Downtown Tokyo

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Lore & Background

The original game Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun was created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto. He pitched a semi-autobiographical game based on his teenage high school years, with the protagonist Kunio-kun loosely based on himself. Kishimoto recalled his experiences as a high school student regularly getting into fights on a daily basis, which was partly triggered by a break-up with a girl who dumped him. Kishimito was also a fan of Bruce Lee's Hong Kong martial arts films, particularly Enter the Dragon (1973). He combined elements from Lee's Enter the Dragon with that of his own life to create the concept for Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun. He went on to design Double Dragon (1987), which was originally envisioned as a direct sequel to the original Kunio-Kun game, before becoming a new game with a different cast and setting. The game's title and its protagonist, Kunio (variously renamed "Alex" and "Crash Cooney" in the United States), were named after Technōs Japan's former president, Kunio Taki. Many of the later games in the Kunio-kun series, particularly those under the Downtown Nekketsu moniker, were the handiwork of two men: Mitsuhiro "Yoshimitsu" Yoshida and Hiroyuki "Mokeke" Sekimoto.

In Their Own Story

Kunio (くにお) (full name Kunio Fu'unji (風雲児 くにお, Fu'unji Kunio) in live-action series) – the protagonist of the series, Kunio serves as the guardian of Nekketsu High School against rival schools and is the captain of his school's Dodgeball team, although he excels at other sports (such as soccer and ice hockey). Kunio first appears in the original Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-kun, where he is described as a second year student at Nekketsu High School (in the Downtown Nekketsu sub-series, he is described as a third year student, establishing a loose continuity between later games). His surname is never revealed, but the live-action television series lists his surname as Fu'unji. In some games (such as Nekketsu Hockey Club and Baseball Monogatari), he is the only student at Nekketsu to wear an all-white uniform, while at other games everyone at Nekketsu wears white. In the localized versions, he is known as a nameless vigilante in Renegade (Mr. K in the NES version), Sam Powers in Super Dodge Ball, Alex Kun in River City Ransom and some of its ports, and Jeff "Crash" Cooney in Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge. While the protagonist of the series, Kunio also later became Technōs Japan's main mascot, appearing on the company's logo in several games and television commercials. Kunio is voiced by Ryō Horikawa in most of the games, Hiroyuki Satō in Dodgeball Bu: CD Soccer Hen, and Satoru Murakami in Stay Cool, Kobayashi-san!. Takurō Ōno plays Kunio in the live-action series.

Reader's Guide

A few of the early Kunio games for the Nintendo Entertainment System were localized for the North American market. These include Renegade, River City Ransom, Super Dodge Ball, Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge and Nintendo World Cup, which are heavily "Americanized" versions of the Kunio-kun games. Technōs Japan has released over twenty Kunio-kun titles for the Famicom, Game Boy, and Super Famicom in Japan. In addition, licensed ports of the games were made for other platforms such as the PC Engine (through Naxat Soft), Mega Drive (through Pal Soft) and the X68000 (through Sharp). Renegade, the Western localization of Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, spawned its own separate spin-off series developed by British company Imagine Software for home computers. There were two Renegade sequels: Target: Renegade (1988) and Renegade III: The Final Chapter (1989).

Did You Know?

• The first game in the series is fully titled Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, which roughly translates to "Hot Blood Tough Guy Kunio".
• The game's title and its protagonist, Kunio, were named after Technōs Japan's former president, Kunio Taki.
• Kunio later became Technōs Japan's main mascot, appearing on the company's logo in several games and television commercials, though the logo itself featured a silhouette of Kunio from the Kunio-kun series.
• The original game was created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, who was inspired by his own high school experiences and Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973).
• Renegade, the Western localization of Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, spawned its own separate spin-off series developed by British company Imagine Software for home computers.