Aha ha ha ha... you know a game is going to be good, mindless fun when the back of its manual has more personality than most subpar games possess in their entirety, with thugs making remarks like "I don't need any stinkin' manual to tell me how to KICK ASS!" or "Why am I on the back cover!? I clearly have the best hair in this game!". Sadly, most overseas gamers are unlikely to experience Kenka Bancho in all of its glory. Why? Because it's seen by many mainstream gamers as a watered-down Shenmue or Sega's Yakuza game (though the fighting isn't as realistic as Shenmue and while it shares quite a few similarities with Yakuza, Kenka Bancho came out FIRST) and because considering there are five games currently in the series and only the U.S. has seen ONE title translated, things aren't looking good.
Kenka Bancho(u) is a 3D sandbox beat-em-up similar to Yakuza from its propensity for acting outlandishly badass and romancing females on the side right down to its -initially- baffling and clunky control system, but is more task-orientated with you having to ride vehicles and get to places within a certain timeframe while gathering itineraries or contacting people over the phone to trigger sensitive events, appeals to a somewhat younger demographic (as you play as an aspiring high school "bancho", or leader of delinquents), focuses more on character customization, is more fluid in its pacing, and is somewhat reminiscent of more old-school 2D beat-em-ups like River City Ransom. The game originated on PS2 back in the middle of 2005 and the series is primarily developed by Spike and other, more small-time developers like Y'sK and Bullets.
Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble (or Kenka BanchÅ 3: Zenkoku Seiha) is the first portable game in the series, and was given its U.S. name due to a poll that Atlus USA, the publishers, had conducted. In this game, you play as the toughest bancho of your school in Hokkaido, Takashi Sakamoto (all by default), who is on a week-long trip with his classmates to Japan's historic city of Kyouto (he is there initially by force because he won't graduate if he doesn't go). As he's travelling with his best friend, Yohei Sawakita, they accidentally bump into a vicious group led by a guy who claims that he's the bancho of Hokkaido. Takashi decides to show the punks that there is only one bancho in Hokkaido and after thoroughly roughing them up, they come to the conclusion that there must be schools from all over visiting Kyouto and that means plenty of other banchos too, so they declare that they'll find them all and beat them, becoming the number one bancho in all of Japan. So you have seven days and so little time to go where you want, do what you want, and find out about all the banchos in the city.
And there are a lot of banchos to find... dozens even (one for each of the 47 prefectures of Japan), but you won't "just" be fighting in this game. In Kenka Bancho, there is a certain etiquette and nobility involved that's less than the bushido code but more than that of a ruthless punk. For starters, the proper way to be a bancho and not a foolish-ass shabazo (weakling) is to initiate a fight by glaring at your opponent with a "Menchi Beam" which is the most brutal form of eye contact. Once a fighter accepts your challenge, you initiate in a war of words to decide who gets the upper hand. THIS. IS. MANLY! You also must avoid senseless violence, watch your stamina, and not attack people with weapons as it is so "not" shibui (cool) to do so. With great honor comes great respect from citizens and shopkeepers, as well as from "peons" whom you can call to fight with you. You should also do well to keep promises, avoid police, defeat Shinsengumi, and get where you want on time. As you fight, you can gain levels, improve your parameters, learn moves, customize your attack pairs, and even gain ultimate "local specialty attacks" that unleash the true power of a bancho and sometimes defy logic (such as blasting someone with a super-powered menchi). If you're having trouble, you can participate in untimed "Night Out" events to gain bancho soul (for stats), earn money, and trigger a few special events.
You can woo a few ladies, buy souvenirs and various other goods, and the game obviously has a lot of replayability. It features okay visuals, a decent city to explore, decent load times, and an okay soundtrack that is usually non-existent when exploring. Overall, it's a fun portable game that's a little rough around the edges and hopefully a few more will be localized. Enjoy (on hard, for true banchos!).
Format Recorded: UMD
Media/Distribution: UMD/Download
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Kenka Bancho Badass Rumble OST - Bancho Asskickingby RivalTheDragon507 views
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