Nintendo has released a large amount of games over the years, and while many are regarded as absolute classics, others have a more negative reputation. Urban Champion is one such game, and often is considered one of the worst games ever released by Nintendo. But is this a reputation that is warranted? Or is there more to the game than meets the eye?
After spending time with the recent Arcade Archives release of the game on Switch, I have to say that I do not get where the reputation of this being the worst Nintendo game comes from. This is not just a matter of it simply being not as bad as games like Ice Climber or Clu Clu Land either, as the game does have some strong points to it. For an early arcade fighting game, Urban Champion feels a lot stronger than it has any right to be. It is not that the game is amazing, but that the game has a lot of strong qualities.
To be more specific, in many early fighting games pre Street Fighter II. punching and hitting an opponent doesn’t really feel like anything. Its just a sprite doing an activity and nothing makes you feel like your attack had any real impact. With Urban Champion however, every hit feels like there is actual weight behind it. The fighting may be a bit basic by today’s standards, but this really does feel like a game where you are in a real fight. Not a flashy over the top fight, but a pure slugfest, where every hit matters.
The game is not just a matter of hitting over an over again, but actually has very distinct combat mechanics. You have two different styles of punches that can be delivered to two different areas. Its not the same as a four button fighter, but there are indeed four specific attacks you can use. One can also argue, as IndieGamerChick has done here, that Urban Champion, with tis focus on knocking an opponent offscreen ( into a manhole) is a sort of precursor to Super Smash Bros.
The game is bare bones, but that doesn’t make it a terrible game per se. I had a surprising amount of fun with this and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I would love it if Nintendo would consider reviving this IP, perhaps giving it to an indie developer such as WayForward ( which I argued for here), or perhaps QUByte Interactive, both of whom have experience with brawler style games. They could make this a very fun beat em up style game, and that is something we can all appreciate.
Urban Champion is much better than the reputation it gets, and I suggest trying it out for yourself. For those curious, Arcade Archives Urban Champion is available on Nintendo Switch here. I think you will all be pleasantly surprised.
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