Retro Yearly List #16 [1990: River City Ransom]

For the first beat 'em' up game in my personal list, I've chosen what is considered a hidden gem.

RCR offers a different approach for the genre, adding elements of RPG and almost an open-world experience, since you can walk through the screens back and forth and skip the enemies if you want, but you wanna beat them to collect coins and upgrade your character, otherwise, you will have a hard time beating the bosses, that's the overall system of progressing here, and I kind of like it, but there is a chance you will get stuck with all options you have.

Some bosses are optional but there are a mandatory few to reach the end, they look all pretty much the same, there is no big difference between their attack patterns, in fact, all enemies in the game use just punches, kicks, and weapons to hit you, so there is no diversity on this point.

I liked both the graphics and the music, which are really catchy, with a little great reference towards the end.

The game offers several options of items to purchase which will give you different abilities, which are just buffed versions of the basic attacks. You will also increase your HP and your status by purchasing them, but the game does not provide details of what you are getting until you do, this can be annoying if you don't know the game, I used a little guide for it and it helped me a lot to not making bad deals.

Difficulty is ok if you know what to do, since you can overpower your character with the right items and farm points. But in any case, if you die you just respawn at the next already visited mall, with half of your cash.

Overall, it's a beautiful game with an innovative approach and a good blend of different genres.

And by the way, wtf are these passwords?
BARF!

I've heard many good things about this game through the years and didn't think much of it. Even when I first played it I initially stopped early because I didn't feel it was anything special. However, something brought me back to it and, after beating the full game, I have to say that this is one of the best NES games I've played. It's very charming, has a great art style, it's not too hard like most other NES games, and the gameplay feels really good to be over three decades old. I have no complaints.

After taking a brief detour into the realm of sports games with a dodgeball themed spin-off (because why not), the Kunio-Kun franchise would return back to its beat-’em-up origins with River City Ransom. As mentioned in my review of Super Dodgeball, the first game in the series, Renegade, while not a terrible game or first entry by any means, was pretty rough around the edges, and had plenty of annoying elements that kept it from being that good. So, it would make sense that for this new entry in the series, it would be a complete overhaul, changing many different elements from the original game, while also retaining the same style and same basic gameplay that had been established in that game. And unlike other sequels at the time, such as Zelda II and Castlevania II, which butchered this type of reconstructing, the reconstruction of this game makes it flourish with flying colors.

This is without a doubt the best game in the series so far, and a MASSIVE improvement over Renegade in just about every single aspect. There is no questioning why the formula made for this game would be reused for future titles in the series, as well as other unrelated games later down the line, because it works significantly well, standing out from plenty of other beat-’em-ups at the time. Of course, it isn’t perfect, but for what we got here, this may just be my new favorite beat-’em-up released for the NES.

The story is basically the exact same as Double Dragon (not surprising, considering its the same company), but I guess they make up for the copying by having alternates of the Double Dragon main characters as bosses, the graphics are pretty much the same as Super Dodgeball, but this time around, there is no sprite flickering to get in the way of all the nice animations and pretty colors (thank god for that), the music is very good, with some pretty enjoyable tracks to be found in there, the control is mostly solid for this type of game, but there are some parts of it that do irk me, which I will get into later, and the gameplay takes the beat-’em-up formula that was popular and possibly oversaturated at the time, and evolves it.

The game is primarily still your typical 2D side-scrolling beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of the uniquely named main characters, Alex and Ryan, travel through many different areas of the River City, beat up all of the goons that you run into on your way, pick up and use several weapons to your advantage along the way, and fight plenty of bosses that stand in your path. In comparison to other beat-’em-ups at the time, though, there is plenty that makes this game stand out from others. On the lesser side of the new stuff, this game carries the same personality that Super Dodgeball brought to the series, and amplified it even more, with plenty of animations and text boxes for the characters to give them plenty of personality, and thus, making them much more memorable, and making the game much more appealing.

This simple beat-’em-up gameplay, this time around, is now mixed with plenty of different new elements. First of all, rather then traveling from stage to stage, you travel through one big interconnected world, making the environments in the game (even if they are generic) feel more alive and memorable. In addition, there are plenty of RPG elements implemented into this game as well, with you being able to upgrade your stats via purchasing items at stores, and there are plenty of stats to upgrade as well. Not only does it give you a fighting chance against the foes you will face, but it definitely gives you a sense of growth and progression throughout the game, with this feeling amplified even more with additional moves that you can learn as well. It makes fighting enemies and bosses later down the road much more manageable and fun…… I mean, unless you are me, and you just use a weapon the entire time to cheese every single fight to win. That’s also an option.

And yet, of course, it can’t all be perfect. First of all, remember back when I covered Double Dragon II: The Revenge for NES, and I complained about the jumping mechanics being implemented into stages where you could potentially die because of it? Well, guess what? The shitty jumping mechanic returns in this game too! To be fair though, this time around, it is more so a minor annoyance rather then something that can straight up get you killed, but still, it is an annoyance nonetheless. Secondly, sometimes the enemy AI can be pretty bullshit, specifically whenever you enter a new screen, or the enemy comes in off screen. There were plenty of times where I would travel to a new location, or another enemy would come on screen, and before I could do anything, they would bash the shit out of me, and you can imagine how that can get aggravating.

Overall, while having some minor issues here and there, this is not only a fantastic beat-’em-up for the NES, but a fantastic way of reinventing the series after what had been established in both Renegade and Super Dodgeball. I would definitely recommend it for those who want to check the series out, as well as where it all started from. Don’t even bother playing Renegade, just stick to this one instead. Now… if only we can stay in the same genre for more than one game at a time, that would be great............. please?

Game #292

Continuación de Nekketsu Koh Kunio-kun (Renegade en la versión occidental), uno de los primeros beat em ups de arcade y predecesor de Double Dragon, trasladado a consola y al jrpg. Una premisa que normalmente me parecería aborrecible, la encuentro aquí llevada con mucha inteligencia.

Los golpes carecen del impacto de Renegade, no caben más de dos enemigos en pantalla por lo que la gestión de multitudes es casi inexistente y no existe la profundidad que sí tenía su predecesor de arcade (sin ser aquel ejemplo de elegancia en su diseño), pero encuentra un giro mecánico inesperado añadiendo fisicidad a su entorno. Los cuerpos rebotan, chocan entre sí, correr guarda su inercia, puedes saltar encima de objetos, muros o compañeros y todo se presta al jugueteo. Las técnicas se alejan de los combos de un juego de lucha, (donde ejecutas una serie de comandos precisos en secuencia) y por el contrario nacen de un contexto de sistemas en fricción. Esto se potencia a dobles donde al combinar sus elementos brotan siempre resultados inesperados. Puedes agarrar una caja del suelo y golpear con ella a enemigos o lanzarla si te viene mejor, o puedes ir corriendo darle una patada en el suelo para dispararla hacia delante. Y si un enemigo la suelta al aturdirse esta rebota y sigue impactando a quien se acerque. O puedes subirte encima de la caja mientras la agarra otro personaje. Reacciones en cadena que viven en un medio físico. Y a pesar de todo, nada de eso es necesario para avanzar. Solo existe de fondo, como tantas otras cosas del juego.

El planteamiento menos lineal y el bucle típico de ser apaleado una y otra vez hasta hacerte más fuerte y lograr vengarte, tiene sentido en su narrativa de pandillero adolescente en Japón. Presta especial importancia a la construcción de su mundo, no mediante texto, sino con contexto. Presenta una cantidad de sistemas invisibles de fondo que determinan la experiencia y dan vitalidad al entorno. El comportamiento de los matones depende de la banda a la que pertenezcan, algunos huirán si los golpeas, otros se volverán más agresivos; si mantienes un código de honor en la calle, subirá tu reputación y al vencer a algunos jefes se te unirán como compañeros y su banda dejará de ser hostil; encontrarás enemigos con personalidad a los que si derrotas volverán más adelante buscando la revancha y más sorpresas que guarda el juego y que no explica en ningún momento ni te obliga a descubrir. Sumado a la fisicidad de antes, el resultado es una experiencia más amplia y completa de lo que aparenta, donde verdaderamente sientes habitar un mundo vivo.

Y es una pena que su acción no logre despegar porque todo lo que la rodea está llevado con mucho estilo e imaginación. Jugando solo termina dependiendo en exceso del grindeo y a dobles es un paseo, por lo que no termina de encontrar un equilibrio. Renuncia a la inmediatez y densidad de la experiencia arcade para buscar más profundidad en su mundo, y, aunque preferiría más contundencia y hondura en su combate, es innegable que lo que busca lo consigue.