Godai (五代, ごだい ), full name Susumu Godai (五代奨, ごだい すすむ ), is a third year student and the strongest delinquent at Tanibana High School that was first featured in Downtown Nekketsu Story. He is a recurring character in the Downtown Nekketsu series, though his popularity with fans and the staff has led him to crossover into games outside of the series such as Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness and Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes.
Known for his bōjutsu fighting skills, he enjoys fighting and is described as being a force to be reckoned with as he has the tendency to lose his temper. Godai is a close friend of Tsuyoshi Gōda, whose sense of justice he admires. In artwork, he always sports a big smile with clenching teeth whereas his in-game sprites typically don't possibly due to sprite limitations. Both his artwork and his sprites, however, show his wide eyes with tiny pupils.
Appearances[]
Downtown Nekketsu Story[]
Godai debuts in Downtown Nekketsu Story as an optional boss fight on the second floor of Reihō Academy. Godai will be equipped with a bokken (or bokutō, a wooden sword) which allows him to perform his trademark Bōjutsu Special.
Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day![]
Godai appears as a member of the School Union team. In the Battle Royal minigame, he will have access to his Bōjutsu Special if he has a bokken equipped.
Downtown Special Kunio-kun's Historical Period Drama![]
Godai plays the role of Yagorō.
Yagorō first appears later in the game as a boss fight. Upon being defeated, Yagorō realizes that Kunimasa has been sent by Bunzō and apologizes, saying that Torazo must've been the one who kidnapped Okoto. Yagorō will then offer Kunimasa his knife, which if accepted grants him the ability to use the Bōjutsu Special. When Torazo is beaten, Yagorō will appear once again and give Kunimasa the option to take an item that is able to temporarily grant him infinite money.
Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness[]
Godai is the captain of Tanibana High School's roller skates team and agrees to a hockey game against Kunio to help the Nekketsu team train for their game against Shirogane High School.
Godai's team has a high attack power and are able to perform the Bōjutsu Special, which can make stopping super shots difficult. The team's super shot is the Spinning Shot which will cause the puck to spin sideways at a high speed towards the goalkeeper. Godai's team is playable in the game's Battle Mode.
Surprise! Nekketsu New Records! The Distant Gold Medal[]
Godai appears as a member of the School Union team.
Kunio-kun no Dodgeball da yo Zen'in Shūgō[]
Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes[]
Kunio manages to win a free two week trip to the United States alone. Jealous of this, Riki forces Godai to come with him into the United States where they sneak onto the flight by strapping themselves to the plane's tires. Heavily against wanting to go, Godai complains about Riki's plans on wanting to win a street basketball tournament being a dumb idea and demands that he be untied. Riki attempts to convince him by saying the two will be able to fly back home on a first class flight, though eventually just punches Godai in the face when the plane starts taking off as he started crying. Godai joins Riki, Kunio, and Johnny from Oklahoma High School as a player for the Nekketsu team.
The team then spend the rest of their trip relaxing after winning the tournament. Johnny arranges Kunio's flight tickets back to Japan, though because Godai and Riki forgot their passports they were forced to fly back by strapping themselves to the plane tires once again. Godai complains to Riki about not being able to fly first class, though starts to cry about wanting to stay in the United States once the plane takes off for Japan.
Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari: Yakyū de Shōbu da! Kunio-kun[]
Godai appears as the captain of Tanibana High School's team.
Kunio no Oden[]
Godai appears in the versus mode as your third opponent when playing against CPU and is instead randomly chosen if there is a second player.
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari EX[]
Godai appears in the same role as he did in the original versions of the game. If Gōda is in the player's posse, he will also offer to join if there's room. Otherwise, he won't join, but he won't fight either.
Nekketsu Kōkō Online: Yamada no Fukushū[]
River City Super Sports Challenge[]
Godai appears as a member of the Interschool Union's team.
Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun Special[]
River City: Tokyo Rumble[]
Godai appears alongside in a sidequest alongside Gōda as an optional boss fight.
In the international release of the game, Godai uses his localized name from River City Ransom, Tex.
River City: Knights of Justice[]
River City Super Sports Challenge ~All Stars Special~[]
This remake of Super-Awesome Field Day re-imagines the events of that game. The story takes place after River City: Rival Showdown.
In the story mode, Godai first appears during the second match of the tournament against the School Union, Yurigaoka Girls High School, and Shiguma High School. After the match Gōda apologizes to Nekketsu High School's new freshman on behalf of the other participating schools for getting carried away, to which the new freshman slaps Gōda. Godai gets angry and is ready to attack the new freshman, though Gōda stops him from doing so. Godai and Gōda go to meet with Riki and Hikaru Saotome before the finals after the announcement of the remaining teams dropping out, which only leaves Nekketsu High School, Hanazono High School, Reihō Academy, and the School Union in the tournament. When the tournament comes to a close, Godai and Gōda get ready to clean up their destroyed booth with students from Yurigaoka and Shiguma High School coming in to help the two clean up, though they immediately pass out after being thanked by Gōda.
Godai is a member of the School Union team and can be played outside of the story mode. Godai is able to use his signature Bōjutsu Special and the Dunk Special.
Kunio-kun no Nekketsu Dodgeball ALLSTARS!![]
Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki[]
River City: Rival Showdown[]
River City: Rival Showdown is a remake of Downtown Nekketsu Story. The game takes place before River City Super Sports Challenge ~All Stars Special~.
In the story mode, Godai can be seen across parts of town at various times of the day. On the third day, Godai will walk into seeing Gōda knocked out on Reihō Academy's campus with Kunio standing by. Enraged, Godai decides to fight Kunio and loses, to where he then starts crying about Gōda still being knocked out. Gōda wakes up and tells Godai to stop crying, to which Godai feels relieved that he's still alive. Godai later appears on the final day as a boss fight inside of Reihō Academy. When playing on the true ending, Gōda will appear to assist Kunio and Riki which causes Godai to go into a panic, as he does not wish to fight his friend.
In Riki's Story, Godai will pass by Riki on the first day before he is stopped by him for seven of his "fist buttons". Godai is confused by his demands and points out that he doesn't like Riki's attitude. Riki apologizes for being so demanding and states that he cannot back down as someone's life is in his hands. Godai is confused on how some buttons have any relation to someone's life and decides to fight Riki for the sake of it. After the fight, the two decide to get ramen together as they were hungry. Godai asks why Riki needs the buttons, to which he responds stating that a fortune teller told him he needed to collect them as an offering. Godai believes Riki's situation to be real as it supposedly came from a real fortune teller. On the second day, Godai will run into Riki again on the streets and ask how his mission went. Riki explains what happened and intrigues Godai into thinking about what wishes he'd want to make to a fortune teller.
Later on the final day, Godai finds Riki outside of Hanazono High School and asks why he's looking so upset. Riki explains that if he lifts his belt up to the heavens that his wish will be granted, so he planned on heading to the rooftop of Reihō Academy as it was the tallest point he knew in town. Riki demands that Godai doesn't try to stop him, to which Godai assures that he's on his side and wishes him luck. After Riki leaves, Godai notices huge clouds forming near Reihō Academy and hopes a thunderstorm doesn't start. Godai will later arrive at the school's gym because he thought what Riki was doing sounded fun and didn't want to miss out. Shun Mochizuki notices he's from Tanibana High School and states that he's on Reihō's side which initially confuses him, though he complies after Mochizuki tells him that Gōda is also on their side. Upon Riki defeating everyone in a group fight, he attempts to call to Godai but leaves after noticing he fell asleep.
River City Melee: Battle Royal Special[]
Godai returns as a member of the School Union team and is involved in the game's story mode. Godai is able to use his signature Bōjutsu Special, the Special Blade, and the Screw Pile Driver.
River City Girls[]
In this continuity, Godai is reimagined to be a weird creep and childhood acquaintance to Misako and Kyōko who seems to always know about what's happening with everybody in the city. He is voiced by Seán McLoughlin, also known as Jacksepticeye.
He is first seen at the entrance of Crosstown where he'll catch the girls off guard and introduce himself, where the girls have trouble recognizing who he is. Godai mentions him being Misako's neighbor since third grade, to which the girls begin to remember who he is. Kyōko asks Godai about being expelled from his school for taking secret photos of the girls volleyball team, to which Godai neither confirms or denies the fact and instead tries to divert the topic. Godai knows that the girls have been looking for Kunio and Riki, so he asks them to buy him a Double Merv Burger in exchange for information on the boys' whereabouts. Upon being brought his burger, Godai suggests the girls to go look for Taiki Yamada at the mall, as he believes Kunio and Riki were last talking to him.
Throughout the rest of the game, Godai can be spotted in dumpsters across the city and hand the girls a sidequest for each area. Completion of his quests grant the player with a cash and experience reward. With the Pepper Spray accessory equipped, the amount earned from rewards are increased.
WayForward would later confirm the theory that Godai was the one who sent the girls the initial text.[1]
River City Melee Mach!![]
River City Saga: Three Kingdoms[]
Godai plays the role of Zhang Fei, a general in the late Han dynasty and sworn brothers of Guan Yu (Kunio) and Liu Bei (Gōda).
Zhang Fei is first seen at the beginning of the first chapter with Liu Bei where the two are fighting the Yellow Turbans. Upon being acquainted with Guan Yu, the three head to the Peach Garden as Liu Bei holds a celebration for their victory. With similar ambitions in wanting to restore the glory of the Han dynasty, the three pray to the spirit of the peach tree, to which they are interrupted by the actual spirit, Tian Nu (Momozono). Requesting an oath to be made in exchange for a few favors, the three become oath brothers with Tian Nu naming them the "Brothers of the Peach Garden". When deciding who's going to be considered the eldest brother, Guan Yu suggests a race to climb the top of the peach tree, though Liu Bei refuses and starts a fight with Guan Yu in order to stop him from climbing up the tree. Upon being defeated, the three eventually come to the conclusion that the one with brains should be the leader, to where they then appoint Liu Bei.
Throughout the game, Zhang Fei is depicted as the comedic relief of the brothers, often getting into silly antics or being easily enraged by others. During the third chapter of the game, Zhang Fei is left to keep watch of Lu Bu (Misuzu) in Xiapi while Liu Bei and Guan Yu seek out Cao Cao's army to work with them in Chen. While his two brothers are out, Zhang Fei debates with Lu Bu about who's stronger, to which Lu Bu makes fun of Zhang Fei's staff technique. Enraged, he declared that he would perform 1000 swings and ended up flying off from all the momentum. This amused Lu Bu which put her in good spirits to where she'd eventually get into fights with the patrols, which eventually escalated her into taking over the castle in Xiapi.
In the fourth chapter, the brothers are under pursuit from the Cao Cao army and Guan Yu decides to buy the other two time to escape. Zhang Fei escapes with Liu Bei, though they eventually lose track of each other. Now wandering about, Zhang Fei is later seen to be terrorizing officials in a town to be fed free meat using the threat of his staff technique as a way to get what he wants. During the ending of the chapter, Zhang Fei eventually finds Guan Yu, though becomes enraged at him for temporarily joining Cao Cao's army, though immediately calms down once Liu Bei finds the two. In the comedy route of this chapter, Zhao Yun (Sugata) will appear first instead of Liu Bei and Zhang Fei will be accompanied by a group of bandits. With nobody around to calm him down, Zhang Fei fights the two as a way to knock some sense into Guan Yu for working with Cao Cao.
During the fifth chapter, Liu Bei is attempting to recruit Zhuge Liang (Misako) as a tactician, though she tests the brothers multiple times as a way to judge their character. Zhang Fei is enraged on the second time, where he threatens to burn Zhuge Liang's house down, which she was hiding inside of. For a minute, Zhuge Liang truly thought they were about to set the house on fire with her in it and proceeds to think of Zhang Fei as being the dumb one of the group. When the group is helping the people of Xinye evacuate from Cao Cao's incoming attack, Zhang Fei is tasked to join Zhao Yun in helping the citizens escape as Zhuge Liang doesn't believe he's capable of launching a surprise attack.
In the final chapter, Zhang Fei can accompany Guan Yu in defeating some rich bandits in Jiangxia to gather some money for food. The two bring the treasure they collected to Lu Su (Mami), though are told that there's already a budget set aside for food and that they aren't short of any at the moment. Lu Su allows Zhang Fei to eat however much food he wants and then tasks the two with purchasing some oil needed for the fire-setting. During the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhang Fei assists Guan Yu in the fight against Xu Huang (Kobayashi). Zhang Fei was placed where he was by Zhuge Liang to keep watch of Cao Cao, though he ended up slipping by Zhang Fei's staff technique. During the ending of the game, Zhang Fei and the others agree to join Liu Bei in continuing to lend him their strength.
In the China Heroes gamemode, Godai is one of the four default characters that can be selected. Godai is able to use an ability to spawn and cycle through a set of weapons. For his specials he is able to use his secret staff and spear technique, a lunge upwards in a ball with an axe, Mach Strike if no other special is available, and the Great Whirlwind Snake Slash as his super special.
River City Girls 2[]
Godai is seen in various parts of town and will hand the protagonists a handful of quests in exchange for some experience, cash, and a special accessory. Seán McLoughlin returns as his English voice actor while being voiced by Ryoki Ogawa in the Japanese dub.
In Crosstown, Godai will ask the protagonists to take selfies at a specific location in each part of town. In Downtown, Godai was looking to play basketball but gets basketballs hurled at his face by the local yakuza playing there, so he asks for the protagonists to clear the area. Inside of River City High's auditorium, Godai leaves a posted note requesting pieces of his blueprints be found across town.
River City Saga: Three Kingdoms Next[]
Godai retains his role as Zhang Fei.
Other video games[]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
Godai makes a cameo in the "River City Smash" Spirit Board event as an assist to Gōda. In Gōda's spirit fight, Godai is represented by a yellow Diddy Kong that favors using weapons. He is not required to be defeated in order to win.
CODE SHIFTER[]
Godai appears as an assist character.
Speed Rush Runners[]
Godai appears as a playable character unlocked by completing quests in the "Trial of the Shitennō" event.
Other media appearances[]
Ore wa Otoko Da! Kunio-kun[]
Godai is a recurring character in the manga. Debuting in chapter six, Godai defeats Kōji at a restaurant and challenges Kunio to a fight.
Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (4koma Manga Kingdom)[]
Kunio-kun! Nekketsu Battle![]
A, Nekketsu Kantai Gayuku![]
Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-Kun Ranto Enbu-Hen[]
Godai is played by Keiki Kato.
Localized versions[]
- In River City Ransom and Street Gangs, Godai is renamed to Tex. He also has this name in River City: Tokyo Rumble.
- In Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge, Godai was renamed to Clinton "Clint" Swanson, a member of Team Jefferson High School.