1989
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari / River City Ransom / Street Gangs
A perfect little straight-to-VHS action movie of a game, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari has everything you want and nothing in excess. The simple beat’em up combat is frantic and meaty. Of course, it has punches and kicks, but it also has blocking (!), down attacks, better (or at least more interesting) weapon physics than many games today, and, uh, the ability to pick a dude up and beat his friends to death with his body. The triple strikes are some of my favorite things you can do with a single button press in any video game. The light RPG elements, humor, and story complement the action nicely, but what makes this game special to me is all the side details: the way the enemies talk to you while you’re fighting, through text that you can and will usually ignore; the way you can do normal things like hug a teddy bear or get a smile from a waitress; the way you can wander around aimlessly if you want, in a genre that normally confines you to a strict path and pace. I love that there are so many food/clothing/etc. options that aren’t fulfilling a merely functional effect. This game world is simple and gamey, yet it doesn’t feel reductive or fake or made just for the player. Sometimes I play this game and just roleplay, walking around, eating, avoiding fights, and trying to find the person I love with as little conflict as possible.
I’d argue that The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa eventually perfected this form, but I believe that the melancholy and existential humor that Ringo brought to the forefront were sneaking around in its ancestor all along. A hard, brilliant gem that gleams like Saturday morning.
