May 1986: I don't like the looks of those teenagers
by Diamond Feit
I'm prepared to get yelled at but I have to open this column with a loaded question: Did anyone out there actually enjoy high school? All of the media I read or watched in my early years lovingly depicted homecoming weekend, prom dates, and pep rallies. By the time I entered my teenage era and actually set foot in high school, however, I found it bereft of whimsy or magic. On the contrary, I now look back at that stretch of time as the worst period of my entire life as academic pressures, sexual frustration, and my own depressive tendencies all ran amok.
My agonizing high school experience did have a silver lining as it contained far less violence than I was led to believe. I saw Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid, Marty McFly in Back to the Future, and even Peter Parker in the pages of Spider-Man encounter bullies looking for blood. While I had my share of tormentors, they settled for emotional attacks rather than physical, the kind of abuse that merely damaged my spirit and sapped my will to live.
Moving to Japan as an adult opened my eyes to an entire new spectrum of high school-based stories. Unlike in the US, Japanese students carefully select an institution based upon its academic reputation and must pass a rigorous exam to enroll. Once in, they select electives and extra-curricular activities which will shape their social circles. Some even move away from home to attend classes, giving it an atmosphere closer to college.
Regardless of nation or culture, there's more to high school than textbooks and homework. Any place that collects hundreds of young people on the verge of adulthood and sorts them into small rooms will see its share of conflict. You might presume that Japan's overall image of cleanliness and order would reflect its teenage population\u2014they wear such nice uniforms in class\u2014but the path to maturity is never a straight line.
40 years ago this month, a video game inspired by its lead designer's raucous high school years kicked off a franchise of teens fightin' teens while also creating the template for an entire genre of future titles. Nekketsu K\u014dha Kunio-kun introduced the world to a passionate leading man willing to risk his life for his friends, even if it means beating up every single person he meets.
That Japanese title is a real mouthful, so let's break it down: Nekketsu (\u71b1\u8840) literally means \"hot-blooded\" and it implies the subject holds deep feelings and a strong spirit. K\u014dha (\u786c\u6d3e) conveys a similar intensity, one often associated with masculinity. Kunio-kun refers to the main character, named for the president of Technos Japan Kunio Taki.
The tale of Kunio-kun begins outside of Nekketsu High School where a trio of blue-clad punks punch a white-suited student into unconsciousness. The hapless victim is Hiroshi, and as soon as he hits the ground his best buddy Kunio rushes after the cowardly assailants who exit stage left. Cut to a platform at a nearby station where Kunio squares off against six opponents, all while their leader stands and watches from a waiting train.
With no backup coming to his aid, Kunio has to take down everyone on screen by himself before the timer or his life bar expires. Once he KOs enough underlings, the boss will emerge\u2014complete with their own life bar\u2014and enter the fray. The first two arenas have out of bounds hazards that make short work of anyone who falls over the edge, but that includes Kunio so getting too close can lead to a premature game over.
Clearing out one patch of thugs leads to another scene at the high school where Hiroshi gets his clock cleaned again and Kunio rushes off to a new area. Each brawl ups the ante from the previous one: Stage 2 pits Kunio against a motorcycle gang who try to run him over with their bikes, Stage 3's female gang all carry weapons, and the last area has grown-ass yakuza with knives that can kill Kunio in one hit. The final boss even sports a handgun and he does not hesitate to aim it against a teenage target.
Kunio-kun features two attack buttons and one jump button but instead of simple punch or kick commands, the buttons strike to the left and right. Depending on the direction Kunio faces, he'll either swing his fists forward or stick out his leg behind him; the former moves faster but the latter hits harder. Attacking mid-air always results in a jump kick, a move with great range although smart enemies can duck to avoid Kunio's foot.
Double-tapping the joystick sends Kunio rushing forward and a well-timed button press will knock down anyone in his way with a running blow. Kunio can also grapple with enemies if he gets in close, kneeing them in the gut or tossing them over his shoulder. Kunio has no qualms about mounting a downed-but-not-out adversary and punching them in the face, but if they've got enough fight left in them they'll throw him off and insult his arrogance.
Plenty of video games prior to the release of Kunio-kun sent players on a quest to march from one side of the screen to the other as hostiles try to stop them. Irem's Kung-Fu Master\u2014as the title implies\u2014stars a man seeking to rescue a damsel with nothing but his martial-arts prowess. Konami's Rush'n Attack equipped its hero with a knife and trusted him to pick up more weapons along the way.
Kunio-kun improves upon all these antecedents by giving players open space to navigate rather than a single plane to traverse. Pressing up or down on the joystick allows players to maneuver Kunio out of or into harm's way as needed. Crowd control is the only way to overcome the odds as Kunio's opponents can endure multiple hits before collapsing. Players need to strategize and improvise if they hope to survive, not just mash buttons as cannon-fodder foes encroach upon them single-file.
Kunio-kun also benefits from its admittedly sparse narrative, one that strives to cast the protagonist in a good light even as he commits repeated acts of wanton violence. Speaking to Dengeki Online in 2011, director Yoshihisa Kishimoto explained the team's approach. \"At that time arcade games could get by with or without a story,\" Kishimoto said, \"But we wanted to show that Kunio was a righteous delinquent, so that's why we had him rescue Hiroshi in the end.\"
Kishimoto had ulterior motives for portraying his creation positively, as he drew upon his own rough-and-tumble youth when conceiving of Kunio. \"I was a delinquent in high school,\" Kishimoto wrote in a 2004 blogpost, \"and back then the phrase 'Who's a hot-blooded tough guy?' was all the rage with me and my fellow hooligans.\"
Kishimoto had joined Technos Japan after a stint directing Laserdisc games at Data East. Even though shooting games were far more popular at the time, Kishimoto had confidence that his brawler concept had legs. He and his colleagues developed Kunio-kun in just four months\u2014often working through the night\u2014but their perseverance paid off. Kunio-kun quickly topped the arcade charts, with subsequent ports appearing on home consoles and computers around the world.
Speaking of the global market, Technos Japan took the unusual step of reskinning Kunio-kun before releasing it abroad as Renegade. With all-new graphics, the adventure transformed from that of a high school boy standing up for his friend to an adult man taking on inner-city gangs. The vengeance angle is removed as there's no Hiroshi-equivalent in the Western version; should the hero succeed, he gets a kiss from an unnamed lady friend.
Nekketsu K\u014dha Kunio-kun's success forged two distinct legacies. First and foremost, Technos Japan embraced the fiery youngster as a sort of mascot as the company produced a number of sequels and spinoffs starring Kunio, his friends, and his rivals. Some of these games\u2014such as the innovative River City Ransom\u2014feature the same sort of street fighting seen in Kunio's debut. Others see the boys engaging in healthier contests like dodgeball, soccer, and an urban version of the Olympics.
Kunio's less direct but arguably more significant impact on the medium arrived in 1987 when Technos Japan pushed Kishimoto for a quasi-sequel, one that two players could enjoy together as that meant more money for arcade operators. With no interest in another Renegade-style localization, the company urged Kishimoto to come up with characters and a setting that they could ship as-is overseas.
Kishimoto's follow-up ditched high school in favor of a post-apocalyptic American nightmare where two brothers take the law into their own hands by relying on many of the same moves Kunio used back in Japan. His new game, called Double Dragon because of its dual protagonists, electrified audiences and firmly established what we now call the Beat 'em up genre.
The ensuing years delivered dozens of copycats seeking to duplicate Double Dragon's success, including Capcom's Final Fight, SNK's Sengoku, and Konami's multitude of multiplayer games featuring mobs of licensed characters. For all the innovations these other titles introduced, they still owe their existence to Kishimoto and Kunio.
Sadly, we bid farewell to Yoshihisa Kishimoto in April 2026 at just 64 years of age. None of his subsequent games matched the magnitude of his work in the late 80s, but he got to witness new generations rediscovering his classic creations and imparted his story to millions of fans through interviews. One of those interviews came in 2013 when The Huffington Post asked him if he thought players would continue to enjoy his games far in the future. I'll give Kishimoto\u2014father to Kunio and the genre\u2014the final word: \"I don\u2019t know if people will play Double Dragon in 100 years but I think that Beat 'em up is a timeless kind of game.\"
Writer/podcaster/performer Diamond Feit has written professionally since 2009 and contributed to Retronauts since 2018. Look up feitclub on social media or visit Diamond's lofi website.
", "contentSnippet": "May 1986: I don't like the looks of those teenagers\nby Diamond Feit\nI'm prepared to get yelled at but I have to open this column with a loaded question: Did anyone out there actually enjoy high school? All of the media I read or watched in my early years lovingly depicted homecoming weekend, prom dates, and pep rallies. By the time I entered my teenage era and actually set foot in high school, however, I found it bereft of whimsy or magic. On the contrary, I now look back at that stretch of time as the worst period of my entire life as academic pressures, sexual frustration, and my own depressive tendencies all ran amok.\nMy agonizing high school experience did have a silver lining as it contained far less violence than I was led to believe. I saw Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid, Marty McFly in Back to the Future, and even Peter Parker in the pages of Spider-Man encounter bullies looking for blood. While I had my share of tormentors, they settled for emotional attacks rather than physical, the kind of abuse that merely damaged my spirit and sapped my will to live.\nMoving to Japan as an adult opened my eyes to an entire new spectrum of high school-based stories. Unlike in the US, Japanese students carefully select an institution based upon its academic reputation and must pass a rigorous exam to enroll. Once in, they select electives and extra-curricular activities which will shape their social circles. Some even move away from home to attend classes, giving it an atmosphere closer to college.\nRegardless of nation or culture, there's more to high school than textbooks and homework. Any place that collects hundreds of young people on the verge of adulthood and sorts them into small rooms will see its share of conflict. You might presume that Japan's overall image of cleanliness and order would reflect its teenage population\u2014they wear such nice uniforms in class\u2014but the path to maturity is never a straight line.\n40 years ago this month, a video game inspired by its lead designer's raucous high school years kicked off a franchise of teens fightin' teens while also creating the template for an entire genre of future titles. Nekketsu K\u014dha Kunio-kun introduced the world to a passionate leading man willing to risk his life for his friends, even if it means beating up every single person he meets.\nThat Japanese title is a real mouthful, so let's break it down: Nekketsu (\u71b1\u8840) literally means \"hot-blooded\" and it implies the subject holds deep feelings and a strong spirit. K\u014dha (\u786c\u6d3e) conveys a similar intensity, one often associated with masculinity. Kunio-kun refers to the main character, named for the president of Technos Japan Kunio Taki.\nThe tale of Kunio-kun begins outside of Nekketsu High School where a trio of blue-clad punks punch a white-suited student into unconsciousness. The hapless victim is Hiroshi, and as soon as he hits the ground his best buddy Kunio rushes after the cowardly assailants who exit stage left. Cut to a platform at a nearby station where Kunio squares off against six opponents, all while their leader stands and watches from a waiting train.\nWith no backup coming to his aid, Kunio has to take down everyone on screen by himself before the timer or his life bar expires. Once he KOs enough underlings, the boss will emerge\u2014complete with their own life bar\u2014and enter the fray. The first two arenas have out of bounds hazards that make short work of anyone who falls over the edge, but that includes Kunio so getting too close can lead to a premature game over.\nClearing out one patch of thugs leads to another scene at the high school where Hiroshi gets his clock cleaned again and Kunio rushes off to a new area. Each brawl ups the ante from the previous one: Stage 2 pits Kunio against a motorcycle gang who try to run him over with their bikes, Stage 3's female gang all carry weapons, and the last area has grown-ass yakuza with knives that can kill Kunio in one hit. The final boss even sports a handgun and he does not hesitate to aim it against a teenage target.\nKunio-kun features two attack buttons and one jump button but instead of simple punch or kick commands, the buttons strike to the left and right. Depending on the direction Kunio faces, he'll either swing his fists forward or stick out his leg behind him; the former moves faster but the latter hits harder. Attacking mid-air always results in a jump kick, a move with great range although smart enemies can duck to avoid Kunio's foot.\nDouble-tapping the joystick sends Kunio rushing forward and a well-timed button press will knock down anyone in his way with a running blow. Kunio can also grapple with enemies if he gets in close, kneeing them in the gut or tossing them over his shoulder. Kunio has no qualms about mounting a downed-but-not-out adversary and punching them in the face, but if they've got enough fight left in them they'll throw him off and insult his arrogance.\nPlenty of video games prior to the release of Kunio-kun sent players on a quest to march from one side of the screen to the other as hostiles try to stop them. Irem's Kung-Fu Master\u2014as the title implies\u2014stars a man seeking to rescue a damsel with nothing but his martial-arts prowess. Konami's Rush'n Attack equipped its hero with a knife and trusted him to pick up more weapons along the way.\nKunio-kun improves upon all these antecedents by giving players open space to navigate rather than a single plane to traverse. Pressing up or down on the joystick allows players to maneuver Kunio out of or into harm's way as needed. Crowd control is the only way to overcome the odds as Kunio's opponents can endure multiple hits before collapsing. Players need to strategize and improvise if they hope to survive, not just mash buttons as cannon-fodder foes encroach upon them single-file.\nKunio-kun also benefits from its admittedly sparse narrative, one that strives to cast the protagonist in a good light even as he commits repeated acts of wanton violence. Speaking to Dengeki Online in 2011, director Yoshihisa Kishimoto explained the team's approach. \"At that time arcade games could get by with or without a story,\" Kishimoto said, \"But we wanted to show that Kunio was a righteous delinquent, so that's why we had him rescue Hiroshi in the end.\"\nKishimoto had ulterior motives for portraying his creation positively, as he drew upon his own rough-and-tumble youth when conceiving of Kunio. \"I was a delinquent in high school,\" Kishimoto wrote in a 2004 blogpost, \"and back then the phrase 'Who's a hot-blooded tough guy?' was all the rage with me and my fellow hooligans.\"\nKishimoto had joined Technos Japan after a stint directing Laserdisc games at Data East. Even though shooting games were far more popular at the time, Kishimoto had confidence that his brawler concept had legs. He and his colleagues developed Kunio-kun in just four months\u2014often working through the night\u2014but their perseverance paid off. Kunio-kun quickly topped the arcade charts, with subsequent ports appearing on home consoles and computers around the world.\nSpeaking of the global market, Technos Japan took the unusual step of reskinning Kunio-kun before releasing it abroad as Renegade. With all-new graphics, the adventure transformed from that of a high school boy standing up for his friend to an adult man taking on inner-city gangs. The vengeance angle is removed as there's no Hiroshi-equivalent in the Western version; should the hero succeed, he gets a kiss from an unnamed lady friend.\nNekketsu K\u014dha Kunio-kun's success forged two distinct legacies. First and foremost, Technos Japan embraced the fiery youngster as a sort of mascot as the company produced a number of sequels and spinoffs starring Kunio, his friends, and his rivals. Some of these games\u2014such as the innovative River City Ransom\u2014feature the same sort of street fighting seen in Kunio's debut. Others see the boys engaging in healthier contests like dodgeball, soccer, and an urban version of the Olympics.\nKunio's less direct but arguably more significant impact on the medium arrived in 1987 when Technos Japan pushed Kishimoto for a quasi-sequel, one that two players could enjoy together as that meant more money for arcade operators. With no interest in another Renegade-style localization, the company urged Kishimoto to come up with characters and a setting that they could ship as-is overseas.\nKishimoto's follow-up ditched high school in favor of a post-apocalyptic American nightmare where two brothers take the law into their own hands by relying on many of the same moves Kunio used back in Japan. His new game, called Double Dragon because of its dual protagonists, electrified audiences and firmly established what we now call the Beat 'em up genre.\nThe ensuing years delivered dozens of copycats seeking to duplicate Double Dragon's success, including Capcom's Final Fight, SNK's Sengoku, and Konami's multitude of multiplayer games featuring mobs of licensed characters. For all the innovations these other titles introduced, they still owe their existence to Kishimoto and Kunio.\nSadly, we bid farewell to Yoshihisa Kishimoto in April 2026 at just 64 years of age. None of his subsequent games matched the magnitude of his work in the late 80s, but he got to witness new generations rediscovering his classic creations and imparted his story to millions of fans through interviews. One of those interviews came in 2013 when The Huffington Post asked him if he thought players would continue to enjoy his games far in the future. I'll give Kishimoto\u2014father to Kunio and the genre\u2014the final word: \"I don\u2019t know if people will play Double Dragon in 100 years but I think that Beat 'em up is a timeless kind of game.\"\nWriter/podcaster/performer Diamond Feit has written professionally since 2009 and contributed to Retronauts since 2018. Look up feitclub on social media or visit Diamond's lofi website.", "guid": "157693258", "isoDate": "2026-05-10T11:00:08.000Z", "itunes": { "duration": "816", "image": "https://c10.patreonusercontent.com/4/patreon-media/p/post/157693258/d67d937e53d449d19c8039a402f12b13/eyJkIjo3MiwiaCI6MzAwMCwic3RyaXBfYWxwaGEiOjEsInciOjMwMDAsIndlYnAiOjB9/1.jpg?token-hash=bWs6OvcpzkrOGoeco_dGnb8AST48xK01xA7p59hutfU%3D" }, "itunes_duration": "0:13:35" }