River City Special! (Rival Showdown, Tokyo Rumble and River City Girls) – 3DS/Switch/PC

The Nintendo Switch’s online NES game selection is heavily maligned, and rightfully so. BUT while browsing the selection, I saw River City Ransom. I haven’t played the original in probably 20 years but seeing it there, with save states and handheld it was hard to pass up. I got hooked. If there is a list of NES games that hold up today, River City Ransom should be at the top. It’s an action-RPG belt scrolling brawler. It feels like a game that so far ahead of it’s time that it’s amazing the NES didn’t crumble under it’s weight. After getting my fill of the NES game, I needed more….

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The 3DS has 2 relatively great River City Ransom games here in the US. River City Tokyo Rumble which came out a few years ago and the newer River City Rival Showdown that came out in 2017. I was amazed at how good River City Rival Showdown is. It is one of the best playing beat-em-ups and best looking 3DS game I have ever played. I know that sounds ridiculous with the retro 8-bit style in the game but there so many elements that the game a stunner. I made the mistake of playing Rival first. Had I played Tokyo Rumble initially I think that game would have resonated with me more. It’s not bad by any means but graphically it looked dated, the characters weren’t as interesting and the story wasn’t as interesting.

What are River City Rival Showdown and Tokyo Rumble? They are retro styled brawlers comparable to Double Dragon. They have a leveling system akin to an action-RPG. You play as Kunio, who is the strongest high school student and gang leader? The students are all in gangs, Warriors style, with their own turf and they are fighting to take over other schools and cities. It’s all very captivating, but it’s made very clear early on that Kunio is the man. He is a legend in both games. The gameplay loop is you fight low level characters until you hit a boss. Level up and gain skills along the way. You can buy gear, eat food, and engage in different side quests to get stronger. The combat is a simple affair- you can jump, kick, punch, block (Rival) and pick things up. You earn new skills that make you much stronger but they are all variations of these buttons. Sidenote- Double Dragon and Double Dragon II are bad brawlers. The controls suck and they never feel good. I know they are cannon to the River City Stories but the games are inferior in every way.

How do these games look? River City Rival Showdown is amazing looking. The 2D sprites are layered on these detailed realistic 3D backgrounds and it creates an almost shadow box effect. On top of that there is an abundance of bloom effects on the text and lighting in the city. It’s gorgeous. The viewpoint in rival showdown allows the details of the world to really shine through. The neon effects capture the grime of the city and make everything feel significant. Tokyo Rumble has a similar 2D on 3D background effect but the backgrounds lack the details and texture. The lighting and everything feels flat. The entire game feels flat so I imagine the visuals make sense in that regard. Rival Showdown looks stellar. The visuals hold up well.

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Do you recommend them in 2019? I recommend Rival Sowdown wholeheartedly. The story has branching paths and is super engaging. The gameplay never feels dated and the movement is smooth. The graphics are timeless. I would buy this game again if I lost the cartridge. It held my attention in a way no game has in a long time. I beat it in 2 days. Tokyo Rumble….is hard to recommend. It feels dated, the UI is bad. The only thing I like about Tokyo Rumble is that you can save anywhere. In Rival, you have to save at cafes. Mobile games should all have save anywhere features. Both game can fill a hankering for River City gameplay and story but if you had to pick one pick River City: Rival Showdown.

What happened with River City Ransom: Underground? This is the most poorly balanced, frustrating, needlessly difficult game in the series. The graphics and animation are excellent. The characters all have amazing move sets that take advantage of this visual fidelity. The music is awesome. Then you start playing through the game and it all apart. You can only save in safe rooms which is terrible. The safe rooms are not well marked or easy to get to. Every enemy can kill you. Leveling up is too slow and money too hard to come by. Progress feels like a 2 steps forward 3 steps backwards process. Even as I have leveled up, I still don’t feel powerful. For me, feeling powerful is part of these games. The characters all seem like they would be strong but the hits do nothing. It’s not fun dying, being sent back all the way to the beginning of the map and have to fight your way back to where you were trying to get to. The game also relies on lots of “clear the enemies, or kill 6 people and the boss shows up” but they don’t tell you the clues in game. I have been playing with a guide open. The game just feels like a slog to play through. It looks like it would be amazing. Weapons are pretty useless as well.

What about River City Girls? This is a 2019 release and I can’t rave about it enough. I have it for switch. I haven’t finished it yet, but am already listening to the soundtrack on Spotify. The animation is perfect. I love pixel art and this game has a unique pixel art style. No chibi style characters, everyone has longer bodies and dimensions but the animations are stylized in a way that makes it look really unique. The game has a subtle 80’s aesthetic, and almost feels like a Molly Ringwald movie. The controls take a little getting used to but become second nature after a short time. I love the boss fights and you can save anywhere. The only glaring issue with this game is that you can’t quickly skip cutscenes when redoing boss fights. It takes about 3 button presses. The art style on the intros is so cool you might want to watch them anyways. They do manga style cut scenes and fighting game intros to boss fights. It’s truly a spectacle.

If you love River City Ransom and/or the belt scroll beat-em-up genre, it’s never been a better time to be a gamer. River City Rivals and River City Girls are masterpieces. They both prove that the genre still has life. I haven’t been this impressed with this style of game since Scott Pilgrim vs. The World came out for Xbox Arcade. Thanks for reading. Peace!