One bancho to rule them all. Do it in style!
You play as a badass character from a prefecture in Japan. You are a bancho, the best and strongest fighter in your school of said prefecture. You have come to Kyouto on a school trip to learn the history of the land, but instead you manage to get yourself into fight after fight, seeking to become the strongest fighter in all of Japan.
As luck (or misfortune?) would have it, banchos from other prefectures are in Kyouto as well, giving you a prime opportunity to prove your skills!
The combat in the game, while classified as a "fighter", doesn't offer as much as your typical fighting game. There aren't a wealth of different combo attacks to unleash upon your unsuspecting foe, and instead you are given only a few different types of attacks but you are able to customize their appearance and effectiveness. Want to make a fighter who enjoys slapping his opponents like a sissy, than piledrives them backwards to the ground and kicks them in the gut? Go for it. The possibilities of creating a fighting style all your own are nearly limitless.
Does this mean combat is boring and repetitive without a flurry of combos to use? Honestly, it does get a bit repetitive, but it's definitely not boring.
Though you're also able to customize your character's appearance. There are many types of outfits, hair styles and faces to choose from to create a unique character. Of course, you could simply run around town in the widely-advertised and equally "terrifying" banana suit. Yes, humiliate your opponents by beating them in such a... disturbing outfit.
You have seven days to fight all of the other school's banchos that you can. You'll have to budget your time accordingly as not only do you only have a week to complete your objective, but you also only have a certain amount of time during the day. If you've played a Japanese school dating simulator than you'll be familiar with this aspect.
Almost everything takes time so you'll have to be careful with it. Want to fight a bancho in another prefecture? You'll have to take the bus, subway, or taxi to get there... However, not each mode of transportation has the same station, plus they all cost different amounts of money, and they all take different amounts of time (and more time depending on how far you're going from your current location).
It's not a difficult task to budget your time, and it's not particularly frustrating either. If anything it adds to the atmosphere of the game. After all, you're still a school student, and this makes you feel that way.
In short, "Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble" isn't an amazing or innovative game. It isn't something that's going to break the mold in the genre. What it is, however, is a fun, action-packed, humorous and highly-customizable "fighting RPG" with enough flair and replayability to please almost any PSP fan with a passion for Japanese anime-styled gaming.