience with @MateriaColl regarding the Underhero soundtrack. Please read Stijn's thread first. We have some things to say as well. 1/8 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 Replying to @papercastledevs As you may have noticed, Underhero's soundtrack composed by our team member @StijnvanWakeren is available in most online music stores, except for Steam (arguably the most important one for a videogame soundtrack). 1 17 1 31 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 ... We signed a deal with Materia (along with Stijn) a mere week before Underhero's Steam launch on September 19 2018. It was very close to launch, so we thought it was understandable to expect a delay. It has been more than 2 years now, and there's no soundtrack on Steam yet. 1 28 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 ... We asked and asked about it until we just gave up. There was always a lack of response from them, but their message was clear. We are not important enough. Not only is it frustrating, but also a very disrespectful way to treat any artist/dev you're working with. 1 27 2 34 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 Now jumping closer to the present, we got the amazing opportunity to work on a physical edition of Underhero which would include the soundtrack as cds. Materia was contacted once again in October of last year in hopes of reaching an understanding to get the soundtrack to fans. Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 But once again we were met with "we'll talk about it next week" type of responses, followed by silence. This has been going on for months now, and we are at the end of our rope here. The last thing we wanted was to make a statement like this, but they refuse to pay attention. 1 31 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 We believe Materia is trying to improve. Recent events have shown honest intentions to correct their mistakes. But continuing to ignore smaller artists and developers is not the way to go. 1 27 2 36 Wander Stars + Paper Castle @papercastledevs · Mar 15 ... All we want is to finally get the soundtrack to the fans, both on Steam and physically. Please work with us, talk to us. Help us make it happen. 8/8 42

Online Presence

Fan Art / Memes

Underhero has garnered a significant fanbase over the course of its development and release cycle, inspiring numerous works of fan art, primarily on sites like Deviant Art[12] and Tumblr[13] (examples shown below).


Nintendo HERO SUPER NINTENDO EVERYONE 10+ TATER CASTLE GAMES EΝTER ΤΑ I EΝTSYSTEM ESRB

While the protagonist, the Masked Kid, is often the subject of fan art, other characters from the game are also the subject of original art and memes. For example, on January 4th, 2020, Tumblr[14] user bulrushes posted a piece of fan art recreating the "how are you that small"[15] meme with the bosses from the game, garnering over 130 notes in two months (side-by-side shown below).


АНАНАНАН HOW ARE YOU THAT SMALL

Reception

Underhero gained generally favorable reviews following its release. The Nintendo Switch version of the game holds a Metascore of 86/100 and a user score of 8.4/10 on Metacritic[1] as of March 2021. On Steam,[2] Underhero holds a 9/10 rating as of the same date. Reviewers and users awarded particular praise to the game's story, artwork and soundtrack.

On September 21st, 2018, YouTuber[11] and video game critic Jim Sterling reviewed the game positively, calling it "underrated" and praising its gameplay, soundtrack and design (shown below).



Search Interest

External References

[1] Metacritic – Underhero – Switch

[2] Steam – Underhero

[3] Indiegogo – Underhero – Videogame

[4] YouTube – Underhero Greenlight Trailer!

[5] itch.io – Underhero

[6] Tumblr – underherodevs

[7] YouTube – Underhero Soundtrack – Overture

[8] Twitter – Materia Collective

[9] Twitter – I want to share my experience with @MateriaColl

[10] Twitter – We can no longer keep silent about our experience with
@MateriaColl regarding the Underhero soundtrack.

[11] YouTube – Underhero – It's Not Undertale But It Is Underrated

[12] Deviant Art – Search: Underhero

[13] Tumblr – Search: Underhero

[14] Tumblr – look all i’m saying is the boss volume to kid volume ratio has got to be at least 100:1.

[15] Know Your Meme – HOW ARE YOU THAT SMALL

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