RIVER CITY RANSOM
Original Release: Technos, 1989, NES
Other Releases: Sharp X68000 (1990), PC Engine CD (1993), Game Boy Advance (2004), Wii (2007), 3DS (2012), Wii U (2015), Switch (2018)
A true classic of the genre, RCR was one of the early titles to implement light RPG elements, shops and a non-linear structure
River City Ransom (NES, Technos, 1989)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Right on, good old River City Ransom. Fine, quality, manly brawling for one or two players, all set to a 1950s soda shop soundtrack.
Play as Alex or Ryan, or both with a second player. The back story is kind of vague but I think it's kind of a "The Warriors" type of situation, this guy Slick has all the gangs in the city mobilized to beat them down or something, and has kidnapped Ryan's girlfriend and holed up in the high school across town. So you have to beat your way on over there.
Aside from having a really fun and solid fighting system with a cute presentation, RCR has some elements that give it more depth than the average brawler. Interspersed amongst the punks there are shopping malls, where you stop in and buy various things that recharge your health, upgrade your stats and give you new moves. You'll also have to roam back and forth across various areas, sometimes returning to previous spots to advance the story or find a boss.
This game is great fun, although it's definitely on the short side and for one player it might not take too long to get old. It's always a riotous time for two players though. It did have some seriously long and annoying passwords, but I guess with the save states on the Wii that's not going to be too much of an issue.
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River City Ransom EX (2004, Technos, GBA)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
This GBA remake is a pretty good upgrade of the NES classic - it sports improved graphics, a little tune-up in the fighting system, and you can recruit the gang leaders to join you as a computer-controlled posse (provided you don't fight skeeviously like punching bosses before they finish their speeches, or kicking them while they are down). They removed two-player mode though, which is a pretty egregious offense as that was the best part of the game. Also, it's hard to actually get the bosses to join you as it's really difficult to not accidentally hit a dude while he is down, or use the same move too many times. So ... it's not bad, but hard to recommend due to the excisions, and it doesn't really add any length or replayability to a game that you already could blow through in about an hour or so.
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