Streets of Kamurocho

Welcome to a period that I'm calling "Seemingly Random Second Half of September." It's a ~three week period where I'm going to play games that have no rhyme or reason to be played and written about. I say "seemingly" because there is a reason. They've been sitting in my Steam library, unplayed, for a long time. I need/want to clear up some disk space before it crashes, so let's start doing so!

First up is Streets of Kamurocho. It's a game that SEGA gave away during its fortieth birthday celebration a year or so ago. I got it, wanted to play it, but never did. Now's the best time to do so!

The story is simple.

"The death of the Tojo Clan's Third Chairman has plunged the organization into chaos. The violence spreads to the streets, and only Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima can put an end to the bloodshed!."

I opted to play as Kiryu because I dug his white suit. From here out, it's an old school, side scroller, beat 'em up.

We hit the ground running as we're immediately attacked by various thugs, mafioso, and Chinese wangs. Don't Google that last one at school. The combat is pretty lackluster, needing to press only one button to attack. There are no combo moves, but rapidly using the X on a controller lets you perform more varying attacks. B is a special move that drains the user's HP, so I never used it. I think, and hope, it did more damage than the basic blows. You can also jump with A, and Y does nothing. There is no block, sprint, or crawl. But there is an enemy that can slide dash... You can also throw, but I have no idea how I did that, and I think there may be some sorta genuine combo system that eluded me, as well. Weapons are rare, but they have only a single swing. I preferred the button mashing.

Mobs have a surprisingly high rate of difference. Some will die in on combo, and others take a few more. Thugs are quick to dispatch and pose little threat, but guys in suits can hold their hold. But it's the fella in the slick argyle sweaters you need to watch out for! There are also a few bosses that have their own weapons to shake things up a bit.

Gameplay is a tad clunky. You have to be pretty close and next to them to hit. Just above or below on the mode-six style screen means nothing, usually. Jump kicks might connect, but that's all. Range is also annoyingly low, but this only comes into play during boss fights.

So how's the story? The first area is the streets of, unassumingly, Kamurocho. It's a place that needs to be cleaned up because of all the papers flying around. We fight our way past the basic thugs and argyle guys to make our way to a bar. Before we enter, we need to take on two sword users and their boss, who throws knives at us. This is the first boss of the game, and I don't remember his name. He's pretty slow, though.

Inside the bar are even more dudes in suits. Watch out for the purple argyle guys. They can do the slide kick that ends your button mashing and leave you vulnerable to other attacks. Since there's no block, you need to avoid or focus them down. Don't forget to destroy the tables and stools for food and money. At the end of the bar is another dude with a gaunt sword. He's got the range factor, and I learned that the jump button can be used to dodge. I think, at least. I probably just got lucky, and he missed. Don't land on him in case he's swinging his blade.

In the alleyway behind the bar are four people waiting for us. Three of them are basic dudes, but one's the biggest baddest boss in the game. Try to take them on one by one and keep in mind there's some health in the garbage cans. I nearly beat him without dying but fell half a life short. Fortunately, I had four lives left. It doesn't matter, though, because we immediately restart the level if you win.

Wait, what?

So I did some research and found out that SoK is a tie-in game with the Yakuza franchise. The two characters we can choose from are the main characters from Like a Dragon. As is the secret character you get when you beat the third boss. It's just Street Fighter but with Yakuza character sprites instead. It's not a full game, and I feel a little dumb, but whatever. It was free, and I had a fun twenty minutes, so no one got hurt.
 
I knew I wasn't going to get a full series out of this, so I figured the smallest game in my Steam library would be the perfect way to start this stupid idea of mine. I'll go back to normal updates on October first, so bear with me for the next two weeks. About half of these things are RPGs, so they fit, but I don't know their length or even if they're worth an honest dive. I've got a thing planned for the first that won't explain why I'm doing this, but I have no readers anyway, so who cares? Let's add to my one-offs folder!