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Kuri Kinton review

Game: Kuri Kinton
Platform: Arcade
Genre: Fighting Action
Developer: Taito Corporation

Reader review by goldenvortex

April 14, 2005

Kuri Kinton is a rather dull arcade platform game that’s best left alone. Age has stripped anything that hinted at being “fun” and the amount of rip offs from Dragon Ball are pretty unforgivable. Taito not only crafted a character that looked remarkably like Yamcha, about a close a rip-off as you can get without being sued. It throws this clone into a boring, repetitive and difficult platform game that has been left to rot in the arcade outcast pit with Oh My God! and Athena.

KK follows a martial arts theme; unfortunately, this isn’t the thrilling roller coaster ride that it seems. You get two buttons on the cabinet, one is to jump and the other is to attack. Pressing attack will make him punch or kick; it picks it out randomly. If you leave him standing, he’ll charge up an aura around his body that protects you from one attack. Holding down attack will make the fighter perform a strange stance. Get ready for Dragon Ball rip off #2:

Kame…

Hame…

Ha!

Cleverly disguised as the “Wave” technique, this guy unleashes the most popular move in Dragon Ball. When he uses this move, it will kill anything it hits. Unfortunately, it takes five seconds to charge, if you release it before you charge it fully; it will vanish. It might not seem a long time but enemies will come at you from both sides, if they hit your guy, you’ll have to recharge from scratch. It’s more effective if you just kick and punch as it saves time and spares your health.

Armoured guards attack you; some of them have guns while others use their fists. With your martial art skills, you’ll waste them easily. The majority of them only take one hit before they go flying off screen. Those that carry guns aren’t a problem because you can kick it out of their hands. Pressing the attack button quickly will unleash a series of random kicks and punches but it’s unwise to do this. Since enemies respawn constantly, you’ll be switching from left and right, punching and kicking crazily. It’s as repetitive as hell and you barely have enough time to charge up your “Wave” attack because the guys keep on coming.

At the top of the screen, you’ll notice a box. This will direct you on which passage to take and what way to go. If you walk along a path and find a grey patch on the floor, it may be an elevator. The box will display an arrow that shows you where to go, that’s easy as pie. Other obstacles that get in your way are standard platform distractions; spike pits and conveyer belts are the main perpetrators.

Get ready for rip off #3. This time it comes from a different source though, the manga series: Hokuto no Ken. The first boss looks a lot like Shin, from that series. You probably know what’s going to happen next. He leaps forward and does a twisted version of the “South Star Thousand Dragon Head Attack.” It’s a series of fast open handed lunges. Two rip offs from two sources in one game is pretty suspicious. Nice move, Taito!

Bosses are pretty tough; they’re a lot faster than you so don’t even think of using “Wave!” While you’re charging up, they’ll pound you into the ground. Apart from Shin, you’ll fight a guy who can split himself in two and a guy who throws ice at you. If you manage to knock his health down, they’ll attack with more speed that you cannot compare with. They’ll wipe the floor with you and the crap thing is that you can only continue a certain numbers of times, even if you put more coins in the machine, it’ll start the game all over.

The bright and colourful graphics are quite nice for 1988. The sprite of Yamcha’s clone is smooth and detailed, his facial expressions when he fights and when his “Wave” attack fails look great, following a distinct anime style. This character looks a bit goofy for a martial arts hero but his animation is quite fluid. Unfortunately, the enemy sprites look poor and dull, they are basically the same sprite but they are given various changes, different faces and colours. Not a direct palette swap but a more advanced and crafty one. The backgrounds are a real mix: the mountains on level one look smooth and the dragon pictures on the boss stages are ok. It’s a shame that all in-door levels are far too plain to stand out.

Kuri Kinton isn’t a joy to play; it’s boring, repetitive and annoying to control. The rip- offs from Dragon Ball and Hokuto no Ken dispose of this game’s originality. The basic gameplay offers something that is too basic and slow for today’s gamers. Using the special “Wave” attack isn’t a great help because it leaves you wide open due to the charging times. You won’t find it lying in your local arcade anymore. Thank God!

Rating: 2/10

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