Wow, what a blast! Friday is Famicom Day!
River City Ransom was a crucial game in the growth of my nostalgia for the past. I promise this is real, my early efforts to become acquainted with the NES consisted of games like Kid Icarus, Friday the 13th, and Total Recall. I got the idea from it that I just didn't like video games from the NES period. Punch-Out!! and River City Ransom changed my viewpoint and set me on the road of finding it difficult to have conversations with regular people.
Additionally, it would prompt me to investigate the Kunio-Kun series. You see, River City Ransom was a part of this really expansive series of games in Japan that had the most erratic and intricate name system conceivable. Their names were usually lengthy and disorganized, ranging from Kunio-Kun to Nekketsu, Downtown, and even Dodgeball Club, but they were all connected by a cartoonish love of violence and an unforgettable strange visual style.
Here in the West, we have a few like Super Dodge Ball and .Crash 'N' the Boys, however most of them remained in their nation of origin. Unfortunately, the finest titles in the series were never released on the NES. We'd like to introduce you to one of them.
Street Basketball Nekketsu: Ganbare Dunk HeroesTechnos Japanpublished this.Technos Japan developed the product
.Publication date: December 1993Also accessible on: Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Game Boy Advance
With a significant amount of the series dedicated to bizarre sports games like dodge ball, soccer, and track and field, Kunio-Kun is no stranger to sports. Being Japanese, however, I really didn't think there would be a hockey championship, and I'm even more shocked that there would be a basketball one. Ganbare Dunk Heroes: Nekketsu Street Basketball is exactly the kind of basketball game you would anticipate from a Japanese developer—one that, well, tinkers with the rules of the game.
In the narrative, Kunio wins a trip to America on a quiz show. Godai and Riki, two of his pals, choose to sneak in and accompany him. All of a sudden, basketball. Riki is reportedly determined to win a street basketball competition that is taking place. It really required me to rewatch the opening sequence to be sure I hadn't missed anything. Nope. Visit the United States. Win the basketball game.
Street basket is a variation on the sport that plays two on two, which makes sense given that Nekketsu would often push the multi-tap peripheral of the system. But from there, it just gets stranger. Three nets are placed on top of one another and reach far into the sky in place of points being awarded depending on the direction of the shot. If you nail a vicious dunk in the top net, there's a good possibility it will flow into the two below it, earning you extra points.
Wait, things get stranger.
It seems that the nets are only velcroed on, since they often come off. You may actually pick up and take a fallen net to your opponent's side and attach it to one of their backboards, giving you additional points for a successful drain.
This is a Nekketsu game, of course, which implies a lighthearted handling of violence. There are no rules, so feel free to hurl fists and trash cans at the rivals as often as you want. They'll reciprocate. In addition, you may put up ladders, stroll on the backdrop environment, and skateboard. Getting booted by a horse or jumping on vehicle trunks will make you dunk higher. To put it mildly, things get crazy, but if they weren't, it wouldn't be Nekketsu/Kunio-Kun/Downtown/Dodgeball-Club.
It also has some of the finest co-op in the series, in if you weren't previously convinced how fantastic this game is. The majority of Nekketsu sports games allow for cooperative play; nevertheless, an excessive number of them push Player 2 into the goal where they pout and goaltend while Player 1 enjoys all the action. In Ganbare Dunk Heroes, both players are placed on an equal footing and are free to go crazy.
For mismatched pairings, it's ideal. Do you have a younger sibling that struggles with power throws? He may just keep the other squad well-punched while your abilities cover the expenses. Even while he's no slouch, my father and I didn't play through the plot together as much.
Shoes and other trinkets that strengthen your players will be given to you as presents when you defeat the seven teams in the main narrative mode. Given that they seem to be distributed at random, there's a good chance you'll get something that significantly improves your accuracy after the first team. I have no idea what the others do. My power shots seemed to be randomly affected by one of them, but I couldn't pinpoint which item of clothing caused this. I suppose that each playing is a little bit different due to the equipment's randomness. In any case, the series has never really been great on balance, and this game makes no attempt to alter that.
Other small flaws exist. The Florida squad, for instance, is full of liars. Their ability to teleport anywhere, even in front of your well-earned shot, might seem like an absurd advantage. In addition, you have to defeat each squad twice—once on their floor and once on your own, which is, erroneously, Niagara Falls. The game is notably short and not particularly challenging, even with that evident padding, and it offers neither an opportunity to lengthen it nor a motivation to play it again. Because you can't really find basketball this ludicrous anyplace else, it survives better as a multiplayer game.
Also, there is a lot of sprite flicker, but if you are a longtime viewer of the series, you are probably well aware of this as a defining characteristic of Nekketsu. To be honest, it's not quite as horrible as, say, Super Dodge Ball, where you can attempt to grab the ball and it can just completely vanish. Technos had a lot of experience with the hardware by the time it was introduced in late 1993.
Not all bad news for Famicom Friday, however, since Nekketsu Street Basket: Ganbare Dunk Heroes has finally been translated in the West by Arc System Works, Kunio-Kun's new owners. It's included in the Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun: Retro Brawler Bundle. They went over and above by translating the game completely, renaming it Nekketsu! All-Out Dunk Heroes: Street Basketball. Nekketsu titles are available in bits and pieces, but this one isn't for whatever reason. Not important. It's highly recommended that you check out the collection. Fight me, it includes internet play as well!
If not, it is available on the Famicom for a somewhat high cost. Later on, it was included in the Kunio-Kun Nekketsu Collection 1 on the Game Boy Advance. Regarding my priceless localized package, it is available on the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Switch. Wait a minute, I should make a basketball reference to finish this. How about this: It's time to play! We'll pick up a Big Mac on the way to the stadium, so put on your Hanes, lace up your Nikes, grab your Wheaties and Gatorade. I see. No, hold on.