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River City Ransom

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River City Ransom
North American boxart
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)
Released	NES version ^JPN April 25 1989 ^NA January, 1990 ^EU 1991 ^AUS 1991 GBA version ^JPN March 5, 2004 ^NA May 25, 2004
Genre	Action game
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Ratings	ESRB: T (Teen) (GBA version)
Platform(s)	NES/Famicom, TurboGrafx-16, Game Boy Advance
Media	2-megabit cartridge

River City Ransom, released as Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (ダウンタウン熱血物語, Dauntaun Nekketsu Monogatari^?, "Downtown Nekketsu Story" or "Downtown Hot-Blood Story") in Japan and as Street Gangs in the PAL region, 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 published by North American subsidiary, American Technos. The game is 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 profitable in the western market. Remakes of the game have been released for the PC Engine, X68000 and Game Boy Advance.

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

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". Along the way, they 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 the well known phrase "BARF!"

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 linear path from start to finish. The fighting style is very much similar to Double Dragon, in that the player can move freely around the screen while 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.

Gangs

GENERIC DUDES: Known as the Bombers of Senridai High in Japan, the weakest gang in River City. Ryan is disliked by Generic Dudes and will attract their attention. In River City Ransom EX, their leader is known as Sonokawa (Conan in the US version), who under certain circumstances can be persuaded to fight alongside Alex or Ryan, along with other Generic Dudes. Their colors are cyan.
ENTREES: This cooking-themed gang usually brings ladders, buckets, and poles to the fight. A punch or two will send them running, but as their gold-colored uniforms suggest, they give a lot of money if they are defeated. Only in RCR EX.
FRAT BOYS: The Frat Boys are a group of stereotypical bullies. They're usually cowards when unarmed but attack mercilessly when they're equipped. Their uniforms are pink. In Japan, they go to Sakajuku Commercial High.
DRAGONS: A gang that likes to throw rocks. They wear light orange uniforms, and usually have Japanese names. They are only in RCR EX.
JOCKS: The Jocks are the other group of stereotypical bullies obsessed with sports, constantly using metaphors as they fight. They wear lime uniforms. In Japan, they go to Numaoka Industrial High. Alex is disliked by The Jocks and will attract their attention.
HOME BOYS: Home Boys are made to be slow, but 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. They're members of Hoshikusa Agricultural High in Japan.
MOB: The Mob are tough enforcer-types who work around the warehouse district. Their leader is Rocko, and his subordinate is Moose. Their names are meant to evoke gangster imagery, and they use taunts like "You talkin' to me?, or "Sleeping with the fishes". They wear gray uniforms. In River City Ransom EX, they favor using tires as weapons. In Japan, they're called the Hakutaka Gang.
EAGLES: The Eagles are known for carrying long chains into combat. Their color is medium green. Only found in RCR EX.
ROCKERS: These heavy metal fans 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. They go to Matagawa Industrial High in Japan.
INTERNATIONALS: The Internationals are made as foreigners - rich foreigners, which results in them dropping the most coins - 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 Tsuyoshi Gouda (Ivan) and wear green uniforms. In Japan, they're students at Houryou High.
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 Suzumu Godai (Tex). They make up the Tanibana Gang.
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. Two others, Meis and Muza, are named after protagonists from Thousand Arms, which was also published by Atlus.
PLAGUE: The Plague are the toughest lower-tier gang in River City and love to attack with lead pipes. They wear red uniforms, the color of Reihou Academy in Japan.
LOCALS: A dark orange-colored gang nearly as tough as the Plague. Prefer jump-kicks. Only in RCR EX.
ZOMBIES: Better known as the Four Heavenly Kings, the Zombies make up the toughest of all gangs. Their leader is Masao Kobayashi (Thor) and his strongest lieutenants are Shun Mochizuki (Turk), Kiyofumi Taira (Mojo) and Tadashi Kinoshita (Blade). They take direct orders from Taiki Yamada (Slick). They wear red uniforms.

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. This cult following, combined with the game's character and humor, inspired many parallel works, which can be seen in Youtube here and here 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.

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:

Costume Changes - The characters no longer sport the jeans and t-shirt combination from the earlier NES version, instead wearing gakuran or Japanese school uniforms.
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 are improved, and draw heavily on the original Kunio-kun storylines. In addition, the storyline is altered slightly depending on whether or not the player uses Alex or Ryan alone, or both together.
Smiles Not on the Menu - In the original version, one menu option in Merv's Burger Joint is a free "smile", which causes the hostess to smile at the player and the message, "(character) blushed". This was almost certainly based on the policy of many Japanese fast-food restaurants to have "free smiles" given by the cashiers. It does not appear in the remake.