GAME CLEAR No. 177 -- Nekketsu Oyako (熱血親子)

Nekketsu Oyako (熱血親子) (1994, PS1/Saturn)

Developer: Technosoft
Publisher: Technosoft (PS1), SEGA (Saturn)
Clear Version: Saturn
Clear Platform: Saturn
Clear Date: 6/22/24

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Why should I care?
Nekketsu Oyako is a cute and eclectic beat ’em up that showed what 2D still had to offer at the dawn of the 32-bit generation.

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Family feud

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how much I enjoyed Kolibri. I also praised the decision to make it a 2D game for the 32-bit hardware at a time when so many studios were eager to hop on the 3D trend.

I feel similarly about breezy brawler Nekketsu Oyako (which translates roughly to “Hot-Blooded Family”). It was never released outside Japan, so I first heard about it in a Bluesky post. It struck me immediately with its pretty and colorful sprites, and it seemed to be the perfect hour-long reprieve from the main game I was playing at the time, the enormous Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

It was also the perfect opportunity to finally test my Pseudo Saturn Kai cartridge, which, in addition to operating as a RAM expansion and memory card, allows the Saturn to play CD-Rs. I bought the thing years ago but never got around to testing that particular feature. One glance at the prices this game goes for these days was all the convincing I needed to finally give it a shot.

Fortunately all that worked without a hitch! I highly recommend one of those things for your Saturn for a nice, all-in-one solution. Although I also hear advances in Saturn cart technology continue, and now maybe the Saroo is the way to go for SD card loading? If that’s your thing? I just think it’s cool that people are still so dedicated to the little guy. 🪐

Anyway, this post is ostensibly about Nekketsu Oyako, right? Well, it’s swell. On top of having nice sprites, it also features a suitably weird plot. Apparently, the mother of the eponymous hot-blooded family is a scientist, and she’s been kidnapped by the bad guys who want to force her to build a doomsday device. Upon hearing about this, her pro-wrestler husband, sporty daughter, and determined lab assistant spring into action to get her back.

To do so, they must fight their way through five levels of bad guys, ranging from the Tokyo streets of the future to the innards of a whale to an amusement park to what looks like hell (?) before they finally hit up the HQ of the bad guys (since elevators are, I believe, required by law to be in beat ’em ups). The odd and varied environments are a real treat, and they’re rendered beautifully on the Saturn. The enemies are generally a bit generic, but the environments you encounter them in more than make up for that.

Throughout their journey, the heroes bump along to a nice little CD-quality soundtrack with some pleasant, tone-appropriate tunes. It’s no Streets of Rage soundtrack, but the vibes are still solid, and it’s upbeat enough to not simply sit behind the action but accompany it.

In the gameplay department, it’s all pretty standard fare. You can beat guys up with the usual multihit combo by just spamming the attack button, or you can get a little cuter with it by doing simple fighting-game-style button combos to execute special moves. The dad obvious does wrestling moves, the daughter mostly fights with a cool hammer, and the lab assistant is kind of just a buff guy? Definitely the least memorable of the three, but I wouldn’t describe any of them as really pushing the boundaries of the genre. Just pick the one that you think looks the coolest or cutest running around and hitting guys.

I got through the game by myself in maybe 45 min or an hour, and something I appreciated was that that was possible. It’s not an egregiously tough game like some of the era, and I had a couple continues to spare by the end. I would think with a friend it would be even more manageable (and more fun).

So maybe call a friend over some day and fire this one up on the emulator or burn a disc like I did. I’ll bet there’s at least a pretty good shot you’ll be showin’ ’em a cute little game they haven’t seen before. Beats playing the same old thing again, right?