River City Ransom

River City Ransom
North American boxart
Developer(s)	Technos Japan (NES)
Publisher(s)	NES version Technos Japan (Japan) American Technos (North America) Infogrames (Europe) Virtual Console version Arc System Works (Japan) 505 Games (Europe) Aksys Games (North America) Windysoft (South Korea)
Designer(s)	Mitsuhiro Yoshida (director), Hiroyuki Sekimoto (director), S.W. Little (localization)
Platform(s)	NES, X68000, PC Engine, Virtual Console
Release date(s)	NES version JP April 25, 1989 NA January, 1990 EU 1991 AUS 1991 X68000 version JP April 1990 PC Engine version JP 24 December 1993 Virtual Console JP 23 December 2007 EU 22 February 2008 NA 21 April 2008
Genre(s)	Action game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+ (Virtual Console version)
Media	2-megabit cartridge (NES)

River City Ransom, released as Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (ダウンタウン熱血物語, Dauntaun Nekketsu Monogatari^?, "Downtown Hot-Blooded Story") in Japan and as Street Gangs in the PAL region, is a video game for the Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System, originally released in 1989. It was one of the first console games published by North American subsidiary American Technos.

It is the third game in Technos' Kunio-kun series released for the Famicom, preceded by Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (Renegade) and Nekketsu Kōkō Dodgeball Bu (Super Dodge Ball). Like its predecessors, Monogatari underwent great changes in its storyline and graphical presentation during its localization in order to make the game more palatable in the western market.

Remakes of the game have been released for the PC Engine, X68000 and Game Boy Advance. The NES version was re-released in North America on the Wii's Virtual Console on April 21, 2008, for a price of 500 Wii Points.^[1]

Gameplay

Gameplay of River City Ransom.

The plot follows high school students Alex and Ryan (Kunio and Riki in the Japanese version) as they cross River City in an attempt to rescue River City High and Ryan's girlfriend Cyndi from the clutches of a villain called "Slick". Along the way, they battle with gangs of students (with names such as "The Generic Dudes" or "The Frat Guys") and several bosses and sub-bosses. Enemies will warrant a yell and drop money signifying their defeat, including the well known phrase "BARF!"

River City Ransom has been described as a cross between a beat 'em up and a role-playing game. The game follows a linear path from start to finish. The fighting style is very similar to Double Dragon, in that the player can move freely around the screen while pressing buttons to punch, kick, or jump. However, the characters' effectiveness in battle is determined by several statistics and their knowledge of fighting techniques, such as Grand Slam (Mach Swing), Stone Hands (Mach Punch), and Dragon Feet (Mach Kick), which are purchased like items in shops throughout the city using funds recovered from defeated gang members. This loot may also be spent on various food items and spa treatments which serve to revitalize the player's stats, while displaying a funny animation.

The player can input passwords that keep track of their character's stats, skills, possessions, money, and defeated bosses. Later versions of the game discarded the password in favor of a save system.

There are a total of nine gangs in the original NES version (which are distinguished by the color of their t-shirts) whom the player will encounter during the course of the game, each with their own characteristics and attacking patterns.

Production

Localization

The Famicom cover artwork of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari.

River City Ransom is an English localization of the Japanese game Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, which is the third title starring Technos Japan's mascot character Kunio, who previously appeared in the Japanese versions of Renegade and Super Dodge Ball. This is the first game where Kunio teamed up with his rival Riki, who fought against Kunio in the previous games. The gangs the players fight in the Japanese version are all high school students representing different schools and many of the characters introduced in this game would reappear in subsequent Kunio-kun games.

In addition to anglicizing all of the characters' and locations' names, as well as the game's dialog in the English translation, the characters' sprites were also redrawn, replacing their Japanese school uniforms with t-shirts and jeans. The number of difficulty settings was reduced from three to two and an alternate 2-player mode (2P Play B) which disables player against player damage was removed too. The Japanese version also features support for the "Turbo File", a peripheral released only in Japan that allows the player to save and load game data.

River City Ransom was the first console game localized by Technos Japan's U.S. subsidiary, American Technos Inc. Although most of Technos Japan's previous games (such as Renegade and Double Dragon) were released in North America as well, they were licensed out to other publishers. The second and final NES game released by American Technos was Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge, which was also a Kunio-kun game (although no attempt was made to connect the two games).

Re-releases

X68000

Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari was ported to the X68000, a Japanese computer platform, and released on April 1990. This version of the game, which was developed by SPS and published by Sharp,^[2] features several enhancements to the Famicom original, such as displaying more enemy characters on-screen, slightly more colorful graphics and an expanded game map. In addition to the original route the player takes in the Famicom version, the player can also take alternate paths to explore new areas not featured in the Famicom version, including other school facilities (not just the Reihō Academy/River City H.S. at the end of the game). Each facility has a sub-boss and a boss that must be defeated to complete the game in addition to the ones that were present in the original Famicom version. These new facilities use the same level design that the Reihō Academy uses.

PC Engine

The PC Engine Super CD-ROM² version of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, released on December 24, 1993, was published by Naxat Soft and developed by KID, the same team that did the PC Engine versions of Double Dragon II: The Revenge, as well the other Kunio-kun games released for the system.^[3] This version features enhanced graphics, an arranged redbook soundtrack and fully voiced characters, with the voice of Kunio and Riki performed by Ryo Horikawa and Nobutoshi Canna. Horikawa would reprise his role in later Kunio-kun games. The game is also one of the rarest releases on the PC-Engine game system and therefore highly sought-after in the collector's market.

Game Boy Advance

The Game Boy Advance version of the game, titled Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari EX in Japan and River City Ransom EX in America, was released in 2004. This port was developed by Million and published by Atlus.

Virtual Console

The original Famicom version of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari was released by Arc System Works as part of the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan on October 23, 2007. A corresponding Virtual Console release of the game's PAL version, Street Gangs, was released on February 21, 2008 by 505 Games. River City Ransom was released on the Virtual Console in North America by Aksys Games on April 21, 2008.

Reception

The Japanese version, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, was considered highly successful and would be followed by several spinoffs (including seven subsequent Famicom installments) until Technos Japan's closure in 1996. Of these seven games, Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki dayo Zen'in Shugo features the same gameplay system as Monogatari, with the main difference being that the characters are re-enacting a jidaigeki play.

Outside Japan, River City Ransom was not highly successful when initially released. However, due to its unique gameplay and sense of humor, it is today considered a cult classic alongside games such as Crystalis. This cult following, combined with the game's character and humor, inspired parallel works.

In 2002, an aspiring game designer, tester for Atari, and longtime fan of the game obtained the title's trademark and began work on a sequel aptly titled River City Ransom 2. The project was halted when it was announced at E3 2003 that River City Ransom EX, a remake of the game by Atlus on the Game Boy Advance, was to be released the following year.^[4]

References

External links

• River City Ransom at MobyGames
• Seanbaby's River City Ransom page
• RPGClassics' River City Ransom Shrine
• Complete game map of River City @ PlanetNintendo.com
• River City Ransom Password Generator and Verifier
• RCR for virtual console:Japan