The very first time that I learned about the video game Urban Champion was in 2012, when it was featured in the NES Remix collection for Nintendo. These old classic games were available for purchase and download on systems like the Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo 3ds. The pixelated look and basic controls of Urban Champion were what interested me the most. After watching numerous game plays and walkthroughs on YouTube, I instantly purchased the downloadable version from the classic NES collection.
Urban Champion is an old NES fighting game that was released in America in 1986. The beginning of the game starts out with your main character facing an exact copy of him but with a different color scheme. The main avatar or so called “Urban Champion” appears to be a young male with blue hair, a white shirt with blue sleeves, green pants, and purple shoes. On the other hand, the copied version of the main character has green hair, a white shirt with green sleeves, orange pants, and brown shoes. The simple swap of colors on the same figure is probably due to the fact that technology was not as advanced in the 1980’s as it is today. This probably limited the video game designers’ ability to create more distinctive characters. The goal of the game is to beat up the opposing fighter, knocking him from block to block until he ends up falling in a sewer hole. What makes the game difficult is how you decide to fight the other player. Each player comes with a certain amount of stamina, which can be lowered through the punches you throw or the hits you take. Other obstacles that you face while fighting are building residents that randomly drop flower plots from the window, the time set for each fight, and the policemen cruising in a squad car.
There only seems to be two type of building residents throughout the game. One resident is an elderly male while the other resident is a young female both sporting blue hair. The only part of the officer that can be seen by players is his long arm, which extends to grab either fighter into the car, symbolizing their arrest. If you are able to avoid all obstacles and defeat the primary opponent, you get rewarded with
confetti from the female resident. After the short celebration your avatar moves on to another fighter with the same color scheme as the last and you proceed into battle. Throughout the game you gain fighting titles based on how many wins you’ve had. There aren’t many controls to the game which makes it simple to understand and easy to maneuver. This is an enjoyable 2-player classic game.
Like I stated earlier, the main character appears to be a young male with uniquely colored sprites. You can move him to the left and right of the screen, as well as throw punches or block with him. The game doesn’t give this character an actual name, instead it gives him various titles that he can gain while fighting. Some of these titles include street champion, block champion, and neighborhood champion. This feature of the game was most likely included to make players feel like they were accomplishing something and not just wasting their time in an endless loop of similar fighters. Earning different ranks based on your progress creates something for the both the virtual character and real world character to reflect on. Most people would say that they feel very limited using this character in the game. The move set along with the fighting strategy is very simple. Personally, I did not feel a connection with this virtual character due to the way he looked and the small amount of abilities he had. However, I still had major concerns for my virtual character while
playing. For example, the endless battle against my similar looking opponents was a huge concern, along with my characters stamina, health, and safety. Keeping the “Urban Champion” from being knocked into a sewer hole, arrested by the police, or hit on the head by a flower pot was my main goal while playing the game. There are three types of identities that can be formed between a gamer and their avatars in the gaming world as told by James Paul Gee. The virtual identity, real world identity, and projection identity can all be found in the classic game Urban Champion.
Virtual identity- The identity that the video game has you play under. Any character that is designated for your control whether it is created by you or pre-made for you is known as the virtual identity. The main character that you play as in Urban Champion would serve as the virtual identity. The character is not created by the player but already pre-made and designed to perform specific movements and attacks.
Real world identity- The identity that is not virtual but real. The person who is behind the controller, playing the game and controlling the virtual character. I, Marquoi Subah would serve as the real world identity. I was a sophomore student in high school when I first experienced this Nintendo classic, and I am currently a sophomore student in college experiencing the game again.
Projection identity- James Paul Gee states that the projection identity is “To project one’s values and desires onto the virtual character and seeing the virtual character as one’s own project in the making”. There were many projection values that could be found between me and my virtual character in this game. Some of these values were defeating as much fighters as possible to increase my rankings, avoiding the different types of danger to keep my character alive, staying away from both flower pots and sewer holes, and hopefully gaining the title “Urban Champion”. The original reason why Urban Champion caught my attention was because of its classic retro look. I never expected it to be as advanced or distinct as the games of today. Most video games back in the 1980’s were pretty basic and simple due to the type of technology they had. For example, the games Ten Yard Fight and Mach Rider were two 1980’s games that didn’t have much variety in the game play or avatars. Both of these games were basic when it came to the avatars, but still had intriguing aspects under them. Another thing that most 1980’s games had in common was the pixelated look on their characters, lack of design, and simple move sets. Even though this game is not as creative as most, it still met some of my expectations. The difficulty level in Urban Champion is very challenging. Every new fighter that you go against gets smarter in terms of their fighting strategy. They began to read the players attacks and react to your moves in a timely fashion. This feature of the game makes it comparably hard and challenging as most games of today. I feel that if Urban Champion gave players the ability to create their own character, choose their own color scheme, and name their fighter, most people would feel attached virtually. The constant repetition of fighting clones throughout the game would not mean much to the players knowing that their personal character is battling them. Urban Champion is a classic game that’s enjoyable, and easily understandable.
References:
“Urban champion.” www.nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/urbanchampion CC-BY-SA, 10 June, 2014.Web. 6th December, 2015.
Thomas, Lucas M. “3D CLASSICS: Urban Champion Review.” www.ign.com/article/2011/08/14. 1996-2015. Ziff Davis LLC, 14 August 2011. Web. 6th December , 2015
Whitehead, Thomas. “Urban Champion.” www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2011/08/3d_classics. 2015 Nintendo Life, part of Gamer Network, Tuesday 29th Oct 2013. Web. 6th December, 2015
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