City Hunter Review – Stunning Pixels, Bland Gameplay

City Hunter Review

City Hunter is a manga series from the 80s that’s been adapted across several mediums. There are multiple live-action and anime adaptations. The most famous are a Hong Kong Jackie Chan movie from 1993, a more recent Japanese Netflix film from 2022, and a late 80s/ early 90s anime series with over 100 episodes. This City Hunter video game was developed by SUNSOFT, and originally released for the Japanese-only PC Engine console in 1990. It’s based on the anime series. Read on to find out if this retro release is your kind of game!

City Hunter’s story is about Ryo Saeba, a detective who’s always aggressively hitting on women. He’s kind of a Japanese version of a goofier James Bond. Each level is episodic and begins with text about a different story scenario based on a detective job. The City Hunter story presentation really only applies to the fantastic opening cutscene and the odd room where Saeba gets healed from finding a woman changing.

2D Side-Scrolling Shooter

City Hunter is a 2D side-scrolling shooter that plays like a slow run and gun game. But the levels have a Sega Genesis-like verticality to them. All the level environments are extremely similar and bland. Each area functions like a maze, with tons of doorways and staircases leading to other areas. And, unfortunately, the gameplay is really repetitive. The goal of every level is to find and defeat the boss. There aren’t any RPG mechanics to provide growth, so Ryo is just shooting the same gun at the same few enemies. The game is also really short. The original version has a password system, but it’s really made to be played and beat in one sitting.

The regular version of City Hunter is called “Enhanced”. It fixes issues from the original version of the game, including unresponsive controls, lag, ineffective projectiles, and general bug fixes. There’s also a “Hard” version, which makes several changes. These include inflicted and taken damage, enemy behavior, enemy speed, hit boxes, and boss fight patterns. There are also some bonus mission sections. In many ways, the Hard version is superior to the Enhanced version. It’s great to see this much care and attention to detail in a remaster. I love that the developers provided a choice between the two versions.

Intended, or Unintended Jank?

There is still some weirdness in the gameplay, though. I’m not sure how much of it is intended, and how much is unfixed bugs. When I first started the game, the first level began with an enemy literally one centimeter away from Saeba. Sometimes, when going through doorways or into new environments, multiple enemies appear way too close. I also hated that sometimes when Saeba gets shot, the character sprite turns around. This didn’t feel like clever Castlevania pit knockback. It was just a weird annoyance that felt like a bug.

In addition to the fine-tuning, and bug fixes, both versions have rewind and save state modern quality of life features. Other options include a CRT filter and lots of language choices for text and audio, including English and Japanese. There are multiple aspect ratios as well, including widescreen, 4:3, pixel-perfect, and native (slightly larger pixel-perfect). Gallery Mode has scans of the original disk, and Japanese instruction manual. There’s also a collection of gorgeous stills from the anime. Gallery Mode also has a music player with the entire soundtrack, including the “Get Wild” anime theme song.

Stunning Pixel Presentation

City Hunter is graphically stunning. The pixel art is more gorgeous and intricate than the Super Nintendo could pull off. The pixel art stills from the game’s cutscenes are worth the price of admission alone. The music is also very 16-bit. It’s a frenetic bass and synth-driven score that’s really unique, and a joy to listen to. There are several songs that remind me of Michael Jackson’s song “Speed Demon”.

The PC Engine is the equivalent of the TurboGrafx-16 in North America. There are a few Japanese consoles, such as the PC Engine, PC-88, and PC-98 that have really phenomenal, gorgeous games we’ve never gotten in North America. I really hope quality ports of games from these consoles catch on in North America.

Hope for the Future

City Hunter isn’t a particularly strong game. While its gorgeous opening presentation immediately grabs attention and builds excitement, the gameplay quickly becomes a series of bland, maze-like 2D shooting levels. There was great attention to detail in remastering City Hunter, and this port is obviously the best way to play it. It’s just a shame that there’s not a lot to the original City Hunter game. Regardless, I really hope that City Hunter is the beginning of many more PC Engine ports in the future.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***