126. Kuri Kinton (Taito, Arcade (PS2), 1988)

Kuri Kinton is a side scrolling (single plane) beat-'em-up (and also the name of a Japanese dessert of candied chestnuts and sweet potatoes, apparently). The game follows the titular kung fu detective as he descends into some kind of underground fortress to beat up a bunch of Fist of the North Star looking dudes. The music is some pumping FM synth that makes me feel like I'm playing a Genesis game.

The game has a jump and attack button but manages to make the jumping feel weirldy fast and weighty in a way that makes it fun to just leap around. Enemies mostly like to stay on the ground, so you can just jump over them to speed through most of the stages. Each level has a strong enemy that you have to defeat before you can take an elevator down to the boss. The levels themselves are very short and have some platforming that is thankfully not too punishing.

Combat in Kuri Kinton is kind of unwieldy, as the controls are fun but not super precise. The first two bosses initially gave me a lot of difficulty until I realized I could just keep jumping behind them, but the third boss would not be defeated by these tactics. in addition to the punches and kicks you can throw out by tapping the attack button, you can also hold it to unleash a different attack depending on how long it is pressed, ending with a shoryuken-like projectile. Unfortunately, the game doe not leave you with many opportunities to use this, as enemies are usually running at you at all times.

3/5, I love the locomotion in this game, but the whole package is too floppy / difficult