Rakugakids

About Rakugakids

Rakugakids (1998) is Konami's 2D Nintendo 64 fighter whose characters look like children's doodles, from a ray-gun astronaut to a sleeping tank bear.

Rakugakids in Depth

The name joins the Japanese rakugaki, meaning doodle, with the English "kids", reflecting a visual style resembling children's drawings, with 2D fighters on 3D backgrounds. It plays like a toned-down Street Fighter with the standard six-button layout of three punches and three kicks, combined with directional commands for special moves. Every character has a one-button launcher that knocks the opponent into the air to be chased and attacked there, plus an extra jump in mid-air. Super combos, called Magic, use up to three levels shown as crayons, spent on offence for heavy damage, defence to knock opponents far away, or a counter while blocking.

Each fighter is credited to a child artist. Astronots, drawn by Andy, is a Buck Rogers-style astronaut with a ray gun and rocket boots; Captain. Cat. Kit is a hip-hop cat who fights with brass instruments, a basketball and breakdancing, and can burst into flames; Marsa is a witch with a chicken-like hat who can triple jump; Robot C.H.O is a grappler who transforms into objects such as a bin or a car; Beartank is a constantly sleeping green bear with tank guns; Cools. Roy is a cowboy aided by his cactus butler Alfred; and Mamezo, the villain, morphs into tools like forks and scissors. Hidden characters include the sub-boss Inuzo and the final boss Darkness, a ghost dog.

Making Rakugakids

Konami developed and released it for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Its European release received mixed reviews, partly because the conversion ran slower than the original Japanese game. Journalist Steve Merrett cited Konami's Nintendo 64 library, including Rakugakids, International Superstar Soccer 98 and Castlevania, as its last set of games focused on gameplay, using the console's power to build on tropes from 2D gaming, and its 2D-fighters-on-3D-backgrounds formula is an example of how 2D fighting game makers tried to stay relevant in a market full of 3D games.