The History of Renegade - arcade console documentary Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun

happy little games violence and video games the original golden age of arcades was extremely kid-friendly with games that included invading spaceships maze games and crazy barrel throwing gorillas it wasn't always rainbows and lollipops though as we did see some games trickle down the pike where violence would start to rear its ugly head karate champ which was one of the first head-to-head fighters and also ye are kung fu today though we are going to take a look at the first game that really brought violence to the forefront in the arcades no i'm not talking about wcw's renegade i'm also not talking about lorenzo llamas as renegade i'm talking about the 1986 technos brawler renegade what original arcade game was this game based on what control scheme did the designer initially use so crack your knuckles and get ready to fight because this is the history of renegade the year is 1986 and game designer yoshihisa kishimoto has just been instructed by his bosses that technos that he needs to make some changes to his arcade game taketsu koha kunio kun before it's released in the west we can't go any further on the discussion of renegade until we go back and look at the original game it was based on yoshihisa kishimoto was the new hire at technos japan when he brought an idea to his bosses he wanted to create an arcade game that was realistic and autobiographical in nature in which groups of students would have street fights against rival schools this is exactly how mr kishimoto grew up fighting alongside his friends against rival schools all while wearing their high school uniforms he was also a big bruce lee fan and wanted to not only be like him but fight like him one of the most successful beat-em-ups at the time was spartan x or kung fu master here in the states mr kishimoto enjoyed the game but did not like the one-hit kills and felt this was not quite realistic enough this is what he wanted to improve upon when he developed his game he suggested the use of an energy bar that would deplete the more punches you took this allowed mr kishimoto to create a game that was centered around the knockdown knock-down drag-out fights as seen in his favorite bruce lee movies he felt that the enemies needed to be hit multiple times before they were defeated were essentially beating them up the team wanted kunio-kun to feel immersive so they spent a lot of time on the controls in the beginning they tried to use controls similar to karate champ with two simultaneous joysticks but he felt hitting a button to reproduce a punch was way more realistic than using a second joystick they decided on a standard 8-way joystick with three buttons two of which are used to attack and the other one to jump this was later adopted for the control scheme of double dragon 2 the revenge the game was a huge hit in japan but almost immediately the pta groups and police departments were up at arms over the violence found in the game at one point mr kishimoto started responding by telling parents that children were not supposed to be inside of game centers without an adult and they should take better care of their children he finally took the phone off the hook for a brief period of time the original storyline of kunio-kun had to do with your character standing up to rival gangs who are targeting his classmates hiroshi when the game was westernized a lot of this did not translate over including the cutscenes and the japanese voice samples were replaced with english ones mr kishimoto went to see the 1979 movie the warriors in which rival gangs duke it out in a fictitious version of new york city everything from the backgrounds to the main character clearly echoes the 1979 cult classic and it fits perfectly with this type of game by the way just a quick bit of trivia the title character of kunio was named after the former president of tecnos japan kunio takai renegade was released by taito in 1986. this is a single player affair which would get rectified with the company's successor double dragon with its simultaneous two-player mode as the story goes your girlfriend has been kidnapped and it's up to you to rescue her the game takes place across four stages including a subway station the harbor where thugs on motorcycles try to run you a over alley [Music] and an office building [Music] the first thing you notice is the amount of enemies on screen at once waiting to take you out there are usually at least six enemies on screen with a boss watching on the sidelines he or she are just tapping their toes waiting for you to thin out the herd so they can attack you there are no continues but your health bar does replenish at the end of each round thankfully you have numerous attacks at your disposal your attack with each button will depend on the direction you're facing if you are facing to the right and press the right button you will throw a punch while pressing the left button will unleash a powerful kick behind you these controls are reversed when your character is facing the opposite direction which would see greater success stateside with the release of double dragon 2 the revenge this game also introduced combos as your character can throw multiple punches if the button is pressed repeatedly the downside to this is that you have a shorter reach than the kick but the kick does come out slower you do have a few more moves at your disposal including the ability to use running attacks by double tapping either left or right on the joystick and pressing an attack button a jump kick a collar grab in which you can grab stunned enemies most enemies have to be punched two or three times before they are stunned if you press the left button after grabbing an enemy you can throw him over your shoulder which will also knock down any enemies behind you after grabbing your opponent you can give him the dreaded knee bash right in the breadbasket if an enemy is laid out you can mount him and repeatedly punch him in the face finally you have the option to defend yourself because sometimes enemies will come up behind you and grab you leaving you vulnerable for another baddie to attack you you can throw a kick and eventually shake the person off by waggling the joystick on the subway stage it is possible to throw your opponent off the subway platform into certain tunes on the harbor stage you can toss your opponent into the icy water below the mini bosses at the end of each level are a bit of a challenge but once you learn the patterns it becomes much easier the third ball is with the skanky stanky attitude reminds me of someone i live with but i just can't place my finger on it the final boss has a gun so that's something else you have to contend with sometimes the bosses are not weak enough to be mounted and if you attempt it they will throw you off all the while mocking you [Music] get lost punk once you defeat him you rescue your girlfriend who gives you a big giant wet kiss and all that's right with the world as i mentioned there were a lot of differences when they reskinned this game including all of the cutscenes being dropped the japanese voices were changed to english voices and the first level which took place in a train station now takes place in a dark dank subway your character is unnamed in the american version along with all of the bosses everybody had a name in the original game the graphics are fantastic with large and extremely detailed sprites with smooth animation that digitized voices sound great and go along perfectly with the rest of the game [Music] just like the original japanese game the american version was extremely popular and a number of home conversions were done but i will cover these at the end of the video kunio-kun would be expanded into a large series of games set in his high school universe we did receive some of these here in the states but there were localized ports with visual makeovers so it did not resemble the kunio kun series nintendo world cup super dodgeball and river city ransom were some of the ones we received [Music] in japan many more games were released in the series including street basketball [Music] [Music] a track and field style game [Music] hockey baseball and volleyball among others the nes version has been released numerous times over the years specifically for the wii and 3ds a nintendo switch version which included the original arcade versions of both renegade and niketsu koha kunio kun was released in 2018 ocean software released two renegade sequels for the home computer market with the first one being target renegade neither of these had any involvement from technos japan the only reason these were allowed to be released was that ocean had it written into the contract that they had the option of releasing their own sequels target renegade was the first one that released for the amstrad commodore 64 and spectrum as far as the 8-bit computer lines go the one that most people are familiar with is the nes version the spectrum and amstrad versions included a simultaneous two-player mode which the nes and commodore 64 versions did not your character seeks revenge on a local crime kingpin named mr big who either killed your brother or kidnapped him depending on the version you are playing the best version of the game that i have played would have to be on the spectrum with the commodore 64 coming in a close second this was good news considering how bad the first renegade came out on the good old 64 but more on that in a minute the nes version is also fun to play but it also reminds me more of the original double dragon and not the first renegade and now for something completely different the third game in the trilogy which was once again released by ocean software with no involvement by tecnos japan was titled renegade 3 the final chapter this is a side-scrolling brawler which is set up similar to the previous two games this was released on the spectrum amstrad msx and commodore 64. a version for the amiga was in development but was cancelled however the amiga version did leak online a few years back your girlfriend has been beamed into the future while you are sent back to the prehistoric era this sets up the game perfectly for different points in time that you have to get through including a prehistoric era with a captain caveman ripoff doing his best to club you to death there is also a medieval area egyptian area and the future the graphics look really nice and are especially detailed in the spectrum version a lot of the problems lie with the stiff controls and feature some questionable hit detection the two-player mode is also missing which is a bit strange considering it was in the last one the graphics are nice on all three versions with different arrows featuring different types of enemies such as knights robots and pterodactyls the gameplay is extremely repetitive and you have to keep killing opponents to regenerate your automatically depleting health this was developed in eight weeks time and it sure does show let's go ahead and take a look at the conversion starting with the good old commodore 64. the game starts out with large price but they are chunky like a monkey the animation is very smooth along with the scrolling though as soon as the joystick is in your hand and you gear up for battle you soon realize you have to use three keys on the keyboard for your attacks the programmers felt there was no way to replicate the three button setup using only one fire button there are also only three enemies on screen at once it's still fun to play but it's also extremely difficult something i found strange is at the end of the game instead of a big wet sloppy kiss as a reward you get a simple but firm handshake for your efforts [Music] the amstrad version is up next and it's really well done similar to the commodore 64 version you have to use three keys on the keyboard for your attacks with that being said the graphics are fantastic with detailed sprites and smooth animation we even have some excellent music while we play this replicates the feel of the original arcade game and it's amazing what they could pull out with this 8-bit machine there are also at least five enemies on screen at once which adds to the overwhelming odds that was found in the arcade game we even have a bit of blood that comes out of the enemy's heads when they are defeated upper management told the programmers to change the color to blue so it wouldn't appear as violent there is a cheat code though to turn it back into red and before you ask yes you do get to mac out with your girlfriend in this version this is one of my favorite arcade conversions on the machine [Music] let's take a look at the ms-dos version now i'm trying to put my 1987 glasses on to play this thing but even for his time it was a steaming turd it tries his best with detailed sprites but the animation is extremely choppy along with the scrolling the controls are abysmal but they did manage to get everything into one fire button the music is not good although it's not quite quivalicious either thanks to the ad-lib sound card being supported the collision detection is also terrible and the enemies are relentless sometimes not even letting you get up all the way after being knocked down before they start attacking again this version even has power ups that will restore your health which is something that the arcade game never had [Music] next up on our list is the spectrum version now if you don't mind your games being a proud member of the urination domination then piss is the game for you despite the color choice this is a really good conversion with detailed sprites and excellent animation thankfully the color clash has been kept to a minimum the gameplay is fast regardless of how many enemies are on screen which i believe includes six enemies and your character there were two flavors including a 48k version which was tripped down and a 128k version which is definitely the one to get this one includes excellent music all the levels and all of the moves you do only get one fire button though but it really doesn't hinder the gameplay too much [Music] sticking with the monochrome theme let's look at the version for the thompson line of computers this appears to have been based on the spectrum port only with a splash of color here and there while the graphics appear to be detailed as soon as the characters start to move you'll see that everything has been stripped down the animation is extremely choppy with everyone appearing to be suffering from rigor mortis the gameplay speed is also slower than a turtle fart the controls are also terrible with wonky hit detection there is also no scrolling with a jarring transition to the next part instead now i always try to find something good to say and after a couple of hours i think i finally did the good thing that i discovered is i never have to play it again the nes version is the only one developed by tecnos and it really shows realizing how short the actual arcade game is and that you can complete it in around seven or eight minutes they went back and added a lot of content all of the levels now have sub levels and it really adds to the enjoyment of the title there is even a level where you drive a motorcycle you now have power outs for your health and an upgrade that allows you to kill your enemies with one hit the graphics transferred over quite nicely except for a loss of color and detail in the backgrounds one background detail is the beer sign which made my 12 year old self immediately go and grab a six pack not cool nintendo not cool the controls are nice and responsive using the two button nes controller sound effects are good with high energy music all throughout in fact the energy is so high it sounds like it was composed by a method on a three-day vendor the extra content does help to pad out the length of the game but you can still complete it in around 15 minutes after defeating the final boss there is absolutely no hugging or kissing by your girlfriend after completing the game the credit scroll and the final screen just says the end and it's over your girlfriend doesn't even make an appearance so i guess it's okay to turn me into a raging alcoholic at 12 years old but i can't see my girlfriend in a video game oh that makes perfect sense [Music] released a full two years after the other home computer ports the apple ii version was very ambitious but ultimately does not get the job done releasing it later gave it the distinct advantage of the nes version having already been released so this conversion is based on that one i could never get used to the pastel colors on the apple and after playing it for about 20 minutes it felt like i was having flashbacks from the 1970s the characters are fairly detailed and the gameplay is pretty consistent with the arcade original the animation is quite a bit choppy though along with the scrolling i could not get the sound to work in my emulator thankfully we get two button controls but that's where it falls apart while the game is fast the hit detection is all over the place the frame rate is also very inconsistent if they would have just fine-tuned the controls this could have turned out to be a pretty good conversion the amiga version is up next and graphically it looks very similar to the original arcade game the game tried to replicate the original more so than any other version with six enemies on screen at once music and also sampled sound while you play one big downside though is that the gameplay is incredibly stiff making it seem like you only have partial control over your character the speed of the game is also just a bit too slow when compared to its big brother it appears that a lot of the moves are not in the game including the grab and shoulder throw among others you also only have one fire button at your disposal which makes an already challenging game even more so [Music] let's take a look at the atari st version the backgrounds and sprites look good although the colors have been reduced just a bit from the amiga conversion the sound has taken a hit while decent it doesn't quite match the amiga version one thing that i noticed was that the frame rate was slightly improved on this conversion the same control scheme rears its ugly head here with only one fire button the game is also missing a lot of moves [Applause] [Music] and finally we have the sega master system version this was not released here in the states so i never knew this was a thing until years later this was based on the nes version with expanded cut scenes to flesh out the story the ending itself has also been upgraded and we finally see what happens after the final boss is defeated spoilers your girlfriend does not appear the graphics and sound have also been upgraded considerably and they look fantastic thankfully we have two button supports so it feels very close to the arcade [Music] game growing up i always enjoyed playing renegade it took a little bit to get used to the controls but after a few quarters i was rocking and rolling double dragon would be released the following year which would be the start of my love of the beat em up genre there is nothing better than knocking a guy's teeth out and throwing him over your shoulder if you like that sort of thing and have never tried this game be sure and give it a shot you'll be glad you did if you enjoy my content be sure to like share comment and subscribe also if you would like to support me on patreon please click the link below thank you everybody for watching

Channel: PatmanQC - History of arcade game documentaries

Views: 36,186

Keywords: NES, arcade, SNES, amputee, Xbox, PlayStation, Sony, Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft, retro, video, gamesAtari, Colecovision, Intellivision, Jaguar, entertainment, system, Game, Boy, Genesis, Mega, drive, CD, X68000, Amstrad, spectrum, MSX, 2600, 5200, 7800, 400, 800, 1200, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, 360, one, switch, GameCube, wii, wii-u, Double Dragon, Kunio, Kun, Nekketsu, Thomson, Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Karate champ, kung fu master, Bruce Lee, ocean, target renegade, the final chapter, The warriors, Switch, tAitO, Double Dragon II the revenge

Id: VauwTX55mms

Length: 27min 17sec (1637 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 09 2021