River City Ransom

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River City Ransom

Developer(s)	Technos Japan Corporation (NES) Million (GBA)
Publisher(s)	Technos (Japan) American Technos (America) Infogrames (Europe) Atlus (GBA version)
Designer(s)	Mitsuhiro Yoshida (director), Hiroyuki Sekimoto (director)
Release date(s)	NES version ^JPN April 25, 1989 ^NA January, 1990 ^EU 1991 ^AUS 1991 GBA version ^JPN March 5, 2004 ^NA May 25, 2004
Genre(s)	Action game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T) (GBA version)
Platform(s)	Famicom/NES, Turbografx-16 Game Boy Advance
Media	2-megabit cartridge

River City Ransom (ダウンタウン熱血物語, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari^?, "Downtown Nekketsu Story") in Japan and Street Gangs in PAL regions) is a video game for the Nintendo Family Computer and the Nintendo Entertainment System from the now defunct Technos Japan Corporation, originally released in 1989. It was one of the first console games (if not the first) published by North American subsidiary, American Technos.

The game was originally the third game in Technos' Kunio-kun series released for the Famicom, following the Famicom ports of Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun and Nekketsu Koko Dodgeball Bu. Like its predecessors, Monogatari underwent great changes in its storyline and graphical presentation during its localization in order to make the game more marketable to the western market.

Enhanced ports were released for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM, Sharp X68000 and Game Boy Advance.

1 Story
2 Gameplay
- 2.1 Gangs
3 Legacy
4 Remake
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Story

In the Western version, the plot follows high school students Alex and Ryan 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" and allow her to shop afterwards. Along the way, they must do battle with gangs of students (with names such as "The Generic Dudes" or "The Frat Guys") and several minibosses. Enemies will warrant a yell signifying their defeat including its well known phrase "BARF!"

[edit] Gameplay

River City Ransom gameplay (U.S. NES Version)

River City Ransom has been described as a cross between a beat 'em up and a role-playing game. The game follows a more or less linear path from start to finish, and fights take place in the style of Double Dragon (another Technos hit), with the player moving Alex (Kunio) or Ryan (Riki) around the screen using the directional pad, and 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 Acro Circus, Stone Hands, and Dragon Feet, 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.

Passwords were an integral part of the game's replay value, allowing players to continue playing a character with boosted stats, skills, possessions, money, and defeated bosses. The length of the case-sensitive password, 33 alphanumeric characters long, made it nearly impossible to guess valid passwords. Later versions of the game discarded the password in favor of a save system.

[edit] Gangs

GENERIC DUDES

Known as the Serendai Bombers in Japan, they're a basic gang for starters. Their leader is known in River City Ransom EX as Sonokawa (Conan in the US). Their colors are cyan.

ENTREES

This cooking-themed gang usually brings ladders, buckets, and poles to the fight. They're cowards at heart, but as their gold-colored uniforms suggest, they give a lot of money after being defeated. Only in RCR EX.

FRAT BOYS

The Frat Boys are one group of stereotypical bullies that most people familiarize in TV and movies. They're usually cowards when unarmed but attack mercilessly when they're equipped. They have rich-sounding names and wear pink uniforms. In Japan, they're called the Yokohama Funky, a motorcycle gang that's completely opposite of the Frat Boys.

DRAGONS

A gang that likes to throw rocks. They wear light orange uniforms, and usually have Japanese names.

- Trivia: two Dragons in the US Game Boy Advance game are named Kunio and Rikki, while another two are named Piro and Largo, after the protagonists of the webcomic Megatokyo.

JOCKS

The Jocks are the other group of stereotypical bullies and use their strength and skills to intimidate everyone. They wear lime uniforms.

HOME BOYS

Home Boys are made to be sluggish couch potatoes with a lot of punching power. They wear yellow uniforms. In River City Ransom EX, their names are changed to reference those of various rappers, and will often say "Biz-Arf" rather than the infamous "Barf!" when defeated.

MOB

The Mob are tough enforcer-types who work around the warehouse district. Their leader is Nishimura (Rocko) and his subordinate is Sawaguchi (Moose). Their names sound more gangster-like and wear gray uniforms. In River City Ransom EX, they favor using tires as weapons.

EAGLES:

The Eagles are known for carrying long chains into combat. Their color is medium green.

ROCKERS:

These heavy metal freaks are in RCR EX only and wear burgundy uniforms.

REJECTS:

A light-blue gang only found in RCR EX.

SQUIDS

The Squids are made to be experts in martial arts and aerial techniques. They wear maroon uniforms.

INTERNATIONALS

Internationals are made as foreigners who came to River City to fight the best of the best. Each of their names have a foreign name to it. Their leader is Gouda (Ivan) and wear green uniforms.

COWBOYS

The Cowboys are made as dangerous "good-ol'-boys" who love to fight. They wear blue uniforms and have Western-style names. Their leader is Godai (Tex).

GAMERS

A gang found only in the RCR EX. This dark-red gang tends to carry a lot of odd weapons.

- Three members of the Gamers are named after the main characters of Disgaea: Hour of Darkness : Laharl, Etna, and Flonne.

PLAGUE

The Plague are the toughest lower-tier gang in River City and love to attack with lead pipes. They wear red uniforms.

LOCALS

A dark orange-colored gang nearly as tough as the Plague. Prefer jump-kicks. Only in RCR EX.

ZOMBIES

Better known as the Hyper Guard, the Zombies make up the toughest of all gangs. Their leader is Kobayashi (Thor) and his strongest lieutenants are Shun Mochizuki (Turk), Taira (Mojo) and Kinoshita (Blade). They take direct orders from Yamada (Slick). They wear red uniforms.

[edit] Legacy

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. Some have produced video parodies of the series[1].

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.^[1] Atlus' rendition of the classic boasted new graphics and a number of new items, techniques, gangs, and other features, but also sacrificed some fan-favorite features from the original version, such as its two-player mode.

Later in 2003, X-Strike Studios completed and released a film version of the game, entitled River City Rumble. The film premiered at Magfest 2.0], to great acclaim.

River City Ransom also owns the dubious distinction of being one of the most hacked games from the 8-bit era. The most well known of which, the infamous "Pussy City Pimps" is a profanity laden pornographic version of the game where the hero's must attempt to free the city from a villanous pimp using all manner of sex toys and soliciting sex from prostitutes at the "Slutto Mall" to regain health.

[edit] Remake

The Enhanced remake of River City Ransom, River City Ransom EX contains many changes and alterations from the original game. The most notable change is the loss of a true cooperative mode. Instead, the game can be played with an AI-controlled partner, and players may exchange the data of their own characters to fight alongside each other.

Other changes include:

Additional characters - Additional characters in the Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun series make appearances, as allies or enemies. More gangs are added, and Alex/Ryan can gain allies to fight alongside them, up to four allies at once (counting Alex and/or Ryan).

Additional weapons - More weapons are added to the game, some only found in the hands of certain gangs. These include ladders, buckets, long chains, and poles. In addition, a Bucket or Trash can thrown at a target will get stuck over their head, preventing them from attacking until they're knocked down.

Additional attacks - More basic and special attacks have been added to Alex and Ryan's repertoire. In addition, all allies and bosses have their own unique special attacks, and Alex and Ryan also begin the game with the Dragon Feet and Stone Hands techniques, respectively. Most of the techniques come from the original and Downtown Special - Kunio Kun no Jidaigeki.

Improved Translation - The manual and dialogue in the US version is much improved, and draws heavily on the original Kunio-kun storylines. In addition, the storyline is altered slightly further depending on whether or not the player uses Alex or Ryan alone, or both together.

The girl from Merv's Burger Joint doesn't smile - In the original version, Merv's Burger Joint had the option to get a smile, for free. It didn't give you anything, but was part of the original's quirky humour that made it a cult classic. The remake does not include this.