INTRODUCTION TO THE
SERIES.
Welcome! This section of the site will attempt to answer all the questions you
have about the Kunio-kun series and Technos in general. If your question isn't
answered here, sent me an e-mail me by clicking here.
Q:What's the Kunio-kun
series? A:The Kunio-kun series was a series of videogames
that were produced by the now-defunct Technos Japan Corp. The series centered
around a high school student named Kunio who helped his school (Nekketsu High
School) win several sports tournament and he fight against gang members to
protect his friends. There are two type of Kunio-kun games in the series, the SD
series (which mostly consist of sports games) and the gangster series (which
consist mostly of beat-em-ups). Technos released Kunio-kun games one after
another until 1996, with Nekketsu Dodgeball Densetsu for the Neo-Geo being the
last.
Q:What was
Technos Japan Corp. and what happened to them? A:Technos Japan Corp. was the company that made the Nekketsu
series. They did other games such as the Double Dragon series and Sugoro Quest.
Technos Japan had a very humble beginning, making arcade games like Karate Champ
(which was published by Data East), Mysterious Stones and Mat Mania. Around
1986, they released Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun in Japan, which was huge hit in
Japan. Around 1987, Technos started making games for Nintendo's Famicom, and
later they made games for the Game Boy and Super Famicom. Technos even published
Geom Cube, one of the earliest PlayStation games ever. Around 1995, Technos
became a third-party company for the Neo-Geo, developing Double Dragon (loosely
based on the movie) and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer for the Neo-Geo.
Unfortunately, Technos went bankrupted during 1996 (around the time they
released Super Dodge Ball for Neo-Geo) and went out of business. The former
president is now working for a company called Milion.
They had an
American subsidiary called American Technos Inc., which published River City
Ransom and Crash N' the Boys: Street Challenge for the NES. They didn't do much,
since most of Technos' games in America were released by other companies (Taito,
Tradewest, Acclaim), even though they planned to release several Nekketsu games
in the U.S under the Crash N' the Boys title.
Q:How many games were made in
the series? A: There have been 26
Kunio-kun games in which Technos Japan Corp. has had a direct involvement. 11
for Famicom, 7 for Game Boy, 5 for Super Famicom, 2 Arcade games and a Neo-Geo
Dodgeball title. There were also ports of the Downtown Nekketsu games for the PC
Engine and Mega Drive by Naxat Soft and Palsoft respectively, as well as ports
for Sharp's X68000 computer for a grand total of 35 games in Japan.
Q: Is Nekketsu
Oyako a Kunio-kun game? A:No.
Nekketsu Oyako was a first-generation Final Fight-clone for the PlayStation by a
company called Tecnosoft (which is the main reason for this confusion).
Tecnosoft did the Thunder Force series, but they have nothing to do with Technos
Japan Corp.
Q:Which Kunio-kun games have been released outside Japan and what
are the titles? A:
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American Technos also had plans to release a whole lineup of Nekketsu games in
the U.S under the Crash 'n the Boys series, but sadly none of them were
released outside of Japan. There is also an American game called Target:
Renegade, which is Taito's sequel to Renegade. Technos had nothing to do with
that game.
Q:Was there ever an anime or manga based on Kunio-kun? A:There isn't a Kunio-kun anime that I'm
aware of, but there were several manga books based on the series, such as Ore
wa Otoko Da! ('I'm a Man'), which was published in Koro Koro Comics, Nekketsu
Shoubu and Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun: Yon koma Manga Oukoku' ('4 Panel Manga
Kingdom').
If you have any more questions ask them at jundaunted@hotmail.com and I'll try to answer
as best I can. If you got any more question ask them at jundaunted@hotmail.com and I might give you an
answer.
INTRODUCTION TO THE
SERIES.