River City Ransom

About This Game

Gameplay

River City Ransom is a beat 'em up game with action role-playing elements. The game is non-linear, allowing players to explore an open world in a sandbox manner. The fighting style is similar to Double Dragon, in that the player can move freely around the screen while pressing buttons to punch, kick, or jump. The player can also use items such as brass knuckles, steel pipes, and trash cans as melee weapons or throw them at enemies. The plot follows high school students Alex and Ryan as they cross River City in an attempt to reach River City High and rescue Ryan's girlfriend Cyndi from the clutches of a villain called "Slick". Along the way, they battle gangs of students and their gang leaders, latter of which act as bosses. In the original NES version there are nine gangs in total, with names such as "The Generic Dudes", "The Frat Guys", "The Jocks" or "The Squids". Gang members are distinguished by the color of their t-shirt; each gang has unique characteristics and attacking patterns. The characters' effectiveness in battle is determined by their stats in combination with unlockable fighting techniques such as Grand Slam, Stone Hands, and Dragon Feet.

History

River City Ransom is an English localization of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, the third title starring Technōs Japan's mascot character Kunio (and the first entry in the series where Kunio teams up with his rival, Riki). In addition to anglicizing all of the names and dialogue, the characters' sprites were redrawn to replace the Japanese school uniforms with t-shirts and jeans. In the original, the gangs are all students from different high schools, and many of its characters would reappear in subsequent Kunio-kun games (particularly those directed by Sekimoto and Yoshida). The number of difficulty settings was reduced from three to two; the easiest difficulty setting was removed, and the Medium setting was changed to "Novice".