River City Ransom

The Good
River City Ransom is one of my favourite NES games. It’s bizarre, really easy to pick up and play with a friend, and it has a lot of depth for an NES game.

The game brilliantly meshes RPG stat building with a typical brawler formula. While you run around the city, you’ll pick up coins from fallen enemies, which you can then spend on new techniques, equipment, and food that can not only heal you, but also raise your stats. And because it’s a co-op game, you can even coordinate with the other player when building your stats, so while one person builds up their punch, the other can give their character a kick to be feared.

The combat in the game has slightly more depth than the typical early beat-em-up. Although most of the time you will just beat on an enemy until he’s dead, there’s often quicker ways to whup them. Dashing at an enemy before attacking causes more damage, and sometimes it’s easier to throw them into River City’s numerous bottomless pits. There are a number of weapons in the game, such as pipes, bats, boxes, and tires. You can even pick up and use fallen enemies (or the second player) to batter your foes.

Unlike many games of the NES generation, River City Ransom doesn’t make it a point to kick your butt. It can be quite challenging, but rarely is it unfair. New players should find it really easy to pick up and play, while experienced players will see that it has a great deal of depth.

The Bad
Although it’s among my favourite NES games, River City Ransom isn’t perfect. The game never really progresses. The enemies get a bit tougher, but they aren’t any different than the ones at the beginning of the game. They don’t wield new weapons, they don’t employ different tactics, and they don’t even look very unique. Even the bosses look like average joes. Luckily, the game is short enough that it doesn’t ever get the chance to feel repetitive.

The games brevity is actually another complaint I have. It isn’t difficult to beat this game in under 3 or 4 hours. On the other hand, this does make it an easy game to pick up and play in the afternoon. This makes it a great co-op game, since you can beat it easily in one sitting. If you’re anything like me, and I know I am, you’ll find yourself playing through it more than twice.

The Bottom Line
In summary, River City Ransom is a short-but-sweet, simple-yet-deep, co-op, beat-em-up, that you and a friend can have a blast playing through in an afternoon. The game is simple to pick up and learn, even for novice players and non-gamers. It is one of the best NES games ever released, and should be a part of every retro gamer’s collection. River City Ransom is an AMAZING game.

The Good
River City Ransom is the seminal beat 'em up title for the NES, a classic of street fighting that has proven to be one of the coolest games ever.

The reason for it's success is that it managed to mix superb arcade action with an unprecedented level of gameplay depth for a game of it's kind. This is because instead of being just a Double Dragon clone, RCR adds the option of improving your character's skills and abilities as you play, with new moves and improved stats to use.

The basic gameplay concept revolves around you scrolling through several side-scrolling stages a-la Double Dragon and beating up the many kinds of gang members that are out to get you. As you start the game you have a small array of basic moves that take a while to take down each baddie, fortunately there's a lot of weapons and assorted items you can use as weapons (barrels, pipes, chains, etc.), use them effectively and you'll beat your foes easily, with the reward being the money they drop whenever they die. This is when RCR's most interesting aspect comes into play, as there are several stores sprinkled through the game in which you can spend this hard-earned cash in health-recovering items, or buy stat-improving drugs and power-ups, as well as new moves to better deal with the incoming challenges.

This basic gameplay gimmick adds the spice that was missing in the beat 'em up genre, and it's so flawlessly balanced and designed that it manages to be a standout feature even to this day, probably (and rightly so) making it the best beat 'em up ever in the minds of most gamers that had the distinct pleasure of crossing paths with it upon it's original release.

Graphics and sounds are adequate for the title's age and use that distinct SD char. design from all the Kunio-kun Technos games that gives the game a distinct charm.

Oh and the Barf is just priceless! Whenever you beat down an enemy their eyes pop-out and scream the now classic "Barf" that remains to this day the coolest "dying" scream ever. I mean, the Barf and the pleasures of "engrish" only increase the title's already monumental charm.

The Bad
It could be quite a challenge in it's day, not only did you need good arcade reflexes to beat the game, but also a distinct strategy, specially on the boss fights (man, remember when boss fights were hard??). The controls and animations were also rather slow for my taste, but that's just me.

The Bottom Line
One of the best titles from the 8-bit era and a certified classic. If you've never played RCR not only are you NOT a gamer, but you have a black, soul-less heart and are the personification of everything that is evil.

Well, maybe not all of that, but seriously. RCR defines cool, and it's truly one of the best arcade games ever with more brains and depth than the Double Dragons of it's day.

The Good
The mix of RPG and action elements in this title were superb. You beat up gang members and get cash. You use the cash to buy drugs, items, food, anything to improve you characters stats so he can beat up more guys and get more cash. The cycle was pulled off well enough to not be repetative by the time the end of the game came around.

The Bad
It's hard to zero in on a single negative aspect of this game. Perhaps it was too short. An aspect I didn't like about the story, was that River City Ransom 2 was never released in english, so this game seemed somewhat incomplete without it.

The Bottom Line
Any fan of Double Dragon for the NES should check this title out.