Barf! River City Soccer Hooligans trailer, now with dogs

Arcade-style sports titles bring out the worst in me. During the tail end of my 21st birthday, I threw a rather embarrassing hissy fit because I was too drunk to win at Mario Kart 64; I’ve said terrible things to some of my best friends over games of NFL Blitz or NBA Jam; I almost had a coronary playing Windjammers against Jonathan Ross last week.

It might not be a good idea for me to even post about River City Soccer Hooligans,  much less think about buying it, but here we are.  

Kunio-kun no Nekketsu! Soccer League Plus World Hyper Cup (phew!) is a re-make of the 1993 Famicom version, and isn’t really a River City game at all. It is, however, a Kunio-kun game, an umbrella term that encompasses twenty-odd games with the same distinctive character style.

Confused? Don’t worry about it — River City Ransom was the most successful Kunio game in the U.S., so the name stuck.

You might be feeling a little disappointed that Alex and Ryan have been relegated to sports games on the DS, but take solace in the fact that Million Corp. has been dropping these little guys into sports games for years now. (Although Soccer Hooligans would’ve be a good way to get back to River City‘s 2D beat-’em-up roots.)

What does disappoint me, however, is that Kunio-kun’s transition into 3D hasn’t been particularly smooth or graceful. If I didn’t know already, there’s no way I’d be able to tell that Soccer Hooligans deserves the River City tag. I am kind of stoked, though, that there is what seems to be a playable puppy character! I can already feel that part of my brain that liked Mega Man Soccer warming up.

This is normally where I complain that this game won’t ever see the light of North American day, but Aksys Games are pulling publishing duty over here.

BARF!

Arc System Works Announces Kunio-Kun Remake for DS [AndriaSang via TinyCartridge]