When River City Super Sports Challenge and River City Soccer Hooligans were announced just over a week ago, Aksys Games gave retrogamers a great big old school hug by bringing back one of the 8-bit era’s greatest heroes: Kunio.

The scrappy teen, who has a knack for engaging in fisticuffs and excelling in all manner of sporting events, returns in two new games in 2010 .  I spoke with Cherie Baker, Aksys Games’ PR Specialist, about the return of Kunio, the games’ new graphical style, and why old school gamers should consider these new series additions.

River City Soccer Hooligans

The descriptions of River City Soccer Hooligans and River City Super Sports Challenge both ring familiar. Are they remakes of Techno’s old Nintendo World Cup and Crash N The Boys Street Challenge?

No, both River City Super Sports Challenge and River City Soccer Hooligans are entirely new entries in the Kunio series.

As a hardcore Kunio fan, I was excited to learn of the new games, but was disappointed that there weren’t any accompanying screenshots. How would you describe the games’ art style?

Both games use a 3D engine, instead of the 2D engine of past Kunio games. The art is still true to the usual Kunio style, however, so long-time fans won’t need to worry about that. We think hardcore Kunio fans will appreciate the 8-bit homage found in River City Soccer Hooligans.

River City Super Sports Challenge

Last year Miracle Kidz, a development team comprised of ex-Technos programmers, released Downtown Smash Dodgeball, which was a homage to the 8-bit Kunio dodgeball game. Did they have any involvement with River City Soccer Hooliagns and River City Super Sports Challenge?

Both games were developed by Arc System Works with Million’s support. Some ex-Technos staff did work on the games, but Miracle Kidz didn’t have any particular involvement with either River City Super Sports Challenge or River City Soccer Hooligans.

When the original Kunio games came to the West in the ’80s, the characters were given Americanized names. With the new River City games, you’ve decided to keep the Kunio moniker. Why is that?

We tried to bring the nostalgia of the past back by using the River City title, but we also wanted to stay true to the Kunio series’ hardcore fans, which is why we’ve gone with the traditional naming scheme for all Kunio releases thus far. (i.e Super Dodgeball Brawlers, River City Super Sports Challenge, and River City Soccer Hooligans.)

River City Soccer Hooligans and River City Super Sports Challenge were both annoucned for the Nintendo DS. Are there plans to bring it to the Sony PSP or iPhone?

Unfortunately, there are no plans to bring these titles to either platform at this time.

Why should fans of the old Kunio titles pick up the new ones?

Even though both games are no longer in 2D, their debut in 3D is still as exciting and intense as ever. Kunio fans that want their fill of beat-‘em-up, super-move-thrashing, weapon-using sports action don’t have to look any further.