Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle

You may not know Kunio-kun by name, but I guarantee that you've felt his influence. He's the star of a string of classic 8-bit games that helped to shape the beat 'em up genre in the 1980s, influencing the likes of Final Fight, Streets of Rage and even the Yakuza franchise. His rise to power is chronicled in Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle, a comprehensive new compilation that shows the Nekketsu High School student at his very best and worst. It not only includes old school favorites like River City Ransom, Renegade, Super Dodgeball and the Double Dragon trilogy, but also eleven Famicom games that were previously unavailable outside of Japan. This collection makes a strong case for why Kunio-kun is one of the most important characters in video game history.

Featuring eighteen games spanning the six years between 1987 and 1993, the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle offers a brief but important look at the early building blocks of the beat 'em up genre. It's also an interesting time capsule that shows a developer finding its voice by experimenting with genres and creating a large connected universe of characters. You may not like every entry in this collection, but I'm here to say that there's something unique and noteworthy about every single game.

With so many titles to choose from, I have no idea where to even start. The truth is, that's also how I felt when I loaded the game up for the first time. Do I play the hits? Focus on the American ports? Check out something I've never seen before? In my case, I started at the beginning and worked my way through the collection in chronological order, seeing how Technos was able to try new ideas while simultaneously learning from their mistakes.

A good example of this is Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-kun, which later came to the Nintendo Entertainment System under the much simpler name Renegade. This is the first game chronologically, and you can tell that Technos is still working out some of the genre's kinks. You see this in the stiff gameplay, directional attacks and a maze at the end that is the very definition of frustrating. And yet, while so many aspects of this game don't hold up in 2020, it was daring enough to try new things, like entire levels where you fight on a motorcycle.

Where Renegade kept you in closed arenas, Downtown Nekketsu Story (or River City Ransom, as we know it here in America) does the exact opposite. It throws Kunio into a sizable open-world full of memorable characters and locations, all while telling a story that is a lot more complicated than what you normally get in the beat 'em up genre. This is also true for the similarly themed Downtown Special Kunio-kun's Historical Period Drama, which transports our hero back to the Edo period to kick some ass. This is one of the Famicom games that never made its way outside of Japan, and being able to play this weird time-bending brawler in English makes this collection a must-own for Kunio fans.

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And it's not just the unreleased games that makes this collection so special, but also the ability to finally play the original Famicom versions of some genuine 8-bit classics. We see the story and framing in Nekketsu High School Dodgeball, which was largely scrapped in order to create the completely disconnected Super Dodge Ball. Another good example of this is Renegade, which reskins the original game to look more like the 1979 film, The Warriors. Similarly, River City Ransom swapped out Kunio and Riki for Alex and Ryan, and don't even get me started on what happened when Surprise! Nekketsu New Records! became Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge. While the gameplay and scenarios are often the same, it's fun comparing the different versions to see what developers thought would appeal to Western audiences.

You may have noticed that I mentioned the word "dodge ball" a couple times just now, which brings me to my harshest critique -- for a game called Retro Brawler Bundle, only half of the games actual brawlers. That's right, depending on how you count, nine of the games in this package take Kunio off the streets and gives him some sort of ball to throw around. The guy plays ice hockey, basketball, track and field and soccer in two different games. And don't forget about Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day, which sees four characters in a rock 'em, sock 'em foot race to get from one side of town to the other.

Sadly, neither Billy nor Jimmy Lee take part in the sporting events, but the Double Dragon brothers are represented by the inclusion of the NES trilogy. This includes 8-bit ports of the original Double Dragon, Double Dragon II: The Revenge and Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones, all of which stray from their arcade counterparts in significant ways. For as comprehensive as this collection is, it's a shame that the developers didn't give us the option to play the original arcade games to compare. On the other hand, Double Dragon III is crummy no matter which version you play.

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And that brings us to my biggest criticism against this compilation -- the quality of games is all over the place. This is a collection with some truly stellar beat 'em ups that remain as fun now as they were thirty years ago. However, there are a few games in this set that I never want to play again. Unfortunately, I'm talking about quite a few of the sports games, especially Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes. I also can't get over how shallow Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day is. And did I mention that Double Dragon III is awful?

On the other hand, I appreciate the effort that went into compiling this collection. And it's not just that Arc System Works has done a good job of including the 8-bit library, but they've gone out of their way to improve most of the games. This includes removing bugs, cleaning up the flicker problems and even rebalancing the dodge ball games. There's also an online mode for people who want to experience the multiplayer games with friends and strangers.

Even if I don't love every game, there's no denying that this is a high-quality compilation that finally gives Kunio-kun the love and respect that he deserves. This is a bundle that reminded me of the greatness of River City Ransom and showed me that the original Famicom version is even better. It introduced me to a Historical Period Drama and even a fun one-on-one fighting game. Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle is the kind of compilation I want to see more of.