Wi-Philes

• Platform: NES (VC)
• Genre: Arcade
• Developer: Nintendo
• Publisher: Nintendo
• The word from N-Philes
• Cost: 500 points
• Average Rating:

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Urban Champion

I don't recall Nintendo ever producing a more offensive or downright boring game than Urban Champion. The object of the game is to survive the longest as a street brawler by punching your opponent off the screen and eventually into a manhole, all the while trying to avoid the police. Someone tell me where Shigeru Miyamoto was when this debacle was thought up.

Controlling your "urban champion" during your one-on-one bouts, although simple, works terribly. "A" delivers a quick, light jab, while "B" delivers a long, heavy punch. Landing a jab pushes your opponent back a little, but landing a heavy punch will send him tumbling backwards. Pressing "left" or "right" (depending on which way your facing) will dodge incoming attacks, and "up" and "down" allows you to aim and block punches. Simple controls are great, but the problem is how unresponsive and slow everything works.

If you wanted to block a low punch then deliver a high, heavy hit you'd have to press "down", wait until you completely block the punch, press "up" to raise your hands, then press "B". The process takes so long that you're better off just mashing "B".

Oh, and then there's the police. Every 30 seconds or so a police car will come by. When it does, both city brawlers run away from each other and look up into the sky as if any nonsense were ever taking place. Kids can learn a lot from this game. At least after the 99-second time limit expires, the police come by again and pick up the fighter who has less stamina, or essentially, threw more punches. "You're under arrest for throwing 32 punches. You sir, are fine. You only threw 31. Have a good day."

There's a two-player option, but it isn't worth it. The game is so lackluster you wonder if it took them six months or six hours to make it. Shame on you Shiggy. I'm blaming you.

Legacy...

Urban Champion was released on November 14, 1984 in Japan and on August 1, 1986 in North America. It was re-released for the Nintendo e-Reader on November 11, 2002 and was used as a microgame in WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgame$. In Tetris DS, Standard mode stage 18 uses Urban Champion as a backdrop.

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