Highlights
- Nintendo Switch Online’s retro library now includes the hit Kunio-kun game, Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day.
- Field Day is a comically violent sports/action game with a unique twist on the Kunio-kun series, featuring ridiculous events and unsportsmanlike conduct.
- The game offers four-player multiplayer and is a great choice for nostalgic gamers who appreciate pixel graphics from the 90s.
You can probably relate to this, but these days, my fighting days are long behind me. Ahhh, who am I kidding? I’ve never been in a fight in my life! Hence video games are the perfect medium to vicariously serve a beating and, as I recall, one of my earliest digital fights transpired courtesy of Technōs Japan, home of Double Dragon and Downtown Nekketsu Story. Conveniently, it looks like now I can still gleefully kick back and kick-punch-jump the hell out of thugs while—figuratively— burning calories on my couch.
Nintendo Switch Online’s retro library will now include the incredibly popular and equally entertaining Kunio-kun hit known as *deep breath* Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day. This weird wild addition to the Kunio-kun universe has been available on Nintendo Switch since 2020, but with a frontline position on Switch Online’s Expansion Pack, the comically violent competitions of Nekketsu will hopefully get a fresh batch of contestants.
While Super Awesome Field Day originally came out on the Famicom console in 1990, you may have missed its North American debut, but it’s totally understandable. Due to it being buried under a stack of Technōs Japan titles in 2023’s super sweet compilation, Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle, Field Day may not have caught your eye. To be fair, I would’ve gone straight for Double Dragon 1, 2 3 and ten other Kunio-kun games instead, but the irony is that Field Day remains one of the most popular games in the entire Kunio-kun series. Why? The appeal isn’t just in its ridiculously long name.
If you think Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day is a mouthful, then try saying its original Japanese title “Downtown Nekketsu Kōshinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundōkai!” five times fast. The game’s bonkers name is just one element that underscores how much looser of a sequel it is when compared to Downtown Nekketsu Story (a.k.a River City Ransom). This time, the damsel-in-distress plot and exclusive beat ‘em up action have been replaced with a “healthy” sports competition between Kunio’s school and its rivals. Field Day is officially labeled as a “sports/action” game, which, I mean, it kind of is. Sure there are sports like…running and jumping, but it’s mostly about kicking ass with all manner of unsportsmanlike conduct.
Each event is an opportunity to literally drag your rivals through the mud and then stomp on them. Take the first and seemingly most harmless game, the cross-country race. It would be just your average sprint through town, someone’s living room, or sewer, but apparently someone left a bunch of gym equipment and bombs along the way, just in case you conveniently needed them.
My favorite though is the aptly-named Ball Breaking on Bars event which requires you to climb a highly-coveted pole and punch open the large jawbreaker at the top without getting assaulted by your opponents. The fourth and final event is a no-holds-barred throwdown that’s simultaneously on the nose, but satisfying. Nothing like extracurricular violence to put on your college application.
The real beauty here is that Field Day is one of a fairly small selection of four-player NES games, making it great for a party session with pals.
While I’m pumped about Field Day’s addition on Switch Online, it should be noted that I wasn’t an Online subscriber until Nintendo started dumping retro games onto their virtual shelves. Moreover, in regard to the wide world of Kunio-kun, I had no idea that River City Girls was even a spin-off until DS cohorts dropped some knowledge (you know who you are). Naturally, I’m biased towards the titles offered on Switch Online, but nostalgia is relative. Starfield may be a watershed gaming moment in many lives that will be fondly remembered, but for (cough cough) slightly older gamers like myself, pixel graphics from the 90s make me drool all over my keyboard, i.e. Field Day.
Switch Online subscriber or not (even though it may be worth it), give this sports-brawl jewel a jog around the block and see what all the hype’s about. After all, sweating while button mashing still technically counts as sweating.
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