If the celebrations for Sonic the Hedgehog and Dragon Quest over the past week weren't already enough, this year also marks the 35th anniversary of the Kunio-kun series.
Technōs Japan's popular co-op beat 'em up series starring Kunio-kun and Riki first started out in Japanese arcades in May 1986 with the release of Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun. A year later it was brought across to the Famicom.
To celebrate the anniversary, Arc System Works has revealed the 35th anniversary logo. This will be followed by a variety of projects, which are already underway. These include new game releases, "related products" and even collaborations, and will run for a year.
WayForward also previously confirmed the River City Girls would be returning to the streets. In the original game, Misako and Kyoko break out of school and fight their way across River City in search of their boyfriends Kunio and Riki.
What would you like to see from this series for its anniversary year? Leave your thoughts down below.
[source arcsystemworks.jp, via gematsu.com]
Comments 21
35 years ago was a good year for games!
More Kunio-kun can only be a good thing.
River City Girls was pretty good.
River City Ransom is a rare case of a western adaptation that didn't destroy the original vision, it aged gracefully in comparison to other NES titles. Can't wait for more info!
River City games are my favourite beat'em ups and should be more popular. For anyone interested, River City girls is on Switch, Tokyo Rumble and Rival Showdown on 3DS and River City Ransom is on both.
I'm totally down for a new River City Girls. One of my favorite beatemups.
How about a collaboration with Konami to give me the crossover I’ve always dreamed of: Goemon X Kunio!
I’m just here to say - that is a seriously cool 35th anniv logo, channeling the Kunio-kun “yankee” haircuts like that! 😄
I liked Renegade in the arcades, and River City Ransom on the NES, long before I ever heard of the source material in Japan. Happy Anniv to a storied series!
I’ll definitely look forward to future titles, as River City Girls left me wanting more!
I would love to see a River City Ransom Remake, that would be so awesome.
@Teksetter Yes! That’s an awesome logo!
New games are great, but I’d really like the English Kunio collection to get a physical release. So many freshly translated games!
Who knew that 35 was the biggest anniversary of them all? Everyone's ****ing at it.
Currently enjoying River City Ransom for the second time (the first time in Japanese but sadly in easy, which I didn't know) in the Kunio-kun The World Classics Collection, I'd like a second collection with SNES and Game Boy games. I know it's not going to happen, though. If anything, they'll release a collection of what we already have and some additions, which would be the nth "punishment" for early adopters. It actually happened before, because there was a 3DS collection of NES games of the franchise minus the Switch additions.
Wow, looks like they are doing more than Nintendo is for The Legend of Zelda anniversary
@gcunit Ha! I’ve been thinking the same thing, even through all the Mario stuff. What’s the big deal with 35? Seems totally arbitrary.
That said, even though the River City stuff seems cool, I’m giving Dragon Quest the prize for best 35th hype so far.
River City Girls 2, and a remake of the Neo Geo version of Super Dodgeball would be great
In case anyone missed it, the "Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle" is a great collection including a whole bunch of Famicom-only games.
This series is excellent. I have a hard time getting into River City Ransom on NES (just because A+B together to jump feels wrong - but I could probably remap that these days) but the 3DS games are amazing and severely underrated. I'd love those to be rereleased on Switch.
I've always thought the Yakuza series felt like a big budget 3D version of these games - open world Tokyo-set action-RPG. Kiryu's suit is even reminiscent of Kunio's grey school uniform. So, if Kunio came back in 3D, that might be the model to follow.
I want to see the 16-bit titles localized!
Saw the logo and thought for a second these were Zelda 35th news.
The dissapointment. Anyways, happy for the fans, as they seem to be a lot and I never heard of it.
Let's have Super Double Dragon on Switch. We have virtually all the other Double Dragon games. Haven't played that one in, what, 25 years?
I'd love to see the SNES version. Also, what's so special about 35th anniversaries all of a sudden lol?
Love the kunio-kun series.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...