Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg Preview

E3 2002 – First Look

Character creator Yuji Naka, the brains behind the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, brings his first original character in a platform game since the Sega Saturn days.  The character is Billy Hatcher, and the title of the game that’s sure to be a big hit is Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg sees young Billy Hatcher attempting to overthrow an evil crow king who has shed darkness across the once vibrant kingdom.  How does a young boy bring light back to a kingdom and overthrow a tyrannical bird?  He dons a magical rooster suit of course. 

Once dressed up, Billy must progress through seven 3-D levels using eggs he can control with the suit.  No, Billy isn’t going egging on Halloween or scrambling the suckers, he’s rolling them around the levels and hatching them, allowing the creatures inside to aid him in defeating enemies, bosses, and ultimately the King.  Billy will have to use his wits as much as his power in order to pass the puzzles littering each of the levels. 

The graphics of the game were very impressive.  The first noticeable element is the vibrant color on each level.  The game is akin to the Mario series from Nintendo in its creativity and ‘cuteness’.  Animations look incredibly fluid, and the variety throughout the game should entrance young ‘uns and old ‘uns alike. 

There will be a multi-player mode that will support up to four players in split-screen mode.

Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg will hatch in late 2003.