Again 2 (outdated) Skool

Again in 2019, the worldwide gaming neighborhood was launched to 2 totes-adorbs, totes-dopey schoolyard sluggers: Kyoko and Misako, collectively generally known as the River Metropolis Ladies. Primarily a rebirth of kinds for the legendary Kunio-kun collection, WayForward’s River Metropolis Ladies revitalized the franchise for contemporary audiences, retaining the open-world nature and nose-busting brawling of its predecessors and dressing it up with dazzling colours, a badass soundtrack, slick paintings, and funky new characters. River Metropolis Ladies reinvented not solely the Kunio-kun collection, but in addition brawlers themselves.

Nonetheless, in information that also surprises people at present, River Metropolis Ladies was not the debut journey for Kyoko and Misako. No, our excitable and considerably obsessive teenagers made their authentic online game debut approach again in 1994, in Japan-only Tremendous Famicom launch Shin Nekketsu Koha: Kunio-tachi no Banka, which noticed collection leads Kunio and Riki staff up with their respective gals to resolve a case of mistaken id. One damaged jaw at a time.

Whereas most of the Kunio-kun titles are playable at present through the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle, Shin Nekketsu Koha: Kunio-tachi no Banka remained unavailable to western gamers. Till now, as Arc System Works and WayForward has lastly localized this misplaced sequel for these shores. So hearth up the Swap, it’s time to rumble with River Metropolis Ladies Zero.

Our story begins with a hit-and-run tragedy, as a bystander is hit by two dudes on a dashing motorbike, with one of many riders recognized as Kunio-kun‘s titular hero and badass faculty boss, Kunio. Fast as a flash, our boys discover themselves sped via the courts and thrown within the slammer, accused of against the law that they didn’t commit. This being the online game world, they shortly escape solitary through amusingly straightforward means, earlier than setting out on a cross-country jaunt to uncover the reality behind the hit -n- run — a jaunt that can see quite a lot of fists and toes thrown earlier than justice is finally served.

It needs to be famous, in the beginning, that River Metropolis Ladies Zero is sort of not like quite a lot of the opposite titles within the Kunio-kun collection. The 16-bit journey eschews a lot of the open-city journey and backtracking of its contemporaries, switching it up for sequential, linear levels as our gang of heroes follows the path of breadcrumbs to the villains of the piece. For essentially the most half, this consists of very easy 2D belt-scrolling motion, as Kunio, Riki, Kyoko, and Misako throw down with the bullies, road thugs, gangsters, and different Unhealthy Dudes which have the lowdown on the boys’ mistaken confinement.

River Metropolis Ladies Zero is a simplistic brawler. Immensely so. It options the standard punch/kick motion that typifies the collection’ fight, full with the basic back-attack, the satisfying ground-and-pound system, and ugly, unwieldy soar kicks. Every character can even put up their dukes to defend in opposition to incoming assaults, and all 4 fighters have their very own cool particular strikes, activated by hitting block after which the requisite assault button. Misako will get her Road Fighter hurricane kick on, whereas Kyoko opts for severely overpowered lightning legs.

For essentially the most half, nonetheless, River Metropolis Ladies Zero is a slugfest, exchanging finesse and ability for exploitation, tolerance, and persistence.

Whereas the most effective brawlers, then and particularly now, perceive the movement of the combat, and the significance of clean, rhythmic fight, River Metropolis Ladies Zero is considerably uncooked, with stiff motion and ultra-strict hitboxes. The “overlap lifeless zone” is in impact, and very often victory is to be achieved via “working” the opponent (for instance overlapping from above, strolling the opponent into corners, or in any other case tricking the A.I.), somewhat than via sensible fight, an admittedly clunky technique fashion demonstrated in Technos’ arcade brawlers similar to Double Dragon and The Combattribes.

This stiffness is an issue with many early brawlers, however by 1994, the style had already moved past what is obtainable in Shin Nekketsu Koha: Kunio-tachi no Banka, which, from a gameplay standpoint, feels years older than contemporaries similar to Capcom’s Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, or Sega’s Streets of Rage 2, each of which had launched over two years prior.

The lovable Tremendous Famicom sprites provide a lot persona to our heroes and villains, and the fight is meaty and relentless, however the recreation’s design barely superior from the earliest Kunio-kun titles, when different collection had already begun experimenting with a lot deeper fight mechanics.  In consequence, customary enemy encounters are extremely samey, whereas boss battles an train in “trickery”. The brand new engine utilized for River Metropolis Ladies Zero does work to enhance the infamous enter latency of the unique Tremendous Famicom launch, making the motion right here just a little extra forgiving and attentive to the participant.

Within the title’s favor, its properly animated and colourful sprites, number of citywide places, and legitimately clean SNES synth punctuate the motion. The anarchic story can also be quite a lot of enjoyable, (you gotta love the police telling our gang of renegade highschool youngsters that it’s superb to take the regulation into their very own palms). Aesthetically and narratively, River Metropolis Ladies Zero lives its cool and compelling “outlaw” vibe, harking back to Toei’s wonderful array of ’70s gangster flicks.

Because the story progresses and our heroes journey across the nation, the side-scrolling levels are linked with Highway Rash fashion motorbike sections, the place the participant weapons the hog to the following location, whereas indulging in footsies with enemy riders. These sections are fairly disappointing, dated even by ’94 requirements. The general downside with Shin Nekketsu Koha: Kunio-tachi no Banka/River Metropolis Ladies Zero is that the title lacks a way of “electrical energy”, regardless of its enjoyable story and nice soundtrack. Nonetheless, as is the case for thus many brawlers, the enjoyment is elevated with the addition of a second participant.

Shin Nekketsu Koha: Kunio-tachi no Banka is, no doubt, a chunk of gaming historical past. WayForward acknowledges this, and has dressed up the title in an exquisite presentation package deal. We open with a improbable anime sequence, (when’s the OVA!!?) backed by an absolute hearth tune from collection composer Megan McDuffee. We additionally get a delightfully meta manga sequence, as Kyoko and Misako choose up a duplicate of Shin Nekketsu Koha: Kunio-tachi no Banka for the Tremendous Famicom and try to get it working on, (what should be to them), historical {hardware}. Youngsters today.

We roll credit with one other superior new tune, and scans of the unique paintings and tutorial handbook are additionally out there to peruse as a enjoyable additional. With regard to localization, there are two English translations on provide: A “Literal” translation, which intently follows the unique Japanese textual content, and a “New” translation which is just a little tidier and omits the swearing and misogynistic language of the unique script. A helpful save state operate additionally helps out in some aggravating boss battles. Paradoxically, River Metropolis Ladies Zero matches the invoice as a preserved historic relic higher than it does as a retro expertise.

As each a Kunio-kun and a brawler aficionado, I feel it’s marvelous that Shin Nekketsu Koha: Kunio-tachi no Banka has been given this new lease of life. It’s gaming historical past that wanted to be archived, each for the legacy of Kunio-kun and for protagonists Kyoko and Misako, a duo who solely have additional improbable adventures forward. Followers of the collection, who can higher tolerate its gameplay shortcomings, will squeal with delight that this long-standing gap of their assortment has lastly been plugged — although even they wouldn’t deny that this entry is, finally, one of many collection’ weaker choices.

River Metropolis Ladies Zero is obtainable now on Nintendo Swap, PlayStation, PC, and Xbox. River Metropolis Ladies 2 is presently in growth for PlayStation, PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Swap.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}