Hey, everyone! Guess what? It's another time for me to review Side-Scroller Brawler game. This one is pretty obscured and it's made by Techno Soft which usually made shoot 'em up game. One of them is Thunder Force III. Anyway, it's Nekketsu Oyako (1994) on Playstation.
Thanks to PentarouZero for the hack and Al LaPrade for the translation. According to mobygames.com, Nekketsu Oyako means "Hot-Blooded Family". Does the story related to some family that get angry over something? There's no opening story in the game so i should consult to mobygames.com again. To summarize it: a scientist who also a middle-aged housewife Saeko Hibino has been kidnapped by bad guys to help them complete their ultimate secret doomsday weapon. Her family certainly can't stand idly. They're up to rescue her. They are...
...Toratarou Minoru who's the
freeloader of the household but he's the assistant of the scientist's. So he
has fairly solid reason to rescue her. I notice that they put
"Dimensions" on biodata which is the three measurement. You know the
sizes for cloth design. The size of breast, waist, and hip. Those ones, yes. By
the way, Tora wields lightsaber spirit saber "Murasame".
Second, there's Rio Hibino. Saeko's the one and only daughter. He wields hammer that apparently made by the same material as T-1000 because its head can transforms into hand shape. Anyone who dare to mock her due to her breast's size the smallest among other, will get smacked by her hammer on their mouth.
Lastly, there's Rando Hibino. Saeko's husband. He looks the most hot-blooded ones. Obviously, he's very angry. Because who else helps him maintain his beloved collection of tropical fish, besides Saeko? Not Rio. She prefers fish as eatery than pet. You can already guess that the cast are the trinity a la Final Fight. Rio is the fast but with weak power, Rando is the strong guy but slow, and Tora is the average ones. Obviously, i choose Rando immediately!
World 1. Mega Tokyo 2064
The first enemy that i encounter is these boxers which reminds me of Battlin' Boxer Headgeared for some reason. They smokes cigarette! They're definitely bad person. I will teach them a lesson that it's not good idea to smoking. Especially near me!
The control is quite generic. D-pad to move around. "Square" button to attack. "Cross" button to jump. Hitting enemy consecutively will result in combo. Pressing attack button while jumping, will result in jumping kick. Or if you hold the down button on d-pad while doing so, Rando will performs body press which can be used to downed enemy like a professional wrestler. I forget to tell you that much like Mayor Mike Haggar, Rando is ex-wrestler too. No wonder he's my favorite.
Then there's weird bloke that swing chain with spiked ball at its end and his name is Vandamme. I'm sure he's not related to Jean Claude Van Damme or Rob Van Damme. Just no way.
Damn that guy on left corner who also smokes in public space. I'll will deal with him once i rescue Saeko. Suddenly in this shopping district, i find bazooka that i can use to destroy my enemies. Soldier_taunts17.wav
Not only taking cigar break in public space, the boxers also drive on pedestrian walkway. What a bunch of annoying scumbag, they are. Each time i get knocked down, i get temporary invincibility which makes me immune to all damage for some period and also become transparent a bit like this.
On the shopping district, i encounter these strange girls with weird tail that like to throw bomb at me. If i hit them once, they will run away while shouting "Gomenasai!" which mean "Sorry!". How adorable. I believe they wear trouser that slightly paler than their skin tone, so don't imagine them being bottomless there. I have theory on the setting based on "Private Earth Defense Force" insignia at the background of main menu that i saw. The Hibino family is private detective/investigator that have to deal with evil aliens. I think it's pretty common in Japanese manga/game, that a small group (or maybe even just one person) of private earth defender that will thwart some evil alien's plan. Thus it explains why the enemies in this game are wacky or weird, they're (supposed to be) alien from outer space. What's Man In Black? Never heard of it. Really!
Nikita here's the first boss. She looks quite normal. That claw and pigtail. Apparently, she's mix between Cammy and Vega, both from Street Fighter 2. On the other hand i find disc that maybe not as fast or powerful as Predator's disc in Alien Vs Predator, it get the job done. Even with fire support from that chopper, Nikita is pretty easy to deal with.
After she get some beating, Nikita retreats as she comes in: by helicopter. Suddenly, giant whale devours me from beneath the road! I'm sure i will be fine. Just look at Lt. Allen in Metal Slug 2 or X! Even after that, he appears on next installment of Metal Slug.
World 2. Big Wave
See! I'm fine. I bet you never heard of Yunus/Jonah beats the hell of octopi that wears boxing glove within whale's stomach, don't you?
Or even punching lots of Blobman in their gut. In case, you aren't sure what they are made of. There's H2O writing on them which means they're made of water but also alien-ness.
Once i reach the front, the whale decides to spit me out even though i do him a favor by defeating every boxer/octopus/blobman/barrel inside of him thus cleaning his digestion system for good. The insolent git.
After clearing the whale's back from another wave of enemies, i encounter Taka Karinow in his head. Taka here is Hayate Kanzaki from Star Gladiator, if he ditches his lightsaber and start to practice Morote Seoi Nage and somersault kick a lot. He's really annoying. If you get too close, he will do shoulder throw at you. If you jump toward him, he will anti-air kick you. He manages to squeeze lives from me so many. My advice is: using quarter-circle-forward (a.k.a hadou ken motion) move. I forgot to tell that there's quarter-circle-forward (qcf) move in this game. In Rando's case he dashes and later does leaping uppercut that can deal large damage. The thing is the input consistency is fairly finicky and if the game recognizes the input, you will move slightly to lower plane unintentionally.
World 3. Herograw Island
Eventually, i beat Taka but he jumped away from the scene which mean he will be back. Such fun! [Whale-sized sarcasm]
But at least the whale takes me to this amusement park where i powerbomb a masked claw freak named Freddy. He most likely get inspiration from 90s Slasher Horror movie. Did i mention that Rando is ex-wrestler? Thus explaining why he loves performing wrestling move at the enemies.
Merry-Go-Round in middle of water? That just bad. This punk with rollerskate usually harmless but once he picks any weapon he becomes quite aggressive.
Then i ride on rollercoaster. No seatbelt. Only boxers come after me from either foreground or background. Even though, i'm not seating. I'm pretty safe from physic on this ride for some reason although there's bit of wind that prevents me from moving forward too much. Because there's bunch of boxer here, it's perfect time for "Old Man Dynamite" which is Rando's desperation move. As per usual, it costs some of my health but it deals big damage on enemies on entire screen! It's activated by "circle" button (default).
The rollercoaster went of the rail and i end up in this magma cavern. I like to show you combo that i get and Freddy(s) ride cart that constantly appear in this cave. Then one of them give me a good beating. Bastard!
If you think that roller coaster goes off the track is too much. Then check this fire pillar that periodically burst! Safety and Health inspector will blow their mind on this miserable safety standard for sure. Lovely to see but still deadly.
The boss in this level is Hammer. He's so big that my punch's height goes through his crotch. He can shoots beam blast and punches hard thanks to his metal arms but he's nowhere as hard as Taka. After defeating him, the ground explodes and throws me into next stage...
World 4. Sky Gaia
This looks like Babylonian hanging garden. Whatever this place, it's home to this big fellow Osborne. Sometime they thrown some punch but most of the time they just walk up to me. They're big and durable target for sure.
There's also one-man flying machine that able to drop bombs. Just jump kick them, nuff said. I just realize that Rando has ability to double jump. Usually, the big guy can't do double jump, you see.
This jetpack-wearing guy probably has the more practical idea for flying troop. Sadly he's the only one that exist throughout this game. God bless this sod.
Inside the castle, i get trapped by tornado. Sniper_sf13_magic_reac07.wav
Unlike previous bosses who have 2 layers of health bar, Leon here only has 1 health bar. But he's adept at hit-and-run tactic. He strikes me with charging swipe across the screen then vanish. Or he appears above and dive kick then vanish. He's almost perfect assassin. Almost, i said. If only he isn't so tall that makes him big target, that is.
World 5. Big Black
Big Black is the evil organization but not as cool as Mad Gear from Final Fight. Speaking of that Capcom's famous beat 'em up game, you know one of thing that Final Fight does it right? The absence of re-fighting the bosses that player defeated in previous levels, that's what. Maybe my opinion there is based on my bitterness on fighting Nikita again but this time with no throwing disc and bunch of Sharon(s). Those ladies with dark visor have ability to do crescent kick as anti-air measure and perform Frankensteiner on you. They're pretty annoying to deal with.
Swinging giant spiked ball along with Vandamme(s). Just like what i need. [Wrecking ball-sized sarcasm]
And of course, rematch against Taka Karinow. You can use the swinging morningstar against him if you can punt him there. That is.
On next floor, giant gears are about to crush me unless i break these shutter in time. You can use uppercut move but i prefer dashing move that can hit it multiple time and deal considerably heft damage too. Oh, yes. There's dash move. You can either execute it with double tap on d-pad like usual or you can use dash button ("R1" button by default). After dashing you can follow it up with 3 input: A) Pressing attack button for regular dashing attack B) Jump and then pressing attack button for jumping dash attack. I find it this move can deliver most hits and damage among the other. C) Pressing attack button while holding down on d-pad for sliding attack. This move deal least damage but maybe allow you to slide pass some enemy's attack harmlessly.
You also get to fight Hammer again. But if you knock him into gear, he will be instantly killed. Demoman_taunts16.wav
This floor is long corridor with glass wall and the chopper provide fire cover for the enemies. How cliché. I mean i already saw this situation on Gekido - Urban Fighter.
Look at this stupid punk! Think he can carries bazooka with that slim muscles that he has. After keep failing to lift the weapon. he explodes on his own. Moron. Actually there's item restriction among the players too. Rando can use bazooka but he refuse to use machine gun or sniper rifle for some reason. Though i haven't prove it, Rin and Taro don't possess enough strength to carry bazooka for themselves. I know for sure that they can't consume can of beer to replenish their health due to age restriction. It's pretty neat touch. By the way, i have to fight Leon again in this floor with no noticeable change. So let's move on to the final floor: 50th.
The bald fat bloke over there is surely the final boss because he looks like Mad Dog from Mug Smasher. But he won't fight me right away. He summon dozen of boxers first.
Next, he calls bunch of Sharon. Look at his smug face. He knows exactly what he's doing. >:I
After a batch of Colonels (which are militaristic mook that like to carry gun). The final boss finally get into the action himself. He uses Uzi like Mr. Y from Street of Rage 4. He can gives you some nasty smack sometime when you're near him. My strategy is simple: approach him from side and sometime back off when necessary. I saw him has reloading animation which is reasonable touch.
On rather shocking twist, the fat bloke has Masked Rider/Kamen Rider's belt thus he transforms into superhero-like. Now, i know why his name is "Herograw". Engineer_autodejectedtie02.wav
He ditches his submachine gun but now he strikes even harder and has ability to shoot giant beam from his hands. I waste lots of lives thanks to his uppercut and kicks. Also i just realize that i have limited continue all along! Heavy_negativevocalization04.wav
I hate to say this but the key to defeat him in more effective way is to spam the desperation attack. It cost less amount of damage compare to get hit by Herograw even once plus it deals quite considerate amount of damage on his health bar. The machine gun that dropped by Colonels can also help you in this final fight *snatch!* but Rando refuse to use it as i have said before.
Because of many "Old Man
Dynamite" move Herograw's demise, the Big Black HQ breaks down with
lots of explosion. It's within 101 Villain's rule that "Thine great lair
will crumbles into dusts along with thine demise". To be honest, i like
this majestic floating island but sadly it's made by evil aliens so it must be
brought down for good. Hey! What about Saeko and her family?
Because they're the heroes of the story, they survive naturally. Saeko is there being carried by Rando. You have to take my word for it.
See? Saeko looks safe and sound there. Afterward, Hibino family's life returns to normal. I mean the one where they don't have to punch alien for the Earth's sake. That's their part time job. I presume Randou choose office work than continue his wrestling career because he's banned because of him being too strong for his peers. Also scratch that "Students that comes to school late while bread on their mouth" cliché on Rio there!
Unknown to Rio and Rando, it seems Saeko mix some mysterious medicine on the breakfast. Happy end!
If you wonder what's the headline on newspaper that Taro read. This is most likely it. If you look closely on that shopping district, there's Big Black trademark everywhere there. I think Big Black operates in toy industry and also amusement park but just only on surface. There's still the fact that Big Black is evil (possibly alien) organization. They can't be brought by the law maybe because they have strong lawyer. So the only solution is some vigilantes destroy Big Black with righteous motive. If they succeed no one will files lawsuit against those heroes because everyone know that Big Black is bad. With its demise, the heroes did everyone a good favor.
Techno Soft 's Nekketsu Oyako (1994) is decent Side-Scroller Brawler game. The gameplay is pretty solid and enjoyable. The moveset is functional. QCF move is powerful and applies for every character. Because the its input is slippery, you have to buffer it with jab for example. I mean you input QCF command while in jab animation for better execution. Dashing attack also pretty powerful and easier to pull out. There's the usual grabbing system where you automatically grab enemies when you go near them and you can proceed with up to 3 grabbed attack and/or throw them to left or right. Unfortunately there's not much range that the throw can cover, meaning you ability to use enemies as impromptu projectile against their peers is pretty constricted. There's not much distance that the double jump can reach so it's only more likely useful to chase after flying enemies. The desperation move feels very powerful but it may leads to player to overuse it which i don't like. The enemies are well-varied and interesting to look. Sadly Blobman and Ayne (the octopus with boxing glove) only appear in level 2. I can't care more about Gyro, the pilot of one-man flying machine though. That guy can be very annoying thanks to his bomb drop. The boss design is pretty interesting. The bosses have 2 layer of health bar at most. The difficulty comes mainly from their attacking power and unique move. Taka Karinow is very tedious to defeat though. The game only consists of 5 levels which feels pretty comprehensible and don't feel too dragging. The weaponry is varied from the usual throwing knife to bazooka and they feel useful. Tora and Rio can't use bazooka but they can use grenade/bomb just fine which pretty useful against crowd of enemies. It's such unusual feature that you can drop weapon that you hold by pressing "Triangle" button (default). Maybe it's there for ammo conservation. There's quite special feature on player's health system: you can stack health up to 2 health bar. So even you already have full health, you have reason to keep chucking Sushi/Chicken Drumstick/Milk/Soft Drink/etc. I notice that there's Playstation console as score item besides pendant, coins, gold plate, or doll, which i feel funny yet reasonable. There's also trap that can catch you off guard like falling advertisement billboard a la Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game in Stage 1 or Falling chandeliers in Stage 5. The music is pretty good. While the graphic is in rough quality, i love the wackiness of the settings and the enemies.
I usually don't like game with limited continue, but i can recommend you to play Nekketsu Oyako (1994). Even though it's made by developer that is famous for their shoot 'em up games . My tips: use desperation move against crowd enemies or troublesome bosses. You have limited continue afterall so no need to be so idealistic/stubborn to play it fairly like me. Anyway, how often you can fight final boss that transform into alien superhero?
It's been so long that i made the character stats analysis and now i do it again for this occasion. The character are sorted from left to right in character select screen.
There's 3 stats while highlighted: Power, Speed, and Skill. Power is the measurement of attacking power, nuff said. Rando has the highest Power stats because he's ex-wrestler. Therefore his primary stats is: Strength at 4/5. I notice that his jumping attack isn't the usual dropkick. Je just do some powerful kick which less sacrifice his balance. That means he like to keep steady and combine that with his wrestling technique, i can say that his Dexterity is 3/5 which is his secondary stats. Not only he has the most attacking power, but also he has more variety on his grapple. Jumping while grabbing his opponent will initiate jumping power bomb like the Mayor Mike Haggar himself. Holding down on D-pad and pressing attack button while grabbing, will make him performs German suplex. He has lots of similarity with the famous Metro City's mayor. No wonder he's my main.
Rio has rather funny twintail and also has the highest Speed stats. She move the fastest among other but his attacking speed isn't significantly fastest. Still her primary stats is Agility at 3/5. I think the hammer requires appropriate amount of strength to wield. Moreover, her desperation move is: she twirl it thus creating powerful tornado around her that send her enemies flying high. Therefore her secondary stats is: Strength at 2.5/5. Her downward jumping attack makes her bounces over enemies nonchalantly like this...
I consider that action quite rude. Stabbing enemy's car with metal middle finger all over the place. If you like Linn Kurosawa's (From Capcom's Alien Vs Predator) playstyle, you should pick her in this game.
Thanks for the write up on this obscure title.
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