Play Rent a Hero (Japan) Online

Rent a Hero came out for the Sega Genesis in 1991, developed and published by Sega. It was one of those oddball Japanese titles that never made it to the West officially, a quirky action-RPG that felt right at home among the console's eclectic library. You play as a high school student who answers a shady ad and gets roped into working for a hero rental service, taking on odd jobs that quickly spiral into something much weirder.

You control the student, who can transform into a clunky armored hero to fight enemies in side-scrolling beat 'em up sections. The main goal involves completing various missions, which range from mundane tasks like pizza delivery to full-on brawls against strange mutants and robots. You explore the town screen by screen, talking to NPCs to get clues, and you manage a limited transformation gauge that forces you to pick your battles carefully. The pacing is uneven, with sudden difficulty spikes, but there's a charm to its rough edges. It feels like stumbling through a bizarre, low-budget Saturday morning cartoon where you never know if you'll be fighting a boss or just fetching someone's dry cleaning.