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»River City Ransom EX
"Ignore the lame cover art. This one’s a keeper."
If there’s one series that has a really convoluted history when it comes to American translations, it’s got to be the Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun [“Hot Blooded Tough Guy Kunio”] games. Broken up by several American publishers, it serves as the root for such NES classics as Renegade, Super Dodge Ball, Nintendo World Cup and my personal favorite of the games, River City Ransom: a cult classic and arguably one of the – if not THE
– best beat-‘em-ups ever conceived for the original Nintendo
Entertainment System. So, imagine my surprise when I heard the game was
being remade for the Game Boy Advance. Does that last line seem
familiar? Well, unlike that other remake, this one left me pleasantly
surprised.
The story behind
this one is fairly simple: players take on the role of one of two High
School students, Ryan and Alex, who are for the fight of their lives,
as they cross through River City and try to rescue River City High.
Ryan’s doing it to save his girlfriend Cindy from the ringleader of the
takeover, a young punk known simply as “Slick”, while Alex is simply in
it to help his best friend (not to mention the fact that he gets to
beat the crap out of people). Yeah, it’s not exactly Final Fantasy VII
in terms of storyline, but hey, it’s a fun game and besides, it was the
80’s – they didn’t really NEED good storylines back then, all it took
was great gameplay – well, that or a tie-in to a popular property, a
sterling review in Nintendo Power or an intensive ad campaign – to sell.
In simplest terms, River City Ransom
can be best described as a cross between a standard beat-‘em-up and an
RPG. Of course, combining RPG elements into other genres wasn’t exactly
uncommon in the heyday of the NES, but oddly enough, unlike most of
these attempts – the second Castlevania and Legend of Zelda games come quickly to mind – RCR actually ended up working, at least in my opinion.
Basically,
the core gameplay is pure beat-‘em-up action, allowing players to
traverse throughout all of River City, beating the crap out of any
low-level thugs that come their way, and once they’ve sorted through
the cronies, the leader of the area’s gang shows up, offering a tougher
fight. Of course, as I said before, there are some RPG elements. For
example, while most beat-‘em-ups generally act on a stage-by-stage
set-up, RCR has an overworld set-up, allowing players to roam
throughout the entirety of River City and even revisit earlier areas.
Another unique feature to the game would be the shop system. When most
enemies are defeated, they drop coins (each representing a random
amount of money) and in certain areas of the game, there are strip
malls filled with various shops. While most are restaurants – which
offer food as both a health and stat boost – there were also some
magazine shops, some of which offering new powerful techniques, like
Stone Fists (a quick flurry of punches) or Aero Circus (a powerful
jumping somersault). The final difference is the fact that players are
only allowed one life in the game, and if they are to die, they respawn
at the last checkpoint they reached (which is generally one of the
shopping areas), with their stats intact, but with only a fraction of
their money.
Of course,
there have been a few changes from the original, most for the better.
For starters, there’s a single-player co-op mode, where the player can
team up with a CPU-controlled ally to do double damage. Also, the cast
of characters has expanded vastly, adding never before seen gangs to
the game, as well as a few additional cameos – including a certain set
of twins with nigh-identical names and a deep-rooted place in
beat-‘em-up history. Players can also unlock additional allies and team
up with up to 4 allies at a time. Alex and Ryan’s repertoire has also
been expanded, giving the duo new techniques, not to mention the fact
that each of them start with one of those aforementioned special
techniques – Ryan wielding the Stone Fists and Alex kicking butt with
the Dragon Feet. There are also additional weapons, such as ladders and
poles. Of course, there is one unwelcome change: the true co-op mode –
which allowed two players to team up – has been removed. In exchange,
players can save their own character data and trade them with their
friends, though that’s barely a consolation.
Moving on, I have to admit: I like the graphics in RCREX. It’s kind of a throwback style, not unlike the one found in Super Mario All-Stars
for the SNES: it retains much of the look of the original NES game,
while significantly increasing the color palette and making other
additional tweaks to improve the overall look of the game. Of course, I
guess the reason I liked this style so much is that it echoed the
game’s own tone: it was the original game, with its own additions to
make the GBA port a unique experience.
The
same goes for the sound. All of the classic songs from the original
have been recreated on the GBA, with a noticeable amount of added
quality due to the GBA’s superior sound card. That’s just making a good
thing better, considering the classic songs found in the game – the
main city and shop themes especially – though, I’ll admit, the original
NES versions had that 8-bit charm that wasn’t quite recreated. Sound
effects are average: better than the NES version for sure, but nothing
worth talking about.
As for
the replay, well, it’s got its ups and downs. On one hand, there are
numerous collectables in the game, such as those special techniques and
secret allies I mentioned earlier. Besides, due to the save feature,
players can play the game over and over with their same character,
constantly improving them...well, that or constantly start over with
new characters. Of course, there is one thing that really detracts from
the game’s replay value: the lack of a true 2-player mode. One of the
best parts of any beat-‘em-up is teaming up with a friend and kicking
ass together, and in the original RCR’s case, that was no
exception. It’s just a void that the character data and its trading
functionality tries to fill, but doesn’t succeed. Oh well.
Of course, in spite of my constant bemoaning over that missing functionality, RCREX
is a fantastic port of a classic NES beat-‘em-up that defied
conventions in its day and implements several new features to give the
game a fresh new look and feel. It’s a solid addition to any serious
GBA fan’s collection, let alone a beat-‘em-up fan. So, if you see it
lying around in a used pile at your local Gamestop or even floating
around on Amazon, eBay, or whatever your favorite online retailer is,
do yourself a favor and pick up River City Ransom EX.
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Oct. 20th, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| It keeps the spirit of the original, while adding many great new features. Unfortunately, the lack of a true 2-player mode is a brutal scar on an otherwise perfect revamp. |
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Graphics |
| It’s a nice revamp of the classic RCR style, with more vibrant colors and better detailed backgrounds. Of course, it doesn’t really push the GBA graphically. |
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Sound |
| All of the classic tunes from the original return, revamped on the GBA’s sound card. |
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Replay Value |
| It’s a great game and all, but the lack of a true two-player mode hurts this game severely. |
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