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Urban Champion (JP) is a game for the NES that came out in 1984 in Japan, and 1986 in America. The gameplay consists of you in a small town as you try to punch your enemy into a sewer. The game was re-released on the e-Reader, and has made cameo appearances in the WarioWare series, and in Tetris DS. In 2006, 2011, and 2013, respectively, the game was re-released on the Wii, Wii U, & Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. The arcade version was releases as a part of the Arcade Archives on Nintendo Switch in November 2018 by Hamster.

Gameplay[]

The game, as its name implies, takes place in an urban setting. The brawl will take place in front of a building labeled "Snack Bar". The goal of each match is to knock the opposing character off the screen. Each character has stamina which is defined by a set number on the bottom of the screen. Each punch you throw will cost one stamina, and being punched will also cost, as will being hit in the head with a flower pot which occasionally drops from above. The following are ways you can lose stamina:

  • Delivering a punch: removes 1 stamina.
  • Being hit by a light punch: remotes 1 stamina.
  • Being hit by a flower pot: removes 5 stamina.
  • Being hit by a heavy punch: removes 9 stamina.
  • A backwards roll: removes 9 stamina.

The player can deliver high and low punches which can be executed by pressing up and down on the d-pad while punching, respectively. Light and heavy punches can also be dished out depending on the button you press (A button for light punches and the B button for heavy punches). The heavy punches are easily blocked by the player, though they send the enemy farther back if connected (note that they also take longer to complete). Light attacks are harder to block, but won't send the character as far back.

Other buildings listed are "Barber Shop", "Book Store", "Discount Store" and "Restaraunt". Other factors that affect gameplay are hearing police sirens at random, which is then prompted by a squad car patrolling the building. Should the police car appear, both players will withdraw from fighting and stand by lampposts, giving the appearance of whistling and minding their own business (effectively returning the players to the starting position). Another way to lose or win a fight is for the timer to run out. Should the timer expire, the sirens will be heard and the squad car reappears, with the policeman arresting the player who was the farther distance from his start point. When a player has been knocked off the screen twice, his third fight will take place with an open manhole in his opposite direction. Knocking the opponent into a manhole will cause a lady to appear in one of the windows, who praises the winning player by showering him with confetti. If your opponent gets arrested during the third fight, the same victory scene with confetti will take place.

Legacy[]

Urban champion title

Title screen.

The game has been re-released as an e-Reader game and as a Wii Virtual Console title. Masahiro Sakurai, the director of the Super Smash Bros. series, wanted to include a classic NES character in Super Smash Bros. Melee. One of the characters he thought about including was the playable character from Urban Champion, but ultimately chose the Ice Climbers. An Urban Champion based micro game was featured in the Game Boy Advance title WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! and its GameCube remake WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!. In the standard play mode of Tetris DS, one of the themes that'll appear on the top screen is Urban Champion. In the Wii game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Urban Champion is one of the many titles that appears in the Chronicles section. In the Nintendo DS video game WarioWare D.I.Y., a game based on Urban Champion has the player knocking the opponent out when his guard is down.

In 2010, Nintendo demonstrated the capabilities of the Nintendo 3DS at E3 by showcasing various titles, both old and new. Various games the publisher showed in new and enhanced 3D included several Nintendo Entertainment System games, Urban Champion included. The game wasn't playable, but instead people could watch a video of the game. It was part of a tech demo called Classic Games.

In 2013, Nintendo featured this game as one of the 16 games within NES Remix.

External links[]

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