Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler (Nintendo Switch)

For most gamers of a certain age, the names Billy, Jimmy, Alex & Ryan will ignite a primal rage of wandering down streets, punching goons and throwing weapons around. That’s right the Double Dragons and River City Ransom are back, but where does Kunio Kun come into it? Read on for a history lesson.

The Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle compiles 18 titles from both title series into one neat little package of rage. For those out of the loop, Kunio-Kun is the main star of River City Ransom, Crash n The Boyz & Super Dodgeball, all games that released outside of Japan at the time but were “westernized” for our young minds!.

What is fantastic about this bundle is the fact every game has received an official translation for this bundle, now what this does mean is some of the games do double up but you get the small changes and for those that just prefer Alex & Ryan over Kunio and Riki then that’s there for you.

Each game has the ability to suspend save into 5 slots & has a digital manual which will help you with the more obscure titles. There is also a fantastically addictive Achievement system, here you have certain challenges to attempt which then unlock customizable options for the online multiplayer such as player Avatars and art.

Some of the games have a “quality up” option, what this does is remove lag and flicker that used to be so very prevalent in the NES era. This means that the games run silky and smooth & they also have the advantage over the versions available on the Nes/Snes online service.

All the titles with multiplayer also feature the ability to play them both locally and online, this is the real meat of the package here, it’s hard to beat playing through Double Dragon 2 with a friend or 4 player Crash n the Boyz!.

So the games on offer are as follows:

Double Dragon.

Double Dragon II: The Revenge.

Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones.

Renegade.

River City Ransom.

Super Dodge Ball.

Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness.

Kunio-kun’s Nekketsu Soccer League.

Downtown Special Kunio-kun’s Historical Period Drama!.

Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day.

Downtown Nekketsu Story. (JPN version of River City Ransom)

Nekkestu Fighting Legend.

Nekkestu High School Dodgeball Club.

Nekkestu High School Dodgeball Club – Soccer Story. (Released as Nintendo World Cup)

Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-Kun. (Japanese version of Renegade, Kunio-Kun debut game)

Nekkestu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes.

Surprise! Nekketsu New Records! The Distant Gold Medal. (Released as Crash ‘n the Boys)

Crash ‘n the Boys Street Challenge.

As you can see, some of the games are just the Japanese versions of titles but with an English translation, this is a brilliant addition but it’s a massive shame the Japanese versions of Double Dragon weren’t included, mostly Double Dragon III, it’s well known how tough the “western” version is and without save states and reliance of the spin kick you won’t see far into that particular adventure.

The standout titles are obviously Double Dragon 1 and 2, River City Ransom, Crash n The Boyz & two other titles I’ll delve into a little more.

First off Historical Period Drama, if you’re familiar with Ryu Ga Gotoku then it’s the Kunio Kun version of that. If you haven’t then it’s River City Ransom in feudal Japanese times, it’s an outstanding game and one I struggled to put down!.

The other title I wanted to highlight is Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness, it’s all the insanity of Kunio-Kun in the equal insane world of Ice Hockey. It’s one of the better controlling of the sports games and playing this multiplayer was an amazing amount of fun, a proper hidden gem of the package and a game I didn’t know anything about.

Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle is an easy recommend to anyone who is a fan of either franchise, if not your mileage will vary on your enjoyment of brawlers and sports games with extra fighting. The game could have done with a gallery and sound test mode but for extras it near enough smashes it out of the park. If you have always been curious about these games or have had experience in the past, it would be daft to pass up this title, 18 games for the asking price more than makes his offer sweet enough to BARF!