Shin Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio Tachi no Banka (SNES, 1994)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-7* Story-6
Level Design-8 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6.5* Originality-5
Overall Score-6.5
*1-player
+
2-player coop
Rough (and funny) dialogue
Switch between four different characters on the fly (each with a new moveset and his/her own HP bar)
New moves (while retaining the moves from RCR - grabs, throws, blocks, spinning kick, back attacks, etc.)
Improved story (crime setup theme where you bust out of jail and try to clean your name, better flow thanks to being completely linear, long lost brother raised by criminals)
Fast paced
Improved AI overall (can't walk into every enemy or stand and punch letting them come to you)
Japanese highschool gang theme
Password is handed out at any given time (just pause the game, they are very short as well), level hazards (collapsing floors)
Bike sequences (like road rash but less advanced or fun, still they add variety)
Life refill before bosses
Decent platforming sequence
Some nice cutscenes
Stomp on enemies that are knocked down
No friendly fire
Unlimited continues
Awesome death scream sample
+/-
Completely linear - talking to people and moving between areas is automated while gameplay sequences are short
Running works like in RCR (should've been mapped to one button, shouldn't have been semi-automatic)
No penalty for spamming specials
No hidden items?
New visual style again - better but the anatomy on characters is weird and the color use is so-so
Punches reach longer than kicks (looks weird too)
-
No shops
No weapons or power ups
You can sit on and punch enemies until they die without them or others interrupting you (only weaker enemies though, doesn't work with the female characters for some reason)
Enemies can interrupt your combos (sometimes you have to resort to tedious jump kicking or spamming specials) - you usually can't interrupt theirs
Loose scrolling again
Since specials are initiated with a block move it's easy for enemies to keep canceling them when you are cornered - you'll just block over and over
Loose scrolling again (hard to react to oncoming enemies)
Dialogue scenes are unskippable
Pointless automatic rollercoaster segment
Enemies can hit you repeatedly while you are knocked down
Somewhat sloppy hit detection (hit boxes are smaller than their sprites)
Plot weirdness (the police you beat up suddenly decides to help you, later on he drops you at a bridge with thugs on it and says 'don't get yourselves killed!', the part where Ken burns the bridge and you couldn't see it coming because of the camera, Sabu shoots the girls and then Ken but doesn't think to shoot Kunio or Riki)
Enemies will sometimes block your attacks even when they have cooldown (so you can keep pummeling them until the attack hits), Areas where you can't move on a vertical plane/side view areas (fighting is very tedious here and you have to resort to cheap tactics)
Repetitive
No life bars for the enemies
Enemies without cooldown time can easily be hit repeatedly as they're getting up
Rapid punch/kick is better/safer than every other move
Some trial & error (some unforeseeable attacks)
Enemies walking right into pits at one point
Cheap and tedious final fight with Sabu (single plane, one shot takes 90% off your life bar - all you need to do is jump kick)
No difficulty options
Level Design-8 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6.5* Originality-5
Overall Score-6.5
*1-player
+
2-player coop
Rough (and funny) dialogue
Switch between four different characters on the fly (each with a new moveset and his/her own HP bar)
New moves (while retaining the moves from RCR - grabs, throws, blocks, spinning kick, back attacks, etc.)
Improved story (crime setup theme where you bust out of jail and try to clean your name, better flow thanks to being completely linear, long lost brother raised by criminals)
Fast paced
Improved AI overall (can't walk into every enemy or stand and punch letting them come to you)
Japanese highschool gang theme
Password is handed out at any given time (just pause the game, they are very short as well), level hazards (collapsing floors)
Bike sequences (like road rash but less advanced or fun, still they add variety)
Life refill before bosses
Decent platforming sequence
Some nice cutscenes
Stomp on enemies that are knocked down
No friendly fire
Unlimited continues
Awesome death scream sample
+/-
Completely linear - talking to people and moving between areas is automated while gameplay sequences are short
Running works like in RCR (should've been mapped to one button, shouldn't have been semi-automatic)
No penalty for spamming specials
No hidden items?
New visual style again - better but the anatomy on characters is weird and the color use is so-so
Punches reach longer than kicks (looks weird too)
-
No shops
No weapons or power ups
You can sit on and punch enemies until they die without them or others interrupting you (only weaker enemies though, doesn't work with the female characters for some reason)
Enemies can interrupt your combos (sometimes you have to resort to tedious jump kicking or spamming specials) - you usually can't interrupt theirs
Loose scrolling again
Since specials are initiated with a block move it's easy for enemies to keep canceling them when you are cornered - you'll just block over and over
Loose scrolling again (hard to react to oncoming enemies)
Dialogue scenes are unskippable
Pointless automatic rollercoaster segment
Enemies can hit you repeatedly while you are knocked down
Somewhat sloppy hit detection (hit boxes are smaller than their sprites)
Plot weirdness (the police you beat up suddenly decides to help you, later on he drops you at a bridge with thugs on it and says 'don't get yourselves killed!', the part where Ken burns the bridge and you couldn't see it coming because of the camera, Sabu shoots the girls and then Ken but doesn't think to shoot Kunio or Riki)
Enemies will sometimes block your attacks even when they have cooldown (so you can keep pummeling them until the attack hits), Areas where you can't move on a vertical plane/side view areas (fighting is very tedious here and you have to resort to cheap tactics)
Repetitive
No life bars for the enemies
Enemies without cooldown time can easily be hit repeatedly as they're getting up
Rapid punch/kick is better/safer than every other move
Some trial & error (some unforeseeable attacks)
Enemies walking right into pits at one point
Cheap and tedious final fight with Sabu (single plane, one shot takes 90% off your life bar - all you need to do is jump kick)
No difficulty options