Developer: Technos Japan Publisher: American Technos Released: January 1990 Genre: Beat ’em up
River City Ransom is one of the greatest NES games of all time. Many have known this for decades but I am a recent convert. I have known about its reputation for so long but put off playing it until recently. Now I am kicking myself for waiting so long. This is an utterly fantastic game that is still unique within its genre and nails it on almost every level.
The plot is simple: Alex and Ryan’s girlfriends are kidnapped by a rival from another school named Slick. Now they must fight their way through the city and battle other street gangs to save the babes. While the general plot is the same River City Ransom went through heavy changes during localization. The setting was changed from Japan to America and the Japanese Banchō that made up the enemy roster are now American street thugs. The food and item names have similarly been changed as well. But the general theme is still the same.
River City Ransom adopts the Double Dragon control scheme of both buttons punching and kicking with jumping accomplished by pressing both buttons. The difference here is that our protagonists feel a lot more nimble to control. You can run like Renegade and perform jump kicks, wall kicks, and even pick up and throw enemies, including bosses. Every enemy you defeat drop coins that you can use to purchase further moves to strengthen your arsenal. Rapid fire punches and kicks, somersault attacks, and even stepping on downed thugs are just a purchase away. Some of these upgrades might be too strong; stone hands and dragon kicks are the cheapest and can carry you through the entire game if you so choose. But that is the beauty of the game, it is all up to you. That freedom also extends to the game’s structure.
Structurally River City Ransom is so completely different from every title in the genre I wonder why so few games have followed it. This is a free roaming adventure with the entire city outside of River City High open from the start. While the ultimate goal is to reach the school and beat Slick you have a number of steps to complete along the way. You must defeat all the bosses around the city before the school will open. This can be done in any order but some will not appear until you meet specific criteria. While you can technically go to “end” game areas first you will more than likely die along the way as stronger gangs roam the streets in those parts. To survive you will have to build up your character first.
Throughout the city are various shopping malls full of different food shops. While it may seem redundant to have so many varieties of food they do more than restore health. The numerous dishes will also boost your stats in several categories, from proficiency at punches, kicks, and weapons to defense, max health and willpower. Once you identify the foods that boost the stat you want you can customize your character any way you like. There is no right or wrong way to do so and once again the game is totally playable if you only engage with this minimally. FYI, willpower is a broken stat and is even better than your life bar. The extent with which you engage with the different systems will determine how hard the game ultimately is.
Your experience with River City Ransom will vary based on a few factors. If you spend a lot of time grinding to buy items you can practically sleepwalk through the game. Spend only the bare minimum and you might have a rougher time as the later games deal a lot of damage. Even so I would say this is not an overly challenging game. If you abuse the willpower stat it is near impossible to die. Gangs have specific behaviors; the mob and the frat guys will always run to the nearest weapon, enabling you to get cheap hits in. You can also trap enemies near objects since they do not jump. I love the fact that there are so many varying play styles that are viable, usually most brawlers have one or two moves that break the game. That is not the case here.
River City Ransom is not very long when taken in totality. For the average player will spend most of their time grinding cash to build up their character. More skilled players will easily exploit the AI to power through the game quickly. Even though you can run to later areas without skill the stronger enemies will wipe the floor with you. Altogether I would still say this is only a little over an hour or so long. But what an hour it is.
In Closing
River City Ransom is the best beat ‘em up for the NES and one of its greatest games. Technos nearly perfected the formula on the system and delivered an absolute treat. No NES library is complete without this game.
