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 In 1986 Technos released a landmark game in
Japan
called Renegade. This game is very important because it
was the first real beat ‘em up game on the NES. It introduced us to being able to walk
in any direction, dueling it out with bad guys that take multiple hits to
kill and the idea that only two bad guys can be on the screen with
you. It also introduced the world
to a character named Kunio. When Renegade was ported over to the United States
many changes were made, unfortunately one of those was branding Kunio as
Mr K. Renegade was a decently popular game and paved the way for
Technos’ most successful game: Double
Dragon. While the Double
Dragon series was clearly Technos’ big money-maker in the United States, its other main series
dubbed the “Downtown Nekketsu” series was very successful in Japan and has rapidly grown in stature in
the United States
as well.
River
City Ransom is the third
game in the Downtown Nekketsu series which always features Kunio as its
main character but since the second game is Super Dodge Ball this is really the second game in the beat ‘em
up series. Once again Kunio’s name
has been changed in the United
States – this time to Alex. One major improvement over Renegade in the gameplay arena is
that River City Ransom is a
two-player simultaneous beat ‘em up.
Kunio’s partner in crime is Riki, who interestingly is one of
Kunio’s rivals in Renegade. Of course, between the name and
sprite changes all of this is completely lost in the American version. Luckily River City Ransom is fun and original enough that it stands
on its own despite all of these changes.
The game’s plot itself is pretty standard;
you have to save your girlfriend who has been kidnapped by some evil
dudes. What makes the story
interesting is that she has been kidnapped by some bullies over at your
rival high school. Talk about some
sinister kids! Over the years River City Ransom has grown to be
a major cult classic due to all of its interesting features. While containing many of the standard
beat ‘em up elements of Renegade and
Double Dragon, this game
introduces some very unique features such as the ability to collect money
from every bully you defeat and then being able to spend this money on a
variety of goodies at the store. You
can buy anything from sushi to porno mags to books that teach you ancient
fighting techniques. You also have
to pay attention to in-game dialogue to know where to go next and must
navigate your way through town to find all of the bosses whom you must
defeat before you can enter your rival gang’s high school. You almost assuredly will find yourself
hopelessly lost in this game and undermatched for the final bosses if you
haven’t properly pumped up your skills at the town shops, which gives
this game a little bit of an RPG feel.
When American Technos brought River City Ransom to the United States
we didn’t just miss out on Kunio’s real name. We also lost a third skill level, the
ability to save (with a Japanese-only peripheral called the Turbo File)
and a second two-player option that allows you to not hit each other when
you get too close. All of these
losses are disappointing but definitely do not ruin the experience that
is River
City Ransom.
There would be many more Kunio
related games released in Japan but only one more would reach American
shores – Crash ‘N’ the Boys Street Challenge, a game that tried to
combine no-rules streetball with Olympic events like the 400M dash and
swimming. The only other Kunio
game that we really missed out on was a direct sequel to River City Ransom that took place
in Feudal Japan and featured improved graphics and an on-screen map.
Positives:
This beat ‘em up is the king of
options. You can buy so many
different items that you need a list to figure them out. You can power up many different
attributes and purchase books to learn different fighting techniques,
just don’t throw your book
away once you’ve learned the
technique because it will be gone (ahem, Agent J). The game is non-linear to some degree
allowing you to visit many different areas though some bosses must be
beaten to unlock other bosses.
Upon defeating enemies they shout humorous responses such as “Barf!”
and “Dude I’m history!” Two-player mode is fun with many
options such as hurling your buddy at the baddies or if your partner
angers you, go ahead and pound ‘em (using stone hands leads to quick
death). There are many items that
can be picked up such as baseball bats, trashcans, and rocks.
Glaring
Negatives:
The greatest problem is that the
game is confusing. River City Ransom seems easy and straightforward. Kill baddies and then move to the next
screen and kill more. Eventually
you will reach your final destination – your rival high school containing
Slick. However, you will not be
able to enter and you’ll wonder why the heck not! In order to open the
school you have to kill certain enemies in a specific order often
backtracking to areas you thought were  already beaten. Some bosses give clues where the next boss
can be found but often times you are not sure where to go next. There are also so many items that it is
difficult to know what you should buy.
For instance the hyper ball which costs 57.50 (which is a ton)
sounds amazing. Perhaps you can
hurl a ball which bounces around and kills everyone, but alas it does
not. Instead it powers up your
stamina and other stats but nothing too special. When you run low on health buying items
can be a crapshoot until you figure out which ones actually restore
health. The password is notorious
for not working because many letters look similar; surely you’ve encountered this problem before from
games like Metroid. Another
annoying “feature” is that often you will injure yourself by
running into walls or areas which look like they lead to the next screen
but in fact do not and are apparently invisible walls. This hurts more than just your ego and
takes away a decent amount of your health. It is unfortunate that there is no
option in the two-player mode to prevent you from hurting your teammate (which
is very frustrating since it was available in the Japanese version).
Graphics
and Sound: Solid
Throughout the game you will make
your way through different forests, streets and towns. Each place is different enough to be
interesting but none of them feature stand-out graphics. The color scheme is a little dull and
the characters are strangely square-like (a trademark of virtually every
Technos release). The music is
fine, nothing terribly memorable but nothing annoying either.
Gameplay
and Controls: Tight with a twist
 The controls for the most part are
great. There are lots of different
maneuvers you can pull off when beating up the baddies and your guy
easily does what you want him to do.
There are a couple minor annoyances though. One is that there a couple spots where
you have to land a precision jump, which may take a handful of
tries. The main example of this is
that you have to land on a basketball hoop to move on when you are in the
high school gym. Luckily, none of
these jumps lead to a death if you screw them up. It is also annoying that your guy runs
if you tap forward twice because sometimes you will be trying to walk
precisely and end up running off a ledge.
Features:
Tons
The enormous number of features
is what separates River City Ransom
from all other beat ‘em
ups. You can buy different
techniques, footwear, books, candy, burgers, and many other helpful items
to improve any of your numerous attributes. These items are bought with coins which
are gathered from the rotting corpses of your opponents, each gang giving
a different amount. The password
feature is also nice and allows you to come back for more later (if you
can actually get your password to work, which we were not able to
achieve).
Fun?:
Pretty good one-player, P
retty
gooder two-player
You will definitely have fun
playing River City Ransom by
yourself but the game is more fun with a second player. You’ll have a second brain to help figure out where to go when
you are lost and you will have someone to beat up when you get
frustrated.
Challenge:
Medium
Without a FAQ you may find
yourself frustrated because you have no idea where to find the
bosses. It can also be tough to
know which items to buy. The
fights themselves are relatively easy until you reach the last two
bosses. With enough power-ups they
are easy to dispatch as well.
Replay:
Some
There is quite a bit of replay
here if you enjoy River City Ransom. Each attribute can be powered to 63 and
there are a large variety of expensive items to acquire. While the bosses will always be the
same there are also two levels of difficulty and you can try to beat the
bosses with low attributes for an even greater challenge.
2
Player: Boo Yah
Two player is where this game
really shines. Are you in the mood
to be co-operative, fine. Are you
in the mood to hoard coins and “accidentally” punch your buddy in the face, well that’s fine too.
Online Manual?:
Yes at Nintendo Age
Yes
check Nintendo Age, they have a scan of every manual on the NES.
Bottom
Line: Get it
If you heard and believed the hype
that this is one of the greatest NES games of all time, you may be
disappointed. If you are looking
for an entertaining, option-loaded, two-player simultaneous beat ‘em up
you are in business.
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