Video Game / Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge

Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge is a multi-sports game in Kunio-kun series created by Technos Japan Corp. It was first released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan on June 1992 (as Bikkuri Nekketsu Shin Kiroku! Harukanaru Kin Medal) and then in America on October 1992. A Japan-only Game Boy version was released on July 16, 1993. Crash 'n' the Boys became available for the Wii Virtual Console on September 14, 2009 and the 3DS Virtual Console on December 19, 2013.

The story of the game is that Team Southside (Team Nekketsu), led by Jeff "Crash" Cooney (Kunio) and friends, has won the All-City Track Meet yet again. Todd (Todou) has had enough of the losses his team endured because of them and decides to issue a challenge to Crash and his team. To raise the stakes, he invited two other high schools and another team sponsored by his wealthy father, determined to beat Cooney one way or another.

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Tropes:

• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The Computer-controlled opposition always seems to do better than the player in every event.
  • If you're lucky, the computer will actually screw up from time to time in Hammer Golf and Roof Top Jumping, giving you a little bit of hope of winning in those events.
    • 400m Hurdles: The Computer will hardly lose speed and perform the spin kick more easily than the player.
    • Hammer Golf: The Computer will always throw the hammer at full power unless he's in the rough or a sand bunker.
    • Swimming: The Computer can swim faster and punch faster.
    • Roof Top Jumping: The Computer, using a preset sequence of actions, will usually get very far or all the way to the goal.
    • Fighting Scene: The Computer will usually overpower the player in a grapple unless they're good at button-mashing or using a turbo-fire controller.
• Critical Existence Failure: You can actually play any of the Events with a character that has 0 HP. But as soon as they fall down or get hurt, they're dead.
• Cultural Translation: The cosmetic change from a Japanese Olympics Event to an American Underground Competition extends to the team rosters as well. However, Rengō was the only team that did not have its team roster altered.
  • Southside High School: Nekketsu High School
    • Crash (Jeff Cooney) / Kunio
    • Cheese (Rico Romano) / Sugata (Sanjūrō Sugata)
    • Dragon (Tommy Woo) / Morimoto (Ken'ichi Morimoto)
    • Sting Ray (Ramon Garcia) / Nanase (Haruka Nanase)
    • Noise (Troy Jackson) / Ichijō (Hayato Ichijō)
  • Washington High School: Hanazono High School
    • Todd (Theodore Thornley IV) / Riki (Riki Samejima)
    • Nate (Nathan Vanderpoole) / Saotome (Hikaru Saotome)
    • Dove (Randall Duvall) / Yoshino (Mitsuaki Yoshino)
    • Zack (Zachary Swanson) / Shimizu (Shūji Shimizu)
    • Spoon (Wendell Witherspoon) / Washio (Kōichi Shimizu)
  • Lincoln High School: Reihō Academy
    • Artie (Arthur Van Smythe) / Ryūichi (Ryūichi Hattori)
    • Skip (Winston Hildegard Jr.) / Ryūji (Ryūji Hattori)
    • Wheels (Charles Edward Darlington) / Mochizuki (Shun Mochizuki)
    • Knots (Alexander Knottingham III) / Hayasaka (Ryōma Hayasaka)
    • Monty (Worthington Montgomery)/ Kobayashi (Masao Kobayashi)
  • Jefferson High School: Rengō Union
    • Spreck (Richard Spreckles) / Gōda (Tsuyoshi Gōda)
    • Clint (Clinton Swanson) / Godai (Susumu Godai)
    • Barns (Clifford Barnsworth) / Kumada (Jūzō Kumada)
    • Baldy (Lawrence Baldwin IV) / Nishimura (Naritaka Nishimura)
    • Milo (Miles Smithfield) / Hayami (Takeshi Hayami)
  • Thornley All-Stars: Oklahoma High School
    • Rocky Rockowitz / Johnny
    • Crush / Raphael
    • Bubba / Steve
    • Tank / Alex
    • Foil / Jimmy
• Follow the Money: Strangely enough, you can collect extra Gold Medals in all of the events.
• Free-Fall Fight: The Umbrella Battle event in the Game Boy version, which replaced the Swimming event.
• Gold–Silver–Copper Standard: The fact that you use your medals to buy stuff is played with a very weird exchange rate (1 Gold = 10 Silver = 100 Bronze).
  • Cheap Gold Coins: The Game Boy version does away with the Silver and Bronze Medals.
• Hot-Blooded: Part of the Japanese version's title.
• Hurricane Kick: One of the methods of attack in 400m Hurdles.
  • Anti-Frustration Features: For the price of just 2 Gold, you can buy an item that lets your character do the Hurricane Kick automatically, saving you the hectic trouble of trying to do the move manually.
• Improvised Weapon: You can use a hurdle bar as a throwing weapon or to do a spin attack.
• Joke Character: Out of all 25 of the game's athletes, Milo has the worst stats.
• Le Parkour: The Roof Top Jumping event.
• Lightning Bruiser: Crash, Todd, Artie, Skip, Monty, Spreck, and Clint.
• Made of Iron: Eveyone in this game gets hit with kicks, punches, hurdle bars, hammers, and special attacks and will never show any signs of damage for it.
• Nintendo Hard: Due to hardware limitations, the Game Boy version is much worse than the NES version. (If you can actually believe that.)
• Non-Lethal K.O.: Getting hit or falling down with Zero Health always results in fainting.
• Poison Mushroom: Somewhat. You can buy an item at the health food store that will poison another character and reduce their HP to 1%. The big problem with this item is that the athlete who gets poisoned is picked at random. You can even poison your own teammates (except for the selected athlete you're shopping with) if you're unlucky!
• Power-Up Letdown: Some of the items at the Sports store are not worth buying.
  • Greaser: Patches of sticky grease appear to slow down the opponent.
  • Tacks: Patches of small spikes appear to cause scratch damage to the opponent.
  • Spazz Roll: Break through any hurdle with a roll attack. Can only be used three times per heat.
  • Roller: Lets the hammer go farther upon landing but increases your risk of going into sand or water.
  • Webbing: An unnecessary upgrade that lets you swim faster.
  • Sonic Jab: Throws a fireball that expends all your power and does little damage.
  • Big Attack: RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE. When grappling, this lets you drain the opponent's power faster if you're losing. Useless with fast button-mashing or turbo-fire.
• Promoted to Playable: An interesting case: Todou and Yamada, who were Todd and Skip respectively in the American release, were Non Player Characters in the Japanese version. Other players who were NPCs in the Japanese version became playable in the American version and vice versa. For a straighter example, Oklahoma High School can be unlocked by a cheat code in the Japan-only Game Boy version.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: The intro music is a remix of "Csikos Post", while the first two introduction songs are remixes of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons: Spring" and Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
• Selective Gravity: Floating Medals can be collected in Hammer Golf and Roof Top Jumping.
• Status Buff: The Item Shop offers these which only last after one event.
  • Sneakers: Temporarily boosts Speed.
  • Armor: Temporarily boosts Defense.
  • Knuckles: Temporarily boosts Attack.
  • Item kit: Get a combination package of Sneakers, Armor, and Knuckles for the price of 3 Gold.
• There Are No Rules: The contest of this game is intentionally hosted with no rules or officials to forbid the use of violence or any other means to achieve victory. Therefore, it is (by definition) illegal and unsanctioned.
• Unnecessary Roughness: Mandatory in the head-to-head events.
• Unstable Equilibrium: The reward for placing 1st in an event is 15 Gold which can translate to a crushing lead or an insurmountable defeat later on.
• Violence Really Is the Answer: Competitors have the option of Knocking Out each other to win the 400m Hurdles, Swimming, Fighting Scene, and Umbrella Battle events.
  • The Secondary Objective to winning 400m Hurdles is to Cross the Finish Line first.
  • The Secondary Objective to winning Swimming and Fighting Scene is to have the most health when time runs out.
  • The Secondary Objective to winning the umbrella-fighting event in the Game Boy version is to be the one with the umbrella before reaching the ground.