| Renegade | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Renegade_game_flyer.png) Renegade arcade game flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Technōs Japan |
| Publisher(s) | Taito |
| Designer(s) | Yoshihisa Kishimoto |
| Composer(s) | Kazuo Sawa |
| Series | Kunio-kun |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, NES, Master System, ZX Spectrum, Thomson, PlayStation 2 |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (Japanese: 熱血硬派くにおくん, loosely translated "Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio"), released as Renegade in the West, is a beat 'em up video game developed by Technōs Japan and distributed by Taito for the arcades in 1986.[4] In the original Japanese version Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, the game revolves around a high-school delinquent named Kunio-kun (or just Kunio) who must stand up against a series of rival gangs frequently targeting his classmate Hiroshi. In the Western version Renegade, the player controls a street brawler who must face four different gangs in order to rescue his girlfriend being held captive by a mob boss.
Created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the game was semi-autobiographical, partly based on his own teenage high school years getting into daily fights, with Kunio partly based on himself. He also drew inspiration from the Bruce Lee martial arts film Enter the Dragon (1973), which inspired the game's "knock-down-drag-out" fights, along with his own altercations as a youth. In order to make the game more appealing for the West, Technos produced a graphically-altered version with a visual style inspired by the 1979 film The Warriors, changing the looks of some of the game's characters and scenery.
It was an important game that defined the beat 'em up genre, establishing the standard gameplay format adopted by later games in the genre. In contrast to earlier side-scrolling martial arts games such as Kung-Fu Master (1984), Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun introduced key elements such as the belt scroll format where players can move horizontally and vertically in a scrolling arena-like space, a combat system incorporating combo attacks, the standard three-button control scheme, and a street brawling theme. It was the basis for Kishimoto's next game Double Dragon (1987), which further advanced and popularized its beat 'em up genre format.
The game was ported to a variety of game consoles and home computer platforms. Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun was the first game in the long-running Kunio-kun series in Japan. The game's Western localization Renegade also spawned its own spin-off series from British company Ocean Software on home computers, with the sequels Target: Renegade (1988) and Renegade III: The Final Chapter (1989).
- ^ "The Year In Review". Cash Box. January 17, 1987.
- ^ a b Akagi, Masumi (October 13, 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. pp. 43, 137. ISBN 978-4990251215.
- ^ "Ocean". Zzap!64. No. 29 (September 1987). August 1987. p. 119.
- ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 287. Amusement Press, Inc. July 1, 1986. p. 25.