Kendo Rage (1993). Play online

Summary

Kendo Rage feels like a goofy summer‑vacation anime turned into a side‑scrolling brawler. The teenage hero Jo gets sent to Japan to train under a flamboyantly green‑haired swordmaster and, thanks to a magic talisman, briefly transforms into a ’70s‑style superhero.

The game gives you a kendo stick that can slash enemies, launch ranged attacks, and chain into combos when your Psy meter is charged. Each of the seven stages ends with a distinct boss, and progress is measured by how quickly you clear a level rather than by points.

When it landed on the Super Famicom, the North American version kept the off‑beat art style and quirky tone, earning mixed scores such as a 7/10 from Game Players and middling grades from Japanese magazines. The title also spawned an anime OVA and a sequel that shifted to fighting and RPG formats, cementing its cult status among retro fans.

Storyline

In the original Japanese release of Kendo Rage, the player controls Mai Tsurugino, a teenage girl who is approached by a quirky spirit detective named Doro. Doro convinces Mai to join his hunt for the strange monsters that have begun appearing across the countryside.

The Western localization swaps the protagonist for Josephine “Jo” Smith, an American teenager traveling to Japan for a summer kendo school. Her personal trainer, Osaki “Bob” Yoritomo, tasks her with battling the same wave of creatures on the road to the dojo, turning a simple school trip into a monster‑slaying adventure.