Nekketsu Kakutou Densetsu

"Four players being able to duke it out? Bad ass! Kick ass!"

This was the Super Smash Brothers of it's time, only even better!

Graphics: 9 Great
The backgrounds are nicely drawn. Characters are drawn nicely too, but most of their bodies look too similar. A picture shown at the beginning is cool. Animation is hilarious at times. Like when you lose a battle in the story mode, you sometimes see a picture of your partner pinning you to the ground. The face pictures at the bottom of the screen, change during battle. For example, if a character dies, his face is replaced with a bruised up face.

Sound/Music: 9 Great
The audio is good, but some sound effects are unmistakably from other Technos games. The jumping sound, for example. It's from most of their other games.

Controls: 7 Good
Not bad, but some moves take awhile to master.

Gameplay: 9.5 Wonderful
If you've played Mode B in the NES version of Double Dragon, you'll have a clear idea of how to play this game. In the story mode, you and a partner (computer or human controlled) take on other teams of 2. If you lose too often, you'll get a bad ending. The players are placed in an arena, and the last one(s) standing win. But when a player dies, he leaves behind an item for another to pick up. Some revive your partner (used in story mode), others restore your character's health, and others temporarily boost your punching or kicking abilities. In addition, you can interact with the backgrounds. One level has land mines, another has electric barriers, and another has tunnels like in Pac-Man. And finally, you can create your own character. Although you can't choose his graphics, the birthdate will affect which moves he has.

Story: 6.5 Okay
What I read is Kunio (the main character) finds a note pinned to his locker, and it's an invitation to some martial arts tournament.

Challenge: Medium
This game is no pushover, but it isn't unbalanced either. It can become hard if you lose too many battles in the story mode and all the enemies become much stronger than you, but if you're using passwords you can probably plow on through them easily. The final boss, regardless of your strengths, is pretty hard, but possible to beat.

Replay Value: High
It will take you awhile to make a character with a good array of moves, and to boot there are three different endings for the story mode!

Overall: 9 Great
If you're playing alone, it's a good game. Even better with another player on your team in the story mode. Then it's amazing in four player versus mode! This is a great game to bring to parties (if they actually have an NES)!

Pluses
+Great graphics and funny animation
+Great gameplay, even in single player
+Lots of secrets

Minuses
-Some of the moves and elements take a long time to master
-You can't choose your own graphics when creating your own character

Buy? Rent? Throw Away? Or what...
Definitely pick it up. I'm not saying you should pour in 100 dollars just for this great game, but look for any good deals. But you might not be able to find it because it's rare.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/10/04