Urban Champion (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
444A playthrough of Nintendo's 1986 fighting game for the NES, Urban Champion.
Since the game loops endlessly, I played until getting a game over on Round 54.
Urban Champion was Nintendo's very first one-on-one fighting game, predating the first Smash Bros. by fourteen years. Unlike that iconic N64 title, however, Urban Champion doesn't receive much respect or fanfare. It's often remembered as being one of the weakest titles in the NES black box line-up, right alongside Donkey Kong Jr. Math.
The set-up is simple: aggressively strolling past palette-swapped versions of such popular urban staples as "Discount Shop," "Snack Bar," "Book Store," and "Barber Shop," you punch everyone you meet, and you are expected to do so until you can punch no more.
You have a slow, strong punch as well as a fast, weak one, and both can be thrown either high or low. You can block by tapping up or down to match your opponent's punch, and you can dodge by tapping the away button just before an attack connects.
The goal is to knock the enemy off the edge of the screen, eventually into an open manhole. Once you've (seemingly) murdered the guy, you are showered in confetti and then shuffled along to the next match.
Occasionally you have to avoid being arrested or being brained by falling potted plants, but even for a fighting game from 1986, the gameplay loop is extraordinarily simple. Yie Air Kung Fu and Karate Champ, though both super clunky and primitive by modern standards, were far more ambitious games with complex mechanics.
The biggest criticism that people level at Urban Champion is that it's too simple, and I'd have to agree. The graphics are appealing in their own chunky way, the tunes are catchy, and the controls are easy and simple, but the gameplay feels like it would've been better suited to an Atari 2600 cart than an NES one.
It's not a bad little game - I'm sure it had its fans in 1984 when the arcade version was new - but the gameplay lacks any of the nuanced depth of Nintendo's big hits of the time. Every once in a blue moon I find it fun to pop it in for a play or two, but it's not likely to sustain your interest beyond a few half-hour sessions. Yokoi and Totaka's names being attached to any project usually meant it would be a hit, but Urban Champion is missing their usual magic.
(If you are a big fan, though, there was a remake of it for the 3DS with some slick 3D graphics.)
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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