Super Technos World: River City & Arcade Classics bringing a luscious mix of the developer’s hidden gems (Update)

[Update: Good news, everyone! It turns out that Arc System Works is indeed bringing the collection to North America under the name Super Technos World: River City & Arcade Classics (I’ve updated the headline, in case you were wondering).

However, there’s some bad news here. The games that I pointed out would need translation over here? Sugoro Quest++ and DunQuest? Yeah, not getting translated. Says in the press release, “*Japanese language only.” However, that caveat isn’t listed behind the Kunio-Kun titles, so it sounds like they’re getting localized, which is a big deal in itself. So, yeah, still very exciting. Original story follows.]

Arc System Works has revealed the Technos The World: Kunio-kun & Arcade Collection (thanks to Gematsu), a new compilation of some of Technos Japan’s lesser-known gems. More importantly, it’s bringing some titles that weren’t included in a few later Kunio-Kun/Nekketsu/Downtown/River City titles that weren’t included in Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle. It’s coming to PS5, Switch, and PC, on April 24. No word yet on a North American release.

It’s a pretty great list. I’ll go over some of them in a bit more depth, but before we get into the weeds, let’s go over what’s actually in the package.

• Super Dodge Ball (Arcade)
• Kunio-kun no Dodgeball da yo Zen’in Shūgō! (Super Famicom)
• Shodai Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (Super Famicom)
• Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari: Yakyu de Shobu da! Kunio-kun (Super Famicom)
• Kunio no Oden (Super Famicom)
• Xain’d Sleena (Arcade)
• China Gate (Arcade)
• The Combatribes (Arcade)
• The Combatribes (Super Famicom)
• Shadow Force (Arcade)
• Sugoro Quest++: DICENICS (Super Famicom)
• DunQuest: Majin Fuuin no Densetsu (Super Famicom)

Groovy. For the Kunio-Kun/Nekketsu/Downtown/River City games, you have baseball, a classic beat-’em-up, a puzzle game (seriously), and two flavors of dodgeball. While I’d say that the Super Famicom Kunio games are decent but not fantastic, the NEOGEO Super Dodgeball is pretty spectacular. It uses a much brighter and more cartoon-y artstyle, which makes it even flashier and more over the top. It’s also something that has never been ported before.

Big ol’ mixed bag with everything else. China Gate is known in Saiyuu Goumaroku: Ryuubouyougi no Shou in Japan. It’s a strange beat-’em-up based somewhat on Journey to the West. It’s kind of short, but it’s interesting. Combatribes is in the same vein. It’s a ridiculously brutal beat-’em-up in the same vein as the Kunio-Kun/Nekketsu/Downtown/River City. You can drive clown faces into the pavement.

DunQuest is a dungeon-dwelling action RPG, which is uncharacteristic for the developer. Similarly, Sugoro Quest++: DICENICS is something of a cross between an RPG and a board game. Xain’d Sleena is a run-and-gun sometimes better known as Solar Warrior or Soldier of Light over here. Shadow Force fits their M.O. a lot better, as it’s an arcade beat-’em-up.

While there’s no word on whether or not we’ll see this collection over in the West. It may seem unlikely because many of the titles didn’t see release outside of Japan and would require different levels of translation, but Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle did the impossible and localized a tonne of older Kunio-Kun games, so all bets are off. I know for sure that I’d be thrilled to get my hands on it.

Technos The World: Kunio-kun & Arcade Collection is coming to PS5, Switch, and PC on April 24.