underappreciated donkey kong jr. math

the release of the new smash bros. on 3DS has pretty much completely ruined my chances of finishing any other games for the near future, but i took a break from it to sit down with my remaining donkey kong game on NES, donkey kong jr. math. i wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and i was somewhat disappointed to find that the main two modes are 2-player only. also, because i know donkey kong jr. so well the changes in the mechanics were a bit odd at first, namely, that DK jr. no longer has his two-armed faster ascent and instead moves the same speed when travelling up or down a vine.

after i got over my initial reaction i found the game to actually be fairly enjoyable overall, and as is often the case that it feels like this is yet another one of those games that people dismiss without actually giving it a fair chance. the game re-uses most of the mechanics from donkey kong jr. so the jumping is a bit stiff, but otherwise the controls work pretty well. the goal of the main two modes are simple: select numbers and operators in order to reach a specified total number. selecting numbers and operators with DK jr. is more fun than just tapping numbers into a calculator, and although the first mode is pretty straightforward the second mode is actually more satisfyingly challenging. in the first mode you’re often putting together simple equations, like making 37 by selecting 9 * 4 + 1, but in the second mode the number you’re trying to reach is harder to get to since you’re restricted to a pool of 18 numbers, each of which can only be 1 through 9, and the target numbers often have large values and can be negative. so to reach a number like 285 from a starting number of 200 requires some thought, e.g. divide by 5, then multiply by 7, and then add 5. although i didn’t get to play with another person, it’s easy to imagine that going head to head could actually be pretty fun, what with getting in each other’s way, stealing numbers that the other person wants, and having to quickly change your strategy based on what numbers are closer to you.

the third mode is just a series of exercises of different types (e.g. large number addition, simple multiplication, long division, etc.), with a sort of complicated scheme. in each set you’re given 10 problems and the bird on the left drops an egg if you solve it perfectly the first time. the bird on the right shows you which “place” you’re entering numbers for (e.g. for addition that bird will fly over the ones place, then the tens place, hundreds place, etc.), and you can give up at any time by pushing the key into the lock. selecting numbers requires you to climb up and down a chain representing one of the digit places, and to input a number you just move to a different chain. the controls here are a bit more awkward than the other two modes, but since apparently you’re also scored on how quickly you complete each problem, precision and speed is also rewarded. the mode is a bit dry, but still somewhat entertaining (and did work certain brain muscles i haven’t used in a very long time).

as i said, although it’s easy to dismiss games like these, as nintendolife did in their review of the wii virtual console release, those who take the time to actually give it a chance will find a reasonably entertaining game (as nintendolife’s review of the wii u VC version attests). the main downside to the main mode is that it really requires both players to be at the same math level: it’s not really designed for, say, a parent and a child to play together, unless perhaps if the parent is already handicapped by just being unfamiliar with how to play video games. the game may have originally been created as an “edutainment” title with the goal of trying to remove some of the stigma of video games and it apparently was not received well at the time, and although it’s gotten a bad rap over the years i found it to be much more worthwhile than most reviews would claim.

find the solution with these underappreciated donkey kong jr. math links:
– i’d forgotten this, but the game was actually spotlighted in a fairly recent nintendo minute video. the video makes it look like 2P would actually be pretty fun.
– reference to the game in donkey kong country returns for wii
– entry at wikipedia
– apparently the game is one of the more expensive games for NES

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a visit to wario’s woods

i’ve been making my way through nintendo’s various puzzle games, and wario’s woods is a game that i’ve had for a while on wii’s virtual console but have finally set aside. apparently the game was the last officially licensed NES title (and released on SNES less than a year later), and the presentation is pretty polished. the game is one of the only games that features mario series mainstay toad in a starring role, and for that reason alone gets a thumbs up from me. the game continues toad’s characterization from super mario bros. 2 (specifically, his super strength), and also features the return of a couple of other characters from that game, namely birdo and pidgey.

regardless of the cameos, the gameplay itself is pretty solid. the game features bombs and enemies and is basically your typical match 3 (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, with some pieces requiring you to remove them twice), although with some fairly novel mechanics. in the game you maneuver toad around the board. he can pick up any part of a stack (or a single piece from a stack), but is limited to where he can drop it. the game also alternates between two phases, one in which you have time to set up combos, and another that is more fast paced and is more about reacting. although they initially feel somewhat awkward, the controls work well and the gameplay is well balanced and well thought out. even after mastering the game’s mechanics the controls still feel a bit finicky, but the game is enjoyable overall. the focus of the game is on progressing through stages rather than racking up a high score, which is also a change of pace, and as with most puzzle games this game includes bonuses for chains and combos and a 2-player vs. mode.

in my post about brain age: concentration training (for 3DS) i’d mentioned “blob blast”, an activity included as part of that game’s “relaxation” activities that’s a touch-screen based reworking of wario’s woods (see the official site for a video clip). the touchscreen controls of “blob blast” remove all of traces of awkwardness of the original, although as a result the game feels much less unique. wario’s woods feels a little rougher around the edges, but its mechanics are definitely much quirkier and give the game much more character, even beyond the presentation. the game’s pace is much slower than the 3DS version in that there are 99 stages to work through (apparently the game includes a “round jump” function, which “saves your progress every fifth level and lets you jump back in later”) and the difficulty increases far too gradually (the game also allows you to accumulate continues by earning coins upon beating a level, with more coins given for faster times). as a result i found myself completely bored by round 51, and have set the game aside indefinitely (this is one of those games that, no doubt, greatly benefits from its 2P vs. mode). and although the game ostensibly features two single-player modes, the only difference is that in game B you encounter boss battles at regular intervals which are the same as regular levels except you have to remove pieces adjacent and in the same direction as a boss character that teleports around the board.

overall the game is memorable and unique, and it’s definitely not the worst of nintendo’s many puzzle games. although it’s not a puzzle game for the ages, it’s still pretty fun and puzzle fans looking for something a bit different should enjoy it.

visit these wario’s woods links:
– review of wii u VC version at nintendolife.com
– FAQ with a run-down of all the stages
– entry at wikipedia
– video of the ending
– video of a complete playthrough

simian villainy returns in donkey kong 3

i played through donkey kong jr. earlier this year, and i finally filled in a gap in my video game experience by playing through the often-ignored follow-up, donkey kong 3 on NES. those two NES versions, along with the NES version of the first donkey kong game were all based on arcade releases, and they were all released at the same time in north america (june 1986).

although DK jr. has vague similarities to the first donkey kong game, the same can’t be said for this release. as has often been noted, in those early days carbon-copy sequels weren’t churned out with nearly the same alacrity as nowadays, and i came to DK3 with very little previous knowledge outside of seeing a screenshot or two. the first two games are platformers with an emphasis on running and jumping, but i was surprised to find out that DK3 is actually more of a shoot ’em up.

there’s a lot of interesting gameplay packed into the single-screen arcade experience. the setup is that DK has invaded “stanley the bugman”‘s greenhouse, and stanley, armed only with his trusty bug spray, has to get rid of DK and exterminate the bugs in order to save his plants. the player has to juggle several objectives at once: spray DK enough times to make sure he doesn’t descend far enough to attack stanley himself (thus losing a turn) (stanley can use his bug spray to push DK up off the screen and to the next level in every first and second level of a cycle, and get his head stuck in a beehive in every third level); spray individual bugs that fly around, each with unique behaviors; spray worms that crawl along and can’t be defeated but will pause if hit, often impeding progress; and in a mechanic somewhat similar to defender, make sure none of the bugs make off with any of the five plants, which provide bonus points if they’re saved. once per turn there’s also a can of super spray, the game’s equivalent of an uzi, that basically gives you a free pass through the next couple of levels.

in terms of the pace the game is pretty typical old-school arcade style in that there are only three levels and they loop pretty much infinitely. this game does introduce new enemies at various points, providing slightly more of a progression than some of the other games which increase difficulty by just adding more and faster enemies. like other classic nintendo NES games of the time, there’s a harder mode (“game B”) that can be selected from the start screen, and an alternating two-player mode.

as for the game itself, at first i found it completely foreign (nintendo has very rarely explored the the shooter genre), but after a while i enjoyed the game for what it is. the different bug types are easy to identify and are satisfying to defeat, and having to both manage DK and save the plants from the bugs makes the game feel more dynamic. stanley has more ability than the ship in galaga since he can not only run back and forth, but also move up and down a couple of levels vertically. the game has the usual bright and cheery nintendo exterior, and the game overall doesn’t have significant drawbacks. the first two stages are very similar while the third stage is too easy in comparison, and many times you can just jump in and defeat DK quickly. if you don’t manage to do that you end up spending a lot of time on the more challenging (and thus more fun) gameplay of dodging and defeating bugs, which would seem like a downside, but defeating all the bugs in a stage nets you more points overall, so for an arcade game it’s a reasonable design. (apparently in the arcade version starting with level 160 the game starts repeating only the first (and hardest) stage, although it’s not clear if this is intentional or what happens on the NES version.)

all in all i enjoyed it overall, and the game provides a fairly satisfying, if somewhat uneven, amount of challenge and fun. i wouldn’t say it’s become a great favorite, but it’s an interesting curio in nintendo’s catalog and should be more interesting to fans of shooters, classic arcade gameplay, and/or the donkey kong series, but i imagine most others would find this to be too old-school to spend much time with.

check out these villainous simian donkey kong 3 links:
– miiverse community
– nintendolife has reviewed the wii, 3DS, and wii u virtual console releases of the game. the 3DS VC review is the most positive of the three.
– entry at strategywiki.org, which includes a guide and descriptions of all the enemies as well as differences between the arcade and NES versions.
– the entry at mariowiki.com has much the same information but a few more tidbits
– entry on wikipedia

donkey kong jr. to the rescue

i needed a quick game to play, so i dusted off my copy of the original gamecube animal crossing (for the first time in 31 months apparently, as my villagers were all quick to point out) in order to give the NES version of donkey kong jr. a spin. as i mentioned in my post about playing through the NES version of donkey kong, growing up i had owned the two games in the form of donkey kong classics, an NES cartridge that contained both of them, so i was looking forward to revisiting my childhood. (the game has also gotten more attention recently for being one of the club nintendo rewards and for being one of the 3DS ambassador rewards).

anyway, as with my experience replaying donkey kong it didn’t take me much time at all to remember exactly how to get through each of the game’s four stages. i was reminded of the stiffness of the jumping controls of these early NES games, and i can see how people would be frustrated by it. the climbing mechanics are wholly enjoyable, though, and very responsive. they feel refined and are fun to master, and include a satisfying amount of variety, namely: a two-armed fast climb, a one-armed slow climb, a two-armed slow drop, and a one-armed fast drop. those mechanics have been revisited in subsequent games (such as the underwhelming donkey kong ’94 on game boy and mario vs. donkey kong on GBA), although more as minor diversions as opposed to being the main focus as in this game.

the game is colorful, fun, and well designed, and has memorable enemies and locales. also, aspects of the game feel like they’re loosely connected to the original, such as the final stage of each game in which you have to repeat an action to free the captured target (in the first game you were tasked with jumping over rivets whereas in this game you’re pushing keys into locks). as with many of those early NES titles, the game provides 1 and 2-player alternating normal and hard modes, as well as virtually infinite looping of the game’s four stages. for retro game lovers the fun and challenge is in chasing a high score or seeing how many repetitions of the four stages you can get through, and although most people dismiss the game i personally find it a worthy sequel to the original. each stage has a distinct personality, and the climbing mechanics give the game a completely unique spin that still feels fresh. the one element that sticks out a little and doesn’t quite feel like it belongs is the spring in stage 2, but i find the game enjoyable and it would be awesome if a true revisit were ever created (or if donkey kong, jr. came back as a true character). i don’t recall ever playing the third of the trilogy (creatively titled “donkey kong 3“), but i’ll have to track that one down before too long.

donkey kong jr. links to the rescue!:
– entry on wikipedia
– less-than-enthusiastic review at nintendolife.com
– entry on mariowiki.com which includes details on each stage and the enemies (apparently a spark is not the same as a hothead. who knew?)
– this walkthrough on gamefaqs has info on the scoring
– comparison of home console versions at strategywiki.org

zelda’s awakening in zelda ii: the adventure of link

after working through a significant amount of wrecking crew, i had some NES momentum and was finally able to start and complete a game that’s been hanging over my head for ages, namely zelda ii: the adventure of link (on the original NES no less, meaning no save states!). the game is easily the blackest of the black sheep of the zelda series, and it was partly the fear of old-school NES challenges that kept me from starting in on it. (for a run-down of the game, see check out the review at nintendolife).

overall, though, the game wasn’t too hard to complete, with the main exception being the last temple which required a concerted effort to get through, and multiple attempts to beat (esp. since i was missing a heart container and a couple of the last level-ups). [pro tip! to save at any time, press start on the first controller, and up + A on the second controller. also, fortunately at the final temple getting a game over and continuing simply returns you to the start of that temple rather than the starting point of the game.] the game was one of the many games i remember playing as a kid, although i don’t recall if i ever actually beat it. i certainly recognized some of the areas near the end, but i didn’t remember anything about the final temple which makes me think i hadn’t beaten it. perhaps my muscle memory from childhood remembered more than my brain did, because i got through the game pretty efficiently without any guides, although it was pretty much just a stroke of luck that i stumbled across one of the essential items that i had wandered by several times before, the absence of which would have led to a lot of aimless wandering, wondering where to go next.

as for the game itself, i enjoyed it and it’s definitely a polished experience, although it pales in comparison to most of the rest of the series. miyamoto himself has expressed some regret about the game, and although the game is definitely not a “bad” game, it does feel a little limited in its scope. the focus on platforming (and some cheap deaths that result) feels a bit out of place, and the battle scenes and temples tend to feel very same-y, not to mention its inclusion of a range of bizarre characters that, rather like super mario bros. 2, have yet to see a return. i have a vague recollection that the battle of olympus, which appeared on the NES about a year later and which i also had played as a kid, borrowed much of the same mechanics but improved upon them, so i’ll have to dig that one out at some point.

all in all, a nice change of pace from the norm, and it would be fascinating to see nintendo revisit this unique take on the zelda series. regardless of the quality of the game itself, though, i’m just uber-psyched that i’ve now finally officially completed every zelda game, and in almost all cases on the original hardware. whoo! i should be putting together my ranking of the series before too long, so stay tuned. i’m also looking forward to replaying various entries, mostly via their remakes, including the 3DS remake of ocarina which i’ve already dipped into.

awaken these zelda ii: the adventure of link links:
– page at nintendo.com
– entry at zeldawiki.org
– interesting comparison of the original japanese text vs. the english translation
– maps at vgmaps.com
– some player stats from wii’s now-defunct nintendo channel
– someone made a FPS adaptation (of the first part at least) in unity. here’s a video of someone playing through it.
– scans of the original manual
– youtube video of the entire soundtrack
– since i’ve finished all the official zelda games, i thought now would be a good time to take a look at the atrocities that are the trio of obscure CD-i games. here’s a let’s play video of wand of gamelon and here’s one for zelda’s adventure. fortunately the completionist in me feels no need to pick any of them up.

wrecking crew demolished

wrecking crew, one of the earliest NES titles, was one of those games that i had vague memories of seeing at a friend’s place growing up but that i didn’t really remember anything about. more recently the game was one of the 3DS ambassador games, not to mention the wii and wii u virtual consoles, and was also one of the games included in NES remix, so there have been plenty of opportunities to revisit it.

i finally sat down and gave the game a spin, and overall i was pleasantly surprised. in terms of mechanics and presentation the wrap-around stages slightly recall the original mario bros., and mario (and luigi’s) squeaky shoes and hammer recall the original donkey kong, but the game is wholly unique in that it’s one of nintendo’s earliest forays into the puzzle genre. it does so with character, and the game features a construction site setting and two types of enemies: one, a cross between a wrench and a dragon, and the other, an eggplant with safety glasses, along with fireballs that appear at regular intervals (also taken from the original mario bros.). in addition, the game features a unique mechanic where a “foe”, named spike the foreman (generally considered to be a predecessor to wario, the anti-hero), runs around and tries to trip you up, often literally. the game is also unique in that it features a stage select which allows you to start from any of the 100 stages, a quick reset via the select button (although doing so causes you to lose your current score), and a level editor. in the original edition you could save your creations, but the US didn’t see that feature reinstated until its rerelease on virtual console.

in terms of my experience, in general i enjoyed the game. like a lot of great puzzle games, wrecking crew makes the most of its limited number of elements, providing surprisingly sophisticated challenges out of relatively simple mechanics. limiting the types of elements in the board (basically destructible and indestructible walls and ladders, plus bombs) and the number of enemies makes it easier to internalize their use and behavior, and the game does a pretty good job of mixing up the types of stages: some are clearly more about working out the right order of actions, whereas others are more pac-man or burgertime-like and require finesse in avoiding the enemies while trying to navigate around the board to accomplish your objective.

although i enjoyed my time with the game, after getting through half of the 100 stages i felt like i’d seen everything there was to see. it’s fun to work out just the right strategy to trap enemies, and watching videos online it’s been interesting to see how different people come up with different approaches. the “theme and fun” (as nintendo power would put it) is pretty good, and the game definitely gets kudos for being one of the first of its kind. the bonus level is a matter of luck and feels superfluous, and the ease with which you get stuck and have to reset and thus lose your high score feels a bit cheap and pointless by modern standards. the game includes some replayability in the form of hidden “M A R I O” letters, revealed by destroying blocks in a specific, oftentimes completely nonintuitive order, on some stages, but doing so only provides 1-ups and provides only a minor diversion. similarly, uncovering special bonus items by destroying bombs in some stages is also fairly random (apparently the exact item uncovered is a function of the number of times you’ve swung your hammer), and so although getting a golden hammer (of smash bros. fame) is fun, it’s such a rare and random occurrence that it seems like an after thought rather than a worthwhile feature. all in all a decent successor to the original mario bros. and a game worth playing.

demolish these wrecking crew links:
– nintendolife gave the 3DS and wii u virtual console versions a 7 out of 10 and 8 out of 10 respectively, so it’s interesting to compare the two reviewers’ opinions
– miiverse community
– the entry at strategywiki.org includes details on how to get a golden hammer
– nice series of let’s play videos for the game
– entry at wikipedia.org
– apparently there was a japan-only sequel??

metal slug slugged

i finally broke out of my up-to-now handheld-only gaming year by continuing my exploration of run ‘n gun games outside of the contra series with the first game in the metal slug series, via metal slug anthology on wii. the game was enjoyable (and it was nice not to have to worry about running out of quarters/continues), and doesn’t take itself too seriously (the POWs you rescue hide the bonuses they reward you with behind a pair of striped boxers before revealing them with a flourish). the game places more of an emphasis on bombs and vehicles (not to mention violence) than other games in the genre that i’ve played, which helps give it a different feel, but otherwise there wasn’t a lot that felt unique, especially compared to the most recent game in the genre i’ve finished, gunstar heroes. the weapons feel pretty standard, as do the locales and boss fights. i went ahead and played a bit of the sequel and already it looks like it’ll be more unique, but for now i’m going to set the disc aside.

metal slug links slugged:
– review at nintendolife.com
– entry at wikipedia
– random: One-Life Clear Metal Slug Without Pressing Up Or Down

radar mission detected

radar mission is an early game boy game (released about 6 months after that system’s launch) that was well on its way to fading into obscurity before the 3DS came along. since then the game has gotten renewed attention for two reasons: one, its “spiritual sequel”, steel diver, was one of the launch games for that system; and two, it was released on the 3DS’s virtual console just a few months after the 3DS debuted. the game had been on my radar well before then, though, because it was developed by nintendo R&D1, the group led by the legendary gunpei yokoi. yokoi and R&D1 were responsible for many of nintendo’s early games, including the first metroid and wario land games, and i’ve been slowly working my way through their entire output.

anyway, enough history, how’s the game? well, there’s a reason most people have never heard of it. the game consists of two distinct and pretty much completely unrelated parts. the first is simply the game known as battleship in which you place your ships on a grid and try to defeat your opponent by taking turns guessing where their ships have been hidden. the game adds some minor enhancements including an option to have near misses reported; this option makes the otherwise completely luck-based and dull game more palatable, but it still doesn’t make the game worthwhile and i quickly moved on to the second mode.

the second mode is much more entertaining. in it you take control of a submarine and in a first-person perspective you look out through your periscope, move through the water, fire torpedoes at ships, and evade enemies by ducking underwater. this mode in particular includes some impressive visuals and unusually good music, but, again, the gameplay is extremely limited and my interest in this mode was very short-lived.

not much more to say. the game only warranted a small amount of time, but it’s an interesting bit of nintendo history and it’ll be interesting to see how it compares to steel diver (although i have to admit i don’t really have high hopes about it based on my early experiences with that game). we’ll see.

radar mission links detected:
– review at nintendolife
– entry at wikipedia

treasurin’ gunstar heroes

my sega experience continues to slowly grow. i finally beat a game on the original sega genesis, gunstar heroes, the first game created by treasure. treasure was apparently created by people who had left konami, and according to this article at hardcoregaming101.net gunstar heroes was developed by several people who had worked on contra iii, a game i had enjoyed but not loved.

although gunstar heroes may have taken contra as its starting point, its variety, unique weapon system (in which you combine two of four types of weapons to make a new one), and cartoony but cool personality make it feel distinctly fresh. in terms of comparing it to the contra series, hardcore gaming puts it well when it says:

In Contra, your heroes are killed after a single hit, demanding exact precision to dodge enemy fire or overpower quick moving bosses. Gunstar Heroes is much more forgiving, and doesn’t require nearly the same amount of reflexive intensity. While one could argue that it makes their games simpler, on the flip side, their relaxed approach actually make them a lot more fun, where you can concentrate more on the joys that come with dealing expansive amounts of damage without worrying too much about memorizing enemy patterns.

in what has become a treasure trademark the game is full of boss battles, and the screen is pretty much constantly chock-full of bullets and explosions, all at a blissfully smooth frame rate. the game features unlimited continues to further emphasize enjoyment as opposed to frustration, and in fact i played through the normal mode all in one sitting. there’s a lot of variety and a sense of always moving forward, although there’s one section (the dice palace) where the game slows to a crawl because you’re working your way around a board game-type board and, depending on how unlucky you are, you’ll probably end up having to play through the same mini-bosses many times. there’s also a shooter section at the end that feels unnecessary and frankly fairly dull.

overall, though, this is probably the best game i’ve played this year, although it doesn’t quite crack my greatest games of all time list. there’s a sense of sheer joy and fun that comes across, and the game points out the many things the contra series lacks that i never realized i missed, like a sense of humor and a cast of colorful antagonists (actually they’re literally “colorful” in this game, as they’re called by colors such as black and pink). i’m looking forward to trying out the game’s pseudo-remake on GBA, and at some point i’ll have to replay the original and experiment more with the different weapon combos instead of just sticking with the double chaser (and then maybe i’ll be up for tackling the hard modes). my experience with treasure games continues to deepen my appreciation for that studio, and i’m looking forward to continuing to delve deeper into their body of work.

treasure these gunstar heroes links:
– entry at wikipedia.org
– review at nintendolife.com
– weapons combinations FAQ

dodging the urban champion hate

about a month ago i played through the original xevious in preparation for checking out the enhanced version for 3DS. similarly, i decided to tackle the much-derided urban champion in preparation for trying its 3DS update.

i think it’s pretty safe to say that urban champion has become one of the consistently lowest-scoring first-party titles in nintendo’s history (although i’m quite curious as to what the reaction was when it first came out, way back in 1984). nintendolife’s review is fairly typical in its complaints about the repetitiveness, but i went into it with an open mind and had a mixed reaction. in general i found it to be fairly enjoyable, especially considering it was an NES launch title. the early NES graphics have a classic feel and there’s actually a surprising amount of variety in the controls (slow and fast punches that you can set to high or low, plus the abilities to block and dodge). the “history of 2-d fighters” at hardcoregaming101.net highlights the game’s innovations:

Urban Champion is the earliest fighter with any kind of easily controllable defending. It invented evading, which in this game takes the form of quickly leaning and stepping back. This is performed by holding back before your opponent executes a attack. Most importantly it is the first fighter to have easily controllable, reliable blocking, which is performed by holding up or down before your opponent executes a high level or low level punch, respectively. It is also the first fighter with dizzies, the first fighter with a form of “ring outs”, and the first fighter where matches were decided by something other than health depletion or point totals.

aside from the historical appreciation, the game actually proved to be fairly addicting. it’s easy to see why people would dismiss it so readily, but i have to wonder how many of those people have played past the tenth level. at the higher levels the game definitely gets more challenging and it’s clear the whole point is to get to the highest level possible, although even after spending a fair amount of time on it it’s not completely apparent to me whether winning was a matter of skill or luck. it feel like it’s a mixture of both (not unlike the later fights in mike tyson’s punch-out!!).

i’ve seen the game occasionally get compared to the game & watch game boxing (random video on it on youtube here), and that seems fairer than comparing it to subsequent games like street fighter II that really defined the genre. (although it’s still hard to justify the $5 virtual console price tag when you could get so many other NES classics for the same price.) it does seem that the game has at least some fans, as you can tell by sifting through comments online, and in fact the 3DS version has an unusually high rating in the 3DS eshop. overall i’d say the game isn’t nearly as bad as the majority of people would like to make it out to be, and its 3DS incarnation may well help remove some of its bad rap. although i spent significantly more time with it than the average person, i didn’t enjoy the game enough to really master it, but it’ll be interesting to revisit this game via the 3DS version at some point.

punch out these urban champion links:
– FAQ at gamefaqs with details on attacks
– entry on wikipedia
– random funny review