But from now on you can confidently claim that Nekketsu Fighting Legend is the all-time greatest fighting game in both NES and Famicom library. You may struggle to name the single best 'proper' fighting game on the NES because, despite some efforts, the console is best remembered for its fantastic platformers. First impressions might lead you to believe this is nothing more than Nintendo World Cup on ice, but hidden gameplay depths elevate this game to be on par with the other two best NES hockey titles: Konami’s Blades of Steel and Nintendo’s own Ice Hockey. Twenty-seven-years later is most definitely not “soon”, but the brilliance of Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness is finally accessible to the Western audience. NES gamers who completed Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge were surprised with an end screen claiming Crash 'n The Boys Ice Challenge was “coming soon”. These are four prime examples of the sort of treatment Japanese games were subject in order to secure a Western release, and thanks to this package you can finally see the difference side-by-side. Do remember that Kunio can sometimes be extremely “unfiltered” vocalising his emotions, and excessive cartoon violence is a hallmark of the franchise in Japan. In most cases, entire cutscenes were removed from the old western NES versions due to either ROM size restrictions or a simple case of publisher deeming them unfit for the young, impressionable Western audience. Whichever one you pick, a treat is assured the localisation differences are substantial and far more varied than simple dialogue changes and correct naming conventions. Let's begin with the present “repeated offenders”: Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-kun, Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club, Downtown Nekketsu Story and Surprise! Nekketsu New Records! The Distant Gold Medal are all the original Famicom versions of games mentioned in the previous paragraph, all presented for the first time with English localisation. The main course is the eleven brand-new English-localised Famicom Kunio entries. This is now being released in the west as Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle. They have since released more or less successful entries into the franchise, along with one particular generous retro compilation back in 2018: Kunio-kun: The World Classics Collection.
In 2015, Arc System Works became the curator for the whole franchise in a deal that also included the Lee brothers made famous worldwide by the Double Dragon series. But underestimating this hot-blooded delinquent – who was first introduced in the West via Renegade – often proves a fatal mistake.
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In fact, even nowadays, few Western gamers might realise the full extent of Kunio’s successful multi-genre proliferation across 8 and 16-bit formats.
We've had to endure butchered localizations and dozens of titles being missed because they were simply deemed “too Japanese for Western consumption”. Being a Kunio fan in the West is tougher than the mean streets Kunio and his friends come from.