Luigi Mario

Crash 'N The Boys: Street Challenge

Publisher/Developer: Technos

System: NES

Genre: Sports

Introduction:

October 1992 was this games debut in the states. This was probably the first and only game that was based off of the popular Kunio and Riki(Better known in the states as Alex and Ryan) series, but had absolutely none of the same names as the series. Instead, this game introduced new characters like Crash Cooney(Obviously the main Character) and his rival Todd Thornley. The inspiration was clearly there, but the name change kinda blew the fantasy for me.

N-E-Way, the plot: Rich little Todd Thornley and his overly-spiffy High School, Thornley High, has been beaten time and time again by Crash Cooney and his crew from Southside High. Todd's father is furious at him shaming the family name and orders his son to make him proud or he's out on the streets. Todd then issues a challenge to Crash and his boys to a no-hold-barred, anything goes, track meet-like event. Crash, naturally, agrees, and the fight is on. But three other high Schools, Washington High, Lincon High, and Jefferson High, enter as well.....for no good reason...Yeah...whatever. N-E-Way. Onto the review.

Reviewed by: MattDDR

Graphics: A  

Much like Legend, I've also been a big fan of the graphic quality of Technos. They put all of the trademark style into this game as they did River City Ransom, Super Dodge Ball and Nintendo World Cup. The movements are a little smoother than all three of these games as well. They did a good job with this one, with the exception that because of the NES's graphic quality, everything is naturally choppy. Eh well. It still was good enough for an A.

Sound: B  

Pretty much the same thing as all of the Technos games for NES. If you're a fan of it all then It might be an A, but if you're either partial to it, or not really too big on it, then It'll be a C....maybe a D. I would personally give it an A, but I really think it's more of a tug-of-war, considering everything about Technos's sound quality being just about the same in all of their carts.

Control: B  

The controls differ from the event you play. And I really rather not go through all of them....But even though it's only two buttons, the controls will be difficult at times and will take time to master. Let's just say that after you play some of the events, you'll find yourself sweating more than a human being should be allowed to from all of the button mashing you'll be doing. I'm not kidding around here..... But after you get used to the controls, it should be like second nature. but if there's something you don't understand(and there WILL be), you can always go to gamefaqs.com for an FAQ. There's only like....one at the moment, but it WILL be useful.


Gameplay: C  

Words cannot decribe the cheapness of this game....but I'll try anyway.

The object of the game is to be the team after all of the events with the most medals and money, pretty much like the olympics. there are 5 events. There's the 400-Meter Dash, where you jump over hurdles, even pick them up and throw them at your opponent, and guess what else, you can jump and do a Hurricane Kick over them and bash the guy next to you while doing so. Then there's the Hammer Throw. It's like a combination of Hammer throw and Golf. You have to get it across the finish line in the least amount of throws possible. You'll be doing a lot of button mashing on this one. Then there's swimming. This is just plain old fustrating. In this event, you have to make your opponent drown by fighting and swimming at the same time. This is, hands down, the toughest event in the entire game. Next there's Roof Top Jumping. Where you jump from rooftop to rooftop by pole vaulting across them and also using a unicycle. This is a tough event. If you fall off the roof too many times, the event ends, and just getting across the roofs'll be tough. And finally, my favorite event, plain-old fighting. Where....well....you fight. That's pretty much it. But it's harder than it looks. MUCH harder. At times, you'll be grappling like in wrestling. If you don't have enough stamina, you opponent will do some sort of move on you, and all of the grapple moves are named. I say, that was pretty sweet, but nerve-racking.

As for the CPU difficulty, I really don't need to say this, but it's gonna take possibly HOURS upon HOURS of practice just to be able to get passed the first event. The CPU difficulty acts like it knows what it's doing with everything 100% of the time, even if you don't. When I picked this game up for the first time, I almost punched a hole through my wall. lol. For an example of this, try the swimming event first. I gaurantee, you'll get pissed off more than Adam Sandler wishes he could.*eye roll* Anyway, I recommend practice mode FIRST before anything else. I was SO glad they had a practice mode on this, otherwise, I would've given this game a D. One more thing. You can also go to the mall from time to time to spend money on various items while escorting a pretty girl. Not a bad feature, I'd say.

Simply put: B-  

If you can put up with practicing for hours on end without a break, then I'd say this game would be an A. But I' not that paitent, so I gave it a B-. It's pure Technos all the way through, even though the game style is completely different from what I'm used to. The CPU difficulty could've stood to be a bit tuned-down, especially considering all of the button mashing one must do to even pass an event....ok....a LOT tuned-down, but the game still deserves a try and an admirable amount of praise for staying true to it's Technos predecessors. But don't just take my word for it. Give this game a try and give yourselves a workout(You won't have a choice, thanks to all the button mashing. =D).