The games feature adaptations of the 4 SASUKE obstacle courses from their time, which must be painstakingly conquered back-to-back after a lot of Forced Level-Grinding. Each game also features other events from either Unbeatable Banzuke or the related Pro Sportsman No. 1 competition.
Games in the series:
- Kinniku Banzuke GB - Chousen Monoha Kimida! (Game Boy Color, 1999)
- Kinniku Banzuke GB 2 - Mokushi Semassuru Champion (Game Boy Color, 2000)
- Kinniku Banzuke GB 3 - Shinseiki Survival Retsuden! (Game Boy Color, 2001)
- Kinniku Banzuke: Kongou-Kun no Daibouken! (Game Boy Advance, 2001)
- Kinniku Banzuke - Kimero! Kiseki no Kanzen Seiha (Game Boy Advance, 2001)
Tropes specific to Kongou-kun no Daibouken go on its own page.
This series features the following tropes:
- Anti-Frustration Features: Once a Stage is first visited, it becomes available in free play for practice.
- Anti-Grinding: Early on, you can just fail over and over at Stage 1 to get stat points, but the game will catch on and require you to actually make your way to Stage 4 to cap out each stat.
- Button Mashing: Its effectiveness is determined by the characters' stats.
- Cap: Each character has different stat caps. Achieving Kanzenseiha will increase the chosen character's caps to 255, as a New Game Plus incentive.
- Continuing is Painful: True to real life SASUKE, you must clear all 4 stages in a row to clear the game.
- Fake Longevity: When you first start out, the game is Unwinnable by Design. All your button mashing does nothing. You are forced to perform a ton of Level Grinding from failing over and over to advance little by little throughout the 4 stages.
- Mission-Pack Sequel: Each game is made distinct by their side events, as the SASUKE courses are mostly made up of the same obstacles.
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Nintendo Hard: In real life SASUKE, only a few among thousands of contestants ever got to the tower climb. In those games, this translates to them being unwinnable at first and then requiring a perfect performance to mantain enough stamina to clear the Final Stage. - No Plot? No Problem!: You just play as a dude who's attempting to achieve Total Domination at SASUKE.
- Series Mascot: Beating any of the games once unlocks Kongou-kun, the Unbeatable Banzuke mascot.
- Some Dexterity Required: Many obstables in the games require precise input or Button Mashing. It only got more difficult thanks to the L and R buttons on the GBA.
- Timed Mission:
- Each SASUKE stage is timed. This includes the third, which for most of the real life show's history allowed contestants to progress at their own pace. The third stage is the only one where the player is allowed to rest and recover stamina, so it is likely to prevent idlying for too long.
- The stamina meter acts as a secondary timer. When it runs out, your character either slows to a crawl or outright falls off the track. Stamina is recovered between stages or if you take breaks in Stage 3. Stage 4 is only beatable if you arrive there with a full stamina gauge.
