The lack of an official localization certainly didn’t help, although it can easily be played without knowing Japanese. There’s nothing wrong with that, mind you, but it might explain why the game has largely been forgotten. In comparison to other beat-em-ups of the day, Nekketsu Oyako doesn’t stand out stylistically or in more obvious ways despite being on 32-bit hardware. But the actual character animation features weak timing and frames, resulting in attacks or moments that don’t look satisfying to watch. Certain sections are particularly memorable for how odd they are, such as a stage where you’re fighting your way through the belly of a whale, or a section where you’re on a blazing fast rollercoaster fending off dozens of foes. In its defense, the framerate is consistent, the color schemes are varied and somewhat pleasing, special attacks are accompanied by cool effects, and every level offers at least two sections with unique settings and artwork. The sound effects fit what’s going on and the soundtrack (whose composer is currently unknown since the game doesn’t seem to credit its staff) is appropriately fast-paced and catchy, but they don’t intensify the action or the excitement as much as they want to. Part of it has to do with the unremarkable presentation. However, while there’s plenty of things it does well, Nekketsu Oyako doesn’t really stand out otherwise. Locales change frequently enough, with new obstacles or gimmicks to keep things interesting, and most sections never overstay their welcome. Thankfully, this is mitigated by some well paced levels. Whether it’s the roller-blading kids who keep moving around, the black-mask boxers with enormous health bars, or the “Freddy” cyborgs and their far-reaching claws, certain combat encounters can’t help but drag. That said, some enemies become rather tedious after a while. The design of said encounters also plays a big role in this, with new enemy types being introduced in every level, and each encounter throwing different combinations of foes at you (which also vary between the four difficulty settings). Some of these moves can be exploited if you know what you’re doing, but it means that the many combat encounters never get truly boring since there’s so many moves to experiment with. Tora sits in the middle, with a comparatively limited moveset that can still deal some damage. Rio is perhaps the weakest of the three, but quite versatile with her special hammer. While Rando’s the slowest character, he can pull off some deadly suplexes and powerslams among other crowd-clearing moves. Standard combos, moves that require fighting game-styled inputs to pull off, two grab attacks, a pair of aerial attacks depending on what direction you press, a dash attack, and a special screen-clearing attack that reduces your health: it offers up a wealth of options for taking on enemies, and each character has their own unique movesets. Where things get interesting is in the surprising amount of moves each character has. As an adult, only Rando can drink beer and use the bazooka, but Rio and Tora have no problem using every other firearm left behind. There’s your usual assortment of regenerative items and melee/ranged weapons to use on enemies, though a nice touch is that what you can use depends on the character you’re playing as. Nekketsu Oyako is a fairly typical beat-em-up of the era, having you travel along linear levels and fighting all manner of enemies on your way to the boss at the end. When scientist Saeko Hibino is kidnapped by the dastardly Haraguro organization to build a doomsday device, her pro-wrestling husband Rando, their fighting prodigy daughter Rio, and Saeko’s assistant Toratarou “Tora” Minoru set out to fight their way through and rescue her. The name “ Nekketsu Oyako” translates to something along the lines of “Hot-Blooded Family”, which perfectly describes the Hibino family. Though largely forgotten, it’s nevertheless an enjoyable time with some especially interesting combat mechanics. #NEKKETSU OYAKO PSX SERIES#Quite literally, as they released a beat-em-up for the PlayStation’s Japanese launch called Nekketsu Oyako (not to be confused with the Kunio-kun series despite prominently featuring “Nekketsu” in the title). However, while they had largely made side-scrolling shooters with the odd off-shoot, they started developing games in other genres around the dawn of the sixth generation. When most people think of Technosoft, it’s usually for their technically impressive Thunder Force games or the groundbreaking Herzog Zwei.
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