"Good, but a little bland and repetitive."

Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio Tachi Banka
When I first played this game, I had no clue as to what the Kunio-Kun series was, naturally I was confused, but I did enjoy it up until I made my way to the school, then I was just confused...

Story- 7
The story of this game is a pretty interesting one, Kunio-Kun, the hero of this game, and his eternal rival Riki Samenija, have both been arrested for a hit and run accident, we later find out that Kunio was framed! When they manage to escape the two High School brawlers make their way through Tokyo trying to find out just who is behind it. The one problem with this though is that... it's not in English... so you wouldn't know what the hell was going on...

Graphics- 6
The graphics in this game are actually very good, the backgrounds are colorful, and they animate very well, so why does it earn only a 6? The sprites! More often than not, when you are playing this game, the sprites are far too often used, most of them are just the same body with a different head. I like the whole Japanese school uniform look and all but it was used way too much in this game... and the super deformed look makes the characters look kind of ugly, instead of really cool, like on the game's front cover.

Sound- 9
I love the music in this game! It's just great really, it's got all kinds of music, from the point where you're being pushed into prison to the end of the game, the music is always good, problem being, some music is used too much.
The track that plays during the battle with the next to last boss is probably my favorite.

Control- 9
The control in this game is just fine, it's nothing too hard to master, however you won't know all of the techniques from the start, 1) The prison clothes hold you down a bit and 2) When you get out of them, you probably won't know that you can do special moves unless you've read a FAQ.

Overall- 8
The game is great, however it's very long and since it has very few changes during gameplay it can get kind of tedious, but I guess that's why it has a password system. It's pretty good, give it a try if you can find it somewhere. Another problem with the game is that you have to fight the two bosses twice each, and both are kind of cheap. But despite all that I love the game, and the series! Kunio-Kun forever!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 06/29/03, Updated 06/29/03

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