Knuckle Bash

Created by most of the same staff that previously worked on several projects at Toaplan and who would later go on to work at one of its offshoots after the company declared bankruptcy in 1994. The team were originally commissioned on making a fighting game similar to Capcom's Street Fighter II: The World Warrior but the project deviated from its original plan and became a beat 'em up title instead.

• Title — Knuckle Bash • Developer — Toaplan • Designer — Junya Inoue Nanpei Kaneko • Composer — Masahiro Yuge Osamu Ōta • Platforms — Arcade • Genre — Beat 'em up • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — Gameplay screenshot Knuckle Bash is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game similar to Final Fight and Double Dragon. Players take control of one of the available playable characters across ten stages, each one set in a different location, and fight against an assortment of enemies and villains in order to defeat the Mad Bull Group organization. At the beginning, players choose between one of two scenarios, both of which host their own set of stages and clearing certain scenarios unlocks an extra playable character. Unlike other titles in the same genre, the stages in the game chiefly consist of various waves of single or few strong boss-like enemies, instead of the typical long series of weaker enemies with a boss at the end of the stage. It also completely lacks weapons or objects of any sort. Similar to Streets of Rage 2, each character has a special attack of their own that deals damage to any enemy on-screen. Players can compete in a minigame reminiscent of Mortal Kombats "Test Your Might" segments between stages.

The story of Knuckle Bash revolves around the Mad Bull Group, a corrupt wrestling organization that profits and taints the reputation of the sport, whose wrestlers are looked upon by children as role models. Three former members of the Mad Bull Group who deserted from the organization due to their actions and labeled as traitors arranged a secret meeting at a Chicago hotel in order to contact a skillful "Ninpow" master, who is also wanted by the Mad Bull Group. On their journey, the wrestlers venture into the Battle Kingdom headquarters, where another Mad Bull Group plans to desert from the organization because of their actions. After facing multiple battle against members of the Mad Bull Group, the wrestlers manage to dismantle the organization and their victorious story was widespread thereafter.

Players initially choose from three wrestlers at the start, while two extra wrestlers are recruited through gameplay and any of the five wrestlers can be switched to between missions: • El Plancha – a luchador. • Michael Sobut – an Elvis Presley look-alike. • Jack Brow – a street fighter. • Mr. Hayate – a ninja master of the "Ninpow" art. • Captain – an american football player who defects from the Mad Bull Group.

Knuckle Bash was created by most of the same staff that previously worked on several projects at Toaplan and who would later go on to work at one of its offshoots after the company declared bankruptcy in 1994. Mangaka Junya Inoue acted as designer in the project, while the soundtrack was co-composed by Masahiro Yuge and Osamu Ōta. According to Inoue, the game was also designed by Nanpei Kaneko, a member who previously worked on FixEight before quitting Toaplan and working as illustrator for Japanese magazines. Between 2009 and 2012 through Japanese publications such as Shooting Gameside, former Toaplan composer Tatsuya Uemura recounted the project's development process and history, stating that the team were originally commissioned by the company on making a fighting game similar to Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, but the project deviated from its original plan and became a beat 'em up title instead, although Uemura claimed he had no involvement during its development. Knuckle Bash was released in arcades worldwide by Toaplan and Atari Games in 1993. An album containing music from the title and other Toaplan games was published exclusively in Japan by City Connection under their Clarice Disk label in June 2018. Prior to launch, the game was first showcased to the public at the 1993 AOU Show. As of March 2014, it has not received a conversion to home consoles. However, the game is one of the emulated titles included in the Toaplan Arcade 4 cartridge for Evercade, released in December 2024, which marks the first time it is available officially and legally to play on a video game console.