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Choro-Q HG 4 (Japanese: チョロQ HG 4), known as Choro-Q in all other regions, is the fourth and final video game in the "HG/High Grade" series. It was developed by and Barnhouse Effect, exclusively for the PlayStation 2 console. It was published by Takara (JPN), Altas (US) and Zoo Digital Publishing (EU) in their respective countries. The game is marketed as a "Car-PG": a hybrid of driving and role playing games. The game dwells deeper into the story aspect with a more involving story-driven compared to most other games within the Choro-Q series. The only other games with story-driven content are Choro-Q Wonderful!, Choro-Q HG 2, and Choro-Q Works.

Story[]

At the start of the game, the player is asked to select one of the three colored garages (blue, green, or pink). Then they are asked to select a gender (male or female), and one of three key chains (archway, car, or teddy bear). Finally, the player can choose between six different starter bodies (depending on your gender) and provide themselves a name.

Stage 1[]

The protagonist is introduced into a cutscene that introduces Choro-Q Island and the popularity of the Grand Prix. Unfortunately an accident occurred 20 years prior to present day and "The Emperor of Races" had disappeared afterwards. At the beginning, an old racer called Norahike has a nightmare involving the accident. As Norahike wakes up, he knew something was going to happen and doesn't know what his friend, Norkia, was trying to tell him. After the cutscene fades to black, the protagonist exits the garage that was picked and goes for a drive. Eventually, a blue Toyota Celica races past the protagonist and introduces themselves to the protagonist as their best friend named Barat. He pushes the protagonist to become a racer with him until they agree.

The protagonist proceeds to do some Beginner Cup races. Later on, at night, the protagonist was traveling around the northwestern part of Brachy Town and comes into contact with two gang members known as Bidalt and Daktan. Bidalt challenge the protagonist to a night race with the stake of losing all of their money. Eventually, the protagonist barely beats Bidalt in the race. Bidalt admits defeat for now, letting the protagonist go due to his pride. Then Norahike races to the scene and breaks up the quarrel, scaring off the gang members in the process. After the gang members are chased off, Norahike consoles the protagonist and tells them that they should not stoop to their level. He offers the protagonist to become their coach if they were ever to get lost in their racing career.

Many days later, the protagonist completes more races, and receives a letter from a first-grader named Eskan. Eskan challenges the protagonist into a day race around the perimeter of Brachy Town. The protagonist accepts Eskan's challenge and eventually beats him in a race. Eskan is in awe from the protagonist's skill in racing and hopes to race with them again.

Stage 2[]

After completing a few more races, the road block to Poqui Town is cleared, allowing the protagonist access to a whole new town. Poqui Town is seen as a place of poverty with little maintenance upon arrival. Later on, the protagonist receives another letter from a Mitsubishi Starion named Draoga. Draoga is upset about the protagonist beating his little brother Eskan in races and tells them to meet him at the hang-out up north of Poqui Town. The protagonist eventually arrives at the hangout and overhears two of the gang members speaking to each other. Draoga approaches the protagonist and challenges them to a night race around the town. They take on the race, and the protagonist ends up winning. Draoga respects the protagonist's ability to race and offers a place in his gang called the Tough Chicks. The protagonist may choose to join then, or later and is given the signature mascot and theme song of the Tough Chicks.

Later in the year, Draoga sends a letter to the protagonist about a test for new Tough Chick members at the haunted house next to the cemetery located in the northwestern region of Poqui Town. The protagonist must come during the night in order to do the test. When the protagonist arrives at the haunted house, Draoga explains what the test is about it. It is expected that the protagonist needs to navigate through the haunted house to obtain the Q-ross. The protagonist succeeds and proves themselves as a worthy member of the Tough Chicks.

Barat sends the protagonist a letter about an inventor named Zeltaf and that they should visit him. The protagonist goes to visist Zeltaf in the northern part of Poqui Town. Zeltaf introduces himself and provides the protagonist with a faulty supercharger that causes them to lose control their acceleration and disables their breaking system. After surviving the fiasco, Zeltaf apologizes for the malfunction of his invention and provides the protagonist with the S Charger Kit.

The protagonist heads to win first to third place in races in the Holiday Cup and Beginner Cup. Barat sends a letter and challenges the protagonist to a race. He tells them to meet him at Poqui Town's plaza. The protagonist ends up meeting Barat in his challenge and wins the race around Poqui Town. After the race, the two comes together and is proud of how much the protagonist has grown. The two of them exchange their tokens of friendship with each other and part ways.

Stage 3[]

Nyaky Town's road block is lifted and the protagonist can now access the new area built on top of the ocean and is of the wealthy nobles of Gapecotch. Barat sends a letter to the protagonist informing them that they have joined Team Pomnik and is viable to participate in the Grand Prix. The protagonist has a choice to join two teams, Team Ranolfka of Brachy Town or Team Sovass of Nyaky Town. Team Pomnik of Poqui Town will not be accepting members due to Barat joining their team.

The protagonist ends up joining a team of their choice and is granted access to the Pro Cup and the Grand Prix. Norahike sends a letter to the protagonist to stop by Chitol's Photo to get an ID. The protagonist goes north of the plaza in Brachy Town and persuades Chitol to take one last photo before he closes his business for good. Chitol hesitantly agrees to help the protagonist and takes the photo, telling them to come back in a month to pick it up.

Later on, Norahike, then, recommends the player to check out Gedluna's Bar southeast of Poqui Town. Gedluna recommends that the protagonist to get a mechanic to work on their parts and tells them to come back later to introduce the local mechanic of Poqui Town. When the protagonist comes back later, Gedluna introduces them to Lafnek who agrees to begin working on the protagonist's parts right away. After the check-up, Lafnek diagnoses the protagonist with what the problems were and provides the protagonist with an Experiment Ticket that can be redeemed at Nyaky Town's Laboratory.

The protagonist heads off to the Pro Cup and runs into Barat. they exchange a conversation to participate in the Grand Prix. After the race, they celebrate the protagonist's victory. The protagonist receives a letter from Lafnek to go visit his friend who is a shoe shiner named Badanye about a rare book and explains that the protagonist should leave a donation to him while he is asleep. The protagonist finds Badanye asleep near the Tough Chicks hang-out and donates 1000G to him. Later, the protagonist revisits him when he is awake and Badanye explains about how he got a mysterious donation and is very happy. He is so happy, that he gives the protagonist the Gapecotch Race Records.

Norahike sends a letter to the protagonist about gaining access to the Laboratory in Nyaky Town by talking to Shoebinde. The protagonist goes to visit the politican named Shoebinde near Getra Palace. Shoebinde notices that the protagonist has a special book and explains its lore to introduce a character named Otto and the 3 leading men of Gapecotch. He, then, offers 12000G for the book in which the protagonist promptly accepts. Soon after, giving Shoebinde the book, revisiting him will prompt him to ask questions to the protagonist about how they feel about life. Answering correctly will earn his trust and he will explain the story of the Grand Prix and how it got popular. He will thank the protagonist for listening to his story and explain his duties as a politician which is to fund the labatory in Nyaky Town. Shoebinde then provides the protagonist the Letter of Recommendation to access the Laboratory.

The protagonist applies to the first Grand Prix and is greeted by Draoga and the Tough Chicks who give a send off fan fare, wishing them luck in their first Grand Prix. Fortunately, the protagonist wins their first Grand Prix and Draoga comes to congratulate them. Afterwards, Barat applies for the next Grand Prix and vouches to beat the protagonist in it. At this point, the protagonist may win or lose the Grand Prix and will prompt different responses from Barat. In the end they celebrate whom ever becomes the victor.

Stage 4 (Spoilers)[]

The protagonist receives a letter from Norahike who asks if they have seen Barat around as he had not participated in any races for a while. It was later found out that Barat had been in the hospital for the last couple of months. When the protagonist visits him and Barat explains that he had been having problems with his gear, but promises that he'll be back to racing again soon.

Later on, the protagonist talks to Gedluna who congratulates the protagonist on their sucess and explains about how it is hard to meet the Emperor of Races after he left. He gives recommendations to stop by the Nyaky Town's Cafe owned by Arbuk to meet a racer named Ania who is considered a racing noble and has ties to the Emperor of Races. Gedluna also provides a Choro-Q Coin to access the cafe. During the day, the protagonist arrives at the cafe near Team Sovass's headquarters and shows Arbuk the Choro-Q Coin as proof that he is a noble. The protagonist is introduced to Ania who looks down on the protagonist. He challenges them to a day race around Nyaky Town to test their worth of being a famous racer. The protagonist wins and Ania continues to sass the protagonist and says that if the protagonist wishes to be the best, they need to beat Sir Otto. She provides the protagonist a Letter of Reference and leaves.

(Note, this part of the story is mis-translated in-game, refer to the BHE's short manga about Norahike and Ania's past.) Ania goes to visit Norahike in the Yarg's Churchil near her house. It is revealed that Norahike is Ania's mentor but has no interest in training her anymore. While Norahike continues to circumvent around Ania's responses, Ania points out that she noticed that the protagonist has racing techniques that are similar to Norahike's style of training. Norahike goes on to explain how much Ania meant to him as a racing apprentice back in the day. Ania thanks him for pushing the change in racing regulations where women could become racers. Then she states that Norahike appears to be using the protagonist to get back at Otto for what happen with their last race together. She continues to state that Norahike should not use others for his own gains.

The protagonist heads off to Getra Palace to speak to Otto. They are stopped by the palace butler named Helikost who acknowledges the Letter of Reference. Afterwards, he goes speak to Otto to ask if the protagonist may visit him in the throne room. The protagonist was provided access and meets Otto, the Emperor of Races. They proceed to plead to Otto to race once more in the Grand Prix to help prove the protagonist's worth as a racer. Otto agrees to join the next Grand Prix, Kaybert, Leader of Team Sovass or Lini, leader of Team Ranolfka will encourge the protagonist to win and will be their teammate throughout the Grand Prix.

Later on, the protagonist stops by Murtica's Hospital in Brachy Town to visit Barat and tell him the good news. Murtica was not at the front desk and the protagonist lets themselves through and headed to Barat's room. Unfortunately, the protagonist overhears the conversation between Murtica and Barat about his condition that stiffens one's springs and that it is not able to be incurable. Barat explains how he was happy to have had lived his life to the fullest and Murtica leaves him be, accepting it. The protagonist is extremely sad as he approaches Barat. Barat explains how happy he is to see the protagonist and tells them to cheer up and not to worry about the condition that they overheard. The protagonist cheers up and then vows to win the Grand Prix in the name of his best friend Barat.

The Grand Prix is about to start as the protagonist and Otto meet each other outside the entry center. The protagonist shows their determination to Otto who attempts to put them down. The Grand Prix then begins. During the middle of the Grand Prix on Trans-Trip, Shutiege gets into a crash with Kaybert or Lini depending on the team the protagonist chose. Otto calls out Shutiege a fool for causing a crash, the protagonist's team leader's gear box is damaged and can no longer continue with the race. QNN reports about the crash and that Luluza or Olstri will take the spot of the protagonist's team member while Ralf fills for Shutiege. The Grand Prix continues until they reach Sky Highway where Otto makes a head start, showing his true power. The protagonist lags behind until lap 3 as it slowly fades to black. Barat's spirit encourages the protagonist to close their eyes, clear their mind, and see the path forward in other to win. The protagonist then follows what Barat says and wins the race, despite the massive lead Otto had. Otto is beaten, and Lafnek, Ania, Draoga and Zeltaf come to celebrates the victory and the crowning of the new Emperor of Races. Norahike leaves early but is thankful for the protagonist for fufilling what Norkia was trying to tell him this entire time. Journalist Kyapa comes in with dire news and interrupts the group celebration. He explains that Barat had passed away at the hospital. At the end a funeral occurs where a bunch of Choro-Q celebrate the victory of the protagonist and mourn the death of Barat. The scene cuts to a shot of the sky with Barat watching everyone down below, before leaving to heaven and revealing the credits of a peaceful evening with Otto and Helikost. Finally, leaving Norahike to drive off into the distance, thus ending the story of Choro-Q HG 4.

Epilogue: Tasks & Side Content[]

The player has a event book with 111 tasks that needed to be completed, some during the course of the main campaign's progression and can be missed. It is required to thoroughly check each stage of the campaign before completing campaign quests. Some inhabitants of Choro-Q Island will ask for favors, offer part-time jobs, provide lore, and request races. The protagonist will be rewarded, laboratory items, money, quest items, CDs, bodies, parts, or lore about certain parts of the game.

Land[]

Choro-Q Island is occupied by five islands which are, Gapecotch, Dalniche, Outpalya, Conzlart, and Bidampalc. Although, Gapecotch is the only exployerable location and provides three towns of different architecture named Brachy Town, Poqui Town, and Nyaky Town. Each town has Team Headquarters and several important landmarks that may be important to the story or side content. There are tunnels connecting each town that will unlock once the player has a certain amount of KQms to open the Brachy-Poqui Tunnel and the Poqui-Nyaky Tunnel. The Nyaky-Brachy Tunnel will require two memory cards with a specific event active at Baykany's Congress in order to open it.

NPCs[]

Since Choro-Q HG 4 is one of many Choro-Q games that have NPCs that are interactable and some others play an important role in its gameplay. Some roaming NPCs will cycle out during each instance of the overworld the player enters, some of these NPCs can be of the Grand Prix racers like Luluza, Niebo, Bernice, Nyakki, and Niebo. Some NPCs will provide information of basic gameplay clues while others will explain some lore about specific characters and their relations to them. NPCs inside the house will have specific dialogue and events depending on the time of day and month. The player's position in the campaign can also affect the dialogue drastically.

Teammates[]

The teammates will depend on which team was chosen, so the player will either have Lini and Luluza or Kaybert and Olstri. Depending on the month, the teammates will have different status that can be good, bad, or neutral that will affect their driving in the Grand Prix. Teammates's parts can also be swapped out with three options to improve their driving in the Grand Prix to certain terrain.

Two-player Games[]

In 2P Battle, there are tons of great mini-games to play such as Haunted House Searching, Towing, Mountain Pass, etc. The players can select 7 cars to race with. The player can challenge a friend to a battle, whoever has most wins is the winner.

Reception[]

Praise[]

It takes a lot for how long the developers are making effort to make the backgrounds look better. What they make is sewers, haunted house interior, factories, mountains, beaches, etc. Each of the towns have traffic lights, street lamps and details on the road, such as mailboxes and fire hydrants. The game now has cutscenes, replay actions, three towns, more mini games and more race courses than some games have. The fact of this, it has been praised because the viewers call this a "Car-PG". The game features 204 bodies and tons of parts for a truly unique racer.

Criticism[]

One of the main criticisms on physics that the game has is when a racer steers hard, they will lose control and spin just to ruin the progress instead of a progressive spin as in previous HG games. Graphics were also criticized. Instead of using E-Game's engine that was used in HG 2 and HG 3 that produced crisper graphics, they instead opted for their own engine that hadn't been used since Choro-Q HG. As a result, the game looks very edgy with little Anti-Aliasing. The game progression is also way too fast and in many cases the game progresses to a point where certain events are incompletable (in which case, it'll read "Oops, you missed it" next to the event number in your event book). Another point of criticism was ATLUS's poor localization for releases outside of Japan.

Trivia[]

  • The houses are small on the outside but huge on the inside. They are not to scale at all. Example: Getra Palace
  • The houses in the game don't have any objects in them without some special houses unlike it's predecessors, Choro-Q HG 2 and Choro-Q HG 3. Example: Bar, Cake Shop, Lafnek's House
  • In the intro cutscene where there are words that pop up, they have different foreign words (for example: freiheit, German word for freedom / ふりーだむ フリーダム, Japanese word for freedom)
  • This game is a sequel to Choro-Q HG, and is only connected in name to Choro-Q HG 2 and Choro-Q HG 3. Many car bodies from Choro-Q HG return in HG 4.
  • Many of the characters in Choro-Q HG 4 breaks the fourth wall like BermiNorahike, Ania, BaratBaykany, Eskan and even the protagonist themselves.
Intro



Images[]

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