Knuckle Bash

Knuckle Bash[lower-alpha 1] is a 1993 side-scrolling beat 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Toaplan in Japan, as well as North America and Europe by Atari Games.[2] It is notable for being one of the few titles by Toaplan that has not received any official port to home consoles as of date.[3][4]

Knuckle Bash
Developer(s)Toaplan
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Junya Inoue
Nanpei Kaneko
Composer(s)Masahiro Yuge
Osamu Ōta
Platform(s)Arcade
Release
Genre(s)Beat 'em up
Mode(s)

In the game, players assume the role of professional wrestlers fighting against the Mad Bull Group organization to protect wrestling from corruption. Knuckle Bash was created by most of the same staff that previously worked on several projects at Toaplan and who would later go on to work at one of its offshoots after the company declared bankruptcy in 1994. The team were originally commissioned on making a fighting game similar to Capcom's Street Fighter II: The World Warrior but the project deviated from its original plan and became a beat 'em up title instead. As of 2019, the rights to the title are owned by Tatsujin, a company founded in 2017 by former Toaplan member Masahiro Yuge and now-affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia alongside many other Toaplan IPs.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot.

Knuckle Bash is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game similar to Final Fight and Double Dragon, where players take control of one of the available playable characters across ten stages, each one set in a different location, and fight against an assortment of enemies and villains in order to defeat the Mad Bull Group organization.[3][5][6][7] At the beginning, players choose between one of two scenarios, both of which host their own set of stages and clearing certain scenarios unlocks an extra playable character.[3][5][7] Unlike other titles in the same genre, the stages in the game chiefly consist of various waves of single or few strong boss-like enemies, instead of the typical long series of weaker enemies with a boss at the end of the stage. It also completely lacks weapons or objects of any sort. Similar to Streets of Rage 2, each character has a special attack of their own that deals damage to any enemy on-screen.[7] Players can compete in a minigame reminiscent of Mortal Kombat's "Test Your Might" segments between stages.[3][5][7]

Synopsis

Plot

The story of Knuckle Bash revolves around the Mad Bull Group, a corrupt wrestling organization that profits and taints the reputation of the sport, whose wrestlers are upon by children as role models. Three former members of the Mad Bull Group who deserted from the organization due to their actions and labeled as traitors arranged a secret meeting at a Chicago hotel in order to contact a skillful "Ninpow" master, who is also wanted by the Mad Bull Group. On their journey, the wrestlers venture into the Battle Kingdom headquarters, where another Mad Bull Group plans to desert from the organization because of their actions. After facing multiple battle against members of the Mad Bull Group, the wrestlers manage to dismantle the organization and their victorious story was widespread thereafter.[3][5][7]

Characters

Players initially choose from three characters at the start, while two extra characters are recruited through gameplay and any of the five characters can be switched to between missions:[3][5][7]

Development and release

Knuckle Bash was created by most of the same staff that previously worked on several projects at Toaplan and who would later go on to work at one of its offshoots after the company declared bankruptcy in 1994.[8][9][10][11] Mangaka Junya Inoue acted as designer in the project, while the soundtrack was co-composed by Masahiro Yuge and Osamu Ōta.[8][11][12] According to Inoue, the game was also designed by Nanpei Kaneko, a member who previously worked on FixEight before quitting Toaplan and working as illustrator for Japanese magazines.[8][13] Between 2009 and 2012 through Japanese publications such as Shooting Gameside, former Toaplan composer Tatsuya Uemura recounted the project's development process and history, stating that the team were originally commissioned by the company on making a fighting game similar to Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, however the project deviated from its original plan and became a beat 'em up title instead, although Uemura claimed he had no involvement during its development.[9][10]

Knuckle Bash was released in arcades worldwide by Toaplan and Atari Games in 1993.[1][3] On 27 June 2018, an album containing music from the title and other Toaplan games was published exclusively in Japan by City Connection under their Clarice Disk label.[11] Prior to launch, it was first showcased to the public at the 1993 AOU Show.[14][15] As of March 2014, it has not received a conversion to home consoles.[4]

Reception and legacy

Maurizio Miccoli of Italian magazine Computer+Videogiochi noted its combination of Final Fight-style gameplay and wrestling thematic.[6] Nick Zverloff of Hardcore Gaming 101 stated that Knuckle Bash "might not be fantastic, but it gets by on being an average beat em up that is just ridiculous enough to make it enjoyable".[3] Retro Gamer's Nick Thorpe gave it a mixed outlook.[4] Wireframe regarded it as "a rare foray into brawler territory" for Toaplan.[16] A year after the game's launch, Inoue would later join Gazelle; one of Toaplan's offshoots after the company declared bankruptcy in 1994 and act as graphic artist for 1995's Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, which was based upon Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon shōjo manga and anime series.[17] A bootleg version of the game titled Knuckle Bash 2 was released in 1999, featuring many changes compared to the original release.[3][18] In more recent years, the rights to the title and many other IPs from Toaplan are now owned by Tatsujin, a company named after Truxton's Japanese title that was founded in 2017 by Yuge, who are now affiliated with arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia.[19][20][21][22][23]

Notes
  1. Japanese: ナックルバッシュ Hepburn: Nakkuru Basshu
  2. Known as Clash in the Atari Games version
  3. Known as Dice in the Atari Games version
  4. Known as Devo in the Atari Games version
  5. Kyaputen (キャプテン)

References
  1. Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). タイトー (Taito); 東亜プラン (Toa Plan); Atari (Atari Games/TWI); K. アーケードTVゲームリスト 国内•海外編 (1971-2005) (in Japanese) (1st ed.). Amusement News Agency. pp. 44, 50, 112, 156. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  2. "お年賀状スペシャル!! 1994". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 107. Shinseisha. February 1994. p. 84.
  3. Zverloff, Nick (31 January 2014). "Knuckle Bash". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  4. Thorpe, Nick (March 2014). "The Unconverted: Knuckle Bash". Retro Gamer. No. 126. Imagine Publishing. p. 43.
  5. Knuckle Bash universal kit installation instructions (Arcade, US)
  6. Miccoli, Maurizio (September 1993). "Killed Games (Insert Coin): Knuckle Bash (Toaplan 1993)". Computer+Videogiochi (in Italian). No. 29. Gruppo Editoriale Jackson. p. 129.
  7. "KNUCKLE BASH" (in Japanese). Shooting Star. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  8. "井上淳哉 - 「エスプレイド」「ぐわんげ」を創った男". Continue (in Japanese). Vol. 6. Ohta Publishing. September 2002. ISBN 978-4872337006. (Translation by Gamengai. Archived 2019-11-22 at the Wayback Machine. Transcription by Gaijin Punch. Archived 2006-07-10 at the Wayback Machine).
  9. Iona; VHS; K-HEX (June 2009). "東亜プラン FOREVER". Floor 25 (in Japanese). Vol. 9. (Translation by Gamengai. Archived 2020-10-10 at the Wayback Machine).
  10. Kiyoshi, Tane; hally (VORC); Yūsaku, Yamamoto (3 February 2012). "東亜プラン特集 - 元・東亜プラン　開発者インタビュー: 上村建也". Shooting Gameside (in Japanese). Vol. 4. Micro Magazine. pp. 33–40. ISBN 978-4896373844. (Translation by Shmuplations. Archived 2019-09-06 at the Wayback Machine).
  11. "CDST-10066 | Toaplan ARCADE SOUND DIGITAL COLLECTION Vol.7". vgmdb.net. VGMdb. Archived from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  12. "Knuckle Bash [TP-023]". arcade-history.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  13. "イラストレーターのわ第16回/金子ナンペイ". ワコムタブレットサイト (in Japanese). Wacom. 2020. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  14. "Mega AM Network - AOU: 東亜プラン - KNUCKLE BUSH". Beep! MegaDrive (in Japanese). No. 43. SoftBank Creative. April 1993. p. 31.
  15. "'93 AOUショー - 紹介: ナックルバッシュ". Gamest (in Japanese). No. 90. Shinseisha. May 1993. p. 140.
  16. "Interface - Developer Profile / Toaplan". Wireframe. No. 13. Raspberry Pi Foundation. 9 May 2019. pp. 50–51.
  17. Ciolek, Todd (12 November 2008). "Paint a Vulgar Picture – The X Button". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  18. "Knuckle Bash 2". arcade-history.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  19. "ライセンス事業" (in Japanese). TATSUJIN Co., Ltd. 2019. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  20. Bravo, Roberto (12 September 2018). "Nueva compañía "Tatsujin" asegura tener gran parte de las IPs de la extinta Toaplan" (in Spanish). Gamercafe. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  21. "Tatsujin". exA-Arcadia. 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  22. Bravo, Roberto (25 January 2019). "Tatsujin, los dueños de Toaplan, anuncian que están trabajando para exA-Arcadia" (in Spanish). Gamercafe. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  23. "［JAEPO2019］TATSUJINやナツメアタリの参入が発表されたexA-Arcadia。出展コーナーの模様を紹介". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas Inc. 26 January 2019. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
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