River City Ransom (Nintendo, 1989)

River City Ransom is about two guys, Alex and Ryan that must fight their way around town in order to save Ryan's girlfriend from the paws of the evil gang members. You have a stats screen for your player with things like stamina, will power, kick etc. you collect money from gang members by beating the crap out of them and then you go into town to get a burger or buy combat boots to increase your skills. There are some special moves that you learn by reading a book bought at the library. There is even a secret shop hidden somewhere in the game. You can collect weapons classic weapons like chains, brass knuckle, crate but there is some innovations like the tire that you can throw and if you're in 2 player mode you can have a lot of fun doing acrobatics with a tire ;)

Controls: 5/5
Since it is a nes game, the controls are very simple (A kick, B punch, A+B jump, tapping forward twice to run). Unlike many nes titles, river city characters respond very well and you never fall into a pit unless you are very clumsy.

Graphics: 5/5
Simple, things look like what they represent and stay simple so the screen don't flicker. Colors are bright and the text is clean and readable.


Replay: 5/5
River city ransom along with bubble bobble is the nes game I replay the most, very fun to play with a friend you never get tired of messing around town with Alex and Ryan.


Story: 4/5
While not the most original (beat guys save girl) type, it implements rpg elements and much humor. I reccomend to read the dying quotes of the bad guys or the storyline dialogs, you'll have probably a smile or two.


Sound: 5/5
Music is awesome for a nes game, you'll surprise yourself humming river city's music from time to time. Sound effects are complete and fit with the action.

Difficulty: 4/5
Pretty easy once you get the touch, especially if you have the dragon feet or stone hands moves, but there is challenge nonetheless.

A must have for any NES fan/collector


=8-)
by LoBoToMy

This game started it all! Endless upgrades, Hilarious when you beat an enemy down. Key to this game is: eat to keep your health up, visit every sonna, Read every book you can (but note some books can over ride others causing you to loose abilities to gain others). Being able to punch faster and kick faster will help you the most in this game. Tap left or right twice to run. Avoid fights if health is low. You will loose money and time if you die. You can attack bosses more than once so keep this in mind for extra quick cash. You can pick up items and use them or throw them at enemies. Good luck hope this helps. Enjoy this game. I sure have. P.S. There is a hidden store in the tunnel. -Will

I grew up a nintendo geek but had never played this title. I had heard a ton of good stuff about this game recently and considering i've been on a nintendo kick recently i decided to try out river city ransom. Holy crap what a great game. Its has very well balance fighting mechanic. Some light humor and a level up system including the ability to purchase items in malls. Some of it kind of reminds me of Earthbound. Very pleasantly suprised by the quality of this game. Well worth the money i dropped on it.

Games like this are few and far in between. While similar games in the genre such as Double Dragon may have gained more coverage, this is an exellent classic that shouldn't be missed. It takes the side scrolling fighter and add two things that keep it highly interesting, a pinch of humor and an RPG like stats system. The game has a HUGE replay value, and can easily allow you to waste countless hours in two player mode with a friend. I definatley reccomend you give this one a try.

I used to play a version of this game on PC where you could create own graphics for the facial expessions of your character. We had great fun with that me and a friend.
You start out running around (either alone or two player coop) and kicking ass outta school kids. They got fancy dress codes in japan, so everyone got their neat suits.
Anyways, you run around from left to right and kids appear and want to beat your ass. When taking them down with either a kick or a bunch, they drop coins. Sometimes they even attack you with weapons. You may pick these up and use at your disposal: A to slash, B to toss the item.
Anyways, the coins you collect can later on be used in shops to purchase things which can upgrade your character's powers. I'm not sure which attributes it was, but it's definatly health, defense and attack. So it's always a good idea to pick up every single coin the enemies drop.

This game is playable in both japanese and english versions as there's really no puzzles involved.

The music is addictive and definatly something you'll remember after you've played the game. Sound effects are great.

Definatly a game worth owning thanks to it's 2 player coop.