Did you know...
That Ryuichi and Ryuji's hair colours in Kunio kun no Chou Nekketsu! Daiundoukai is a reference to Double Dragon on the Sega Master System. In DD for the SMS, Billy (whom Ryuichi is loosely based on) has red hair (it's supposed to be brown, kinda like what the FC/NES version did) and Jimmy (whom Ryuji is loosely based on) has blue hair. Chou Nekketsu Daiundoukai was Arc System Works's second time being involved with a Technos IP (Chou Nekketsu Kou Kou Kunio kun Dodgeball Bu doesn't count as that game was mostly developed by a contract developer, Daiundoukai on the other hand, was more hands-on even though it still had former Technos staff working on the project). The first one being, Double Dragon for the SMS, which Sega had contracted them to develop. This port however had a bad reputation within Technos Japan.
Also, in Chou Nekketsu Daiundoukai, Jimmy's hair colour and design are a reference to Jimmy Lewis from Rage of the Dragons. However, the developers have yet to confirm this bit of trivia (so take this one with a pinch of salt).
Sticking with Chou Nekketsu Daiundoukai, the game's in-game character models closely follow the Technos artwork or the character's sprites rather than following the artwork from the game, in fact, some even follow the Million/ Miracle Kids! art. Godai and Nishimura are some of the few exceptions, however.
If you thought that was it for the second entry in the Chou Nekketsu series, then your wrong! The song titled "Hard and Harder" or new song 3 (it could be 2 or 4 it's been a while since I've checked that) is actually from a SNES game Kazuo Sawa composed, the game being World League Soccer a port of one of the games in the Kick Off series (It's game music 2 btw have a listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50-9xUCT_Co)
Here's the Chou Nekketsu version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ36yYZ6ZV8
It's perhaps the only instance of a non-Kunio kun/non-Technos song to appear in a Kunio kun game (Special thanks go out to Kunio Ryu/Nekketsu High BC for pointing that piece of trivia out).
In Kunio kun no Chou Nekketsu Soccer League Plus, all of the members of Nekketsu FC are modelled after their designs/ artwork from Kunio kun no Nekketsu Soccer League, in fact, if you get the trophies of the characters (after meeting certain conditions), the poses that they are in are the exact same poses as the artwork from Soccer League Famicom.
Stanislav's name in Japanese is, Sadamovitch サダモビッチ.
Alright, I think that's enough Chou Nekketsu trivia for one day (I could go on and on but that amount is good enough... for now)
That Kumiko was actually a sukeban of her own school. In the Famicom Game Book (it's like a more involved chose your own adventure book) Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun Bancho Rengo wo Buttobase! Kumiko is a major character and is the sukeban to a school called Meikou High School, clearly showing that Kumiko's uniform is from another school and not Taiyo (academy)'s. This only applies to that book, as in the main cannon Kumiko is a student of Taiyo.
Takeshi (the 17 year old motorcycle riding member of the Blue Emperor gang in Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun) originally used to be a student of Nekketsu. This piece of trivia is in the book "Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun Kanzen Hisshou Hon" its canonicity is debatable, however.
That Riki was in cahoots with the Sanwa Kai in Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun (Famicom). It's even brought up in Nekketsu Monogatari EX's manual.
The naming convention of Shinji's gang was always the Blue Emperor. In the arcade Nekketsu Kouha, Shinji's gang is named the Yokohama Funky but when it came time for the Famicom version, Shinji's gang name changed to the Blue Emperor and the name stuck even in the Arc Sys era. As arcade cannon is totally separate from the console cannon, Banka's version of Shinji was still perfectly in character and his gang didn't change. The only time the name was contested was with Kunio no Nekketsu Toukyuu Densetsu, as that game was the third (and final) arcade Kunio kun game by Technos, it has its cast set as a sequel to the first two arcade Kunio kun games. So, Shinji's gang goes back to being called the Yokohama Funky, which is where all the confusion comes from.
That Bangai Rantou Hen despite being titled Nekketsu Kouha, has its settings in the Downtown series. The game takes place in Hanazono town and its neighbouring districts.
Murata Seiji made it high in a 2011 character popularity poll (he made 18th).
That Banka is an anomaly in the series. When Banka first came out, it was for all intents and purposes a stand-alone title that uses prior established lore but also has a ton of new settings in there as well. As Banka was supposed to have sequels, it would have been like Jidaigeki, a spin-off that uses similar things but is in its own existence. However, because Banka's sequels were never released, all of its events Became canon to the main series and fans have been trying to figure out how canon it is and where it is in the timeline.
That Nekketsu High School's idol Youko, was Kunio's (and Riki's) first kiss! Youko made her first and only appearance was in the Atlus-developed, Naxzat Soft-published, Nekketsu Kou Kou Dodgeball Bu PC Bangai Hen which was released a month and a few weeks before Soccer Hen's Famicom release. PC Bangai Hen is non-canon though.
That Saito (from Hakutaka) and Saito (from Numaoka) are brothers! Saito from Hakutaka is the older brother meanwhile Saito from Numaoka is the younger brother, in Nekketsu Monogatari (FC and EX) generic enemies/ jobbers/ thugs/ the students share the same faces from school to school to designate which type of stat they excel at, so the enemy that looks like Shin'ichi is a speed type enemy. The name for one of them and the fact that the designers chose that face is a reference to Saito Shin'ichi, but the brothers are not the same person.
That Takeuchi Shin'ya, Mitsuhiro (Yoshimitsu) Yoshida, Urabe and Mori were all at one point a hidden character representing the Technos team. Yoshida (based on the late great Mitsuhiro Yoshida) is a student at Houryou High School, in Nekketsu Monogatari (FC) he uses the high-health enemy type's face (the one that looks like Gen'ei), in Kunio kun no Dodgeball (SFC) Yoshida (named Yoshimitsu) appears as the captain of the Technos team and it's in this game he gets his face that would be used for all future appearances. As for the hair, in EX Yoshida (from Houryou) uses his Kunio kun no Dodgeball face, but his hair is styled after how he looked at the time (of EX's development). Mitsuhiro (from Nekketsu) and Yoshida are two totally separate characters in the lore.
Takeuchi (modelled after Takeuchi Shin'ya who worked at Technos) is a student of Hakutaka, in Nekketsu Koushinkyoku (GB) he is the captain of the Technos team and shares all of his stats with Kunio. In that game his face was already there, it just looks a little off if you're used to seeing him in his SFC sprite. In Kunio kun no Dodgeball (SFC), Takeuchi gets his more iconic sprite and is a member of the Japan representative team, he is joined along with fellow Hakutaka student Ishida. Takeuchi is such an underdog character and yet he somehow managed to appear in a live-action adaptation of the series (Rantou Enbu Hen).
Urabe and Mori both are members of the Technos team in Kunio kun no Dodgeball (SFC). Mori is a student of Senridai and his face in his debut game (Nekketsu Monogatari FC) has and still been his face. He is also a part of the gang Sonokawa formed in Senridai called the Senridai Bombers and has been one of the most re-occurring jobbers/zakos in the series. Urabe made his debut in Kunio kun no Dodgeball (SFC) and his school wasn't revealed until Parody Ban Special 2007 developer (one Oyama Kei), said that Urabe's school is Numaoka. Urabe is named after Technos Japan's sound effect guy, Urabe Taku.
Continuing on with trivia about lesser-known characters, did you know that the faces of the former leaders and right-hand men (second in command a vice leader etc.) of Hakutaka, Numaoka, Senridai, Sakajuku, Matagawa and Tanibana from X68000 Nekketsu Monogatari were used for the extra enemies in Nekketsu Monogatari EX. Sakaki's and Nakata's faces and hair were used for various enemies, Randou's face but not his hair was used, Mizunuma's face was used (his hair is similar to Godai's), Ikebe's and Ishizuka's faces were used (albeit with a few tweaks) Ishizuka's hair was also used, Nakaha's face and hair were used (the hair did go through a slight change) and last but not definitely least, Nanbu's hair was used for the zako enemies in EX (these guys only show up if you have the enemy count set to 20, as after the first 10 are gone, the next 10 will show up).
That Shodai and Toukyuu Densetsu cannot be re-released. For Shodai it's all the licenced imagery and the fact that one of the cops looks like a character from a famous manga. As for Toukyuu Den, it's D. Maou's final form and his stage, which are parodies of Shoko Asahara and his cult.
That in Ore wa Otoko da! Kunio kun, Kouji and Hiroshi were hoping that Kunio was going to die after getting hit by a vehicle. Kunio escapes from hell! and gets his soul back into his body, thus miraculously returning back to life. (keep in mind, this was just after he broke out of prison, not Juvie, P R I S O N)
That if Kobayashi were to defeat Yamada during the events of Nekketsu Monogatari, Kobayashi would leave Reihou and disappear without a trace. This is an actual ending you can get if you have Kobayashi in your gang in EX.
That Kinoshita was supposed to be in Jidaigeki. He was removed later in development and wouldn't get a Jidaigeki counterpart until Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki (3DS), Chuuemon is Chuukichirou (Maeda's JD counterpart)'s son. Early artwork of what Kinoshita could have looked like in Jidaigeki was seen in early design drafts for the flyer.
Misuzu's original voice was done by Technos founder and president Taki Kunio.
In Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun Special, the game states that Riki has been in all of the games. Even though he wasn't in four titles during the Technos era.
That Riki during the events of Banka, could still go to Juvie as in Japan at the time being 19 was still technically being a youth in the eyes of the law.
That Xain from Xain'd Sleena was going to be a part of the audience in Nekketsu Kou Kou Dodgeball Bu (FC)'s vs mode stage in early screenshots. Xain wouldn't be forgotten, as his tales of defeating the evil galactic empire were all put into a book that you can buy in Nekketsu Monogatari (FC).
That Hanazono and Houryou were going to have fleshed-out story modes in Baseball Monogatari like Nekketsu's.
That Nekketsu Kou Kou Dodgeball Bu (in general, excluding Toukyuu Senshi no Maki (GB) and Kunio no Nekketsu Toukyuu Densetsu) is the 47th World Dodgeball Tournament. Kunio kun no Dodgeball (SFC) is the 48th and contrary to belief Chou Nekketsu Kou Kou Kunio kun Dodgeball Bu is the 49th World Dodgeball Tournament (as the Chou Nekketsu series doesn't re-introduce, retcon or replace the past events, from a game point of view I guess you could call them remakes but from a lore point of view nah).
That Ichirou appears at the ending of Ike Ike Nekketsu Hockey Bu.
And finally... Did you know...
That the entire Kunio kun series (outside of spin-offs like Jidaigeki, Mahou Monogatari and (I can't believe I'm even mentioning it) RCG (and all the other western localizations)) is not separate, in fact, quite the opposite, they're all connected. Koji Ogata said it himself on Twitter: https://twitter.com/food2han/status/1609749483801411584
To quote his post "I don't know who came out with terms such as (Nekketsu Kouha series) and (Downtown series). Actually (in fact), at the development center we did not divide the series by using such (generic or simple) terminology. I think it was started by some magazine"
This makes perfect sense, as the Downtown series's first game is a sequel to Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun. And if Banka was to happen before Nekketsu Monogatari Riki would be a very different person (in comparison to how he is (especially towards Kunio) in Banka).
So, the Next time I post, it will be about the Kunio kun series timeline! Because, oh boy! I've got a lot of stuff to explain. After I have shared the timeline, I will break it down game by game, story by story so that it's clear as to why the events happen in such an order (it might get a little deep too).
I'll see you all again!
