River City Ransom Underground - The Godfather of brawlers

HAZ CLIC AQUÍ PARA LEER ESTA ENTRADA EN ESPAÑOL.

Hello everyone! Did you try already Alwa’s Awakening, the retro style Metroidvania game I talked about in the last entry? If you haven’t and you like classic style adventures, I strongly suggest you to give it a try. Speaking retro games, I’m sure some of you just can’t get enough of this kind of games (I surely can’t!), so in order not to interrupt the “retro flow” of the last entries, in this entry I’m going to talk about another retro style game that will surely bring some good memories to all the veteran button mashers out there, for this time around is not just a game that pays tribute to the classics, but more like a direct sequel of a franchise that has the honor of being the franchise that set many of the guidelines to follow for the whole Beat ‘Em Up genre, and that’s saying a lot, for its one of the genres that ruled during the arcades golden era and has managed to survive till the current times of HD and FPS madness. Which is the game you say? Well, the game is no more and no less than River City Ramson Undeground. Yes, you read well. The Japanese gangs classic is back, and just in case someone had any doubts, I can already advance you that it came back big time, so if you are a fan of the adventures of Alex and Ryan, I recommend you to keep reading, and if you are not a fan and you don’t even know what the hell is River City Ramson, I recommend you to keep reading too, for you will discover the origin of many of the modern classics you might be playing, such as Devil May Cry, God of War or the recent and awesome Nier: Automata.

The story behind the development of River City Ramson Undeground is rather peculiar. To begin with, this is the first entry in the series that has not been developed in Japan. It all started in 2013, when the indie Canadian team Conatus Creative Inc. managed to obtain the rights of the franchise and started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a direct sequel of the first entry of this classic franchise, a task for which they counted with the support of Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the original creator of the series. After the successful funding campaign, the Canadian team started to work in the game, and after several delays, the game was finally released on February 2017 after a long and difficult development process, and although it is true that four years might seem a little bit excessive for a game like this nowadays, the result is truly amazing and worthy of the long wait, with a game that transmits love and dedication through all and each of its pixels. In fact, Tecmo’s legendary franchise was bought by Arc System Works while River City Ramson Undeground was still in development, something that raised all the alarms as many feared the Japanese arcade masters might force the Canadian team to cease the development, but far from it, Arc System Works supported the guys from Conatus Creative, something that makes Arc System Works even cooler than they already were!

We will be able to purchase items in the shops in order to improve our characters stats.

We will be able to choose from among 10 characters, each with their own unique style, and play with up to 3 more players.

As I always say with this kind of title, the story behind River City Ramson Undeground its not its strongest point precisely, although it is also true that, unless you are completely new in this hobby, none buys this kind of game expecting a deep life-changing story. As with most of the games of its time, the story is pretty simple and straight forward; the daughter of the major has been kidnapped, and the major is set to solve the situation. However, unlike Haggar from Final Fight, the major does not want to dirty his hands and decides to offer a reward to whoever takes down the gang of the Flock, which he blames for the disappearance of his beloved daughter. Surprised by the fake accusations, the Flock, which as you might have guessed is the gang of the two main protagonists, decides to embark on a mission that will take them across the whole city in order to clean the name of their gang doing what they do best: kick the crap out of anything that crosses their way. I know, I know, “cleaning your name” and “beating people” all together in a same sentence doesn’t seem to make much sense, but in the good old 80s that was considered “poetic justice”. Well, maybe no, but who cares, it was fun, and that’s really mattered.

Regarding the gameplay, River City Ransom Underground is a purebred 2D Beat ‘Em Up that follows strictly on the steps of its predecessor, and that is precisely one of the strongest points of the game, for it truly manages to perfectly convey the irreverent and fun spirit of the original game while adapting it to the modern times. In fact, when you come to think about it, despite its age, River City Ransom is probably one of the most complete 2D Beat ‘Em Up games ever released, and though Tecmo’s classic was surpassed in certain aspects by some of the titles that were released in the later years, it’s truly amazing to see how good the game’s base mechanics have stand the test of time, which included RPG elements like a leveling system or the possibility of learning new techniques, and even open world elements, something completely unseen before in those times and that barely any other titles used after that, turning Tecmo’s classic in a unique hybrid, and luckily for us, River City Ransom Underground has inherited and improved all those features. The game will allow us to choose among four characters to play with, each of them with their own unique moves set and stats, and as we progress through the adventure, we will recruit other members for our gang, giving us up to 10 characters that we will be able to use during the adventure, all with their own unique style. As I was saying before, River City Ransom Underground is a 2D Beat ‘Em Up, therefore the game will basically consist on going from point A to point B while we beat the crap out of anything that gets close to us, although opposite to what we can see in most Beat ‘Em Up games, this will not be as simple as it might sound, and that is due to the game’s RPG and open world elements. Opposite to what we can find in most Beat ‘Em Up games, River City Ransom Underground will allow us to explore the whole city at will, including the interiors of many buildings, although we will have to watch out for the enemies, as in certain areas the enemies might be far too strong for our current level, and if we die, we will lose ALL our progress, forcing us to restart from the last save point we can find in one of the many hideouts we will find across the city. Yup, you read that right, no autosave function here, which I don’t know if it’s something good or bad, but anyway it’s the way it is and we will have to learn to deal with it, for Conatus Creative has decided to respect the retro feeling as much as possible. As we defeat our enemies, our characters will gather experience points and money just like in an RPG game. The experience points will allow us to level up, improving our characters stats and unlocking new techniques in the training dojo. The money, on the other hand, will allow us to buy items in the shops that will allow us to improve our character’s stats as well buying the techniques we previously unlocked in the training dojo, thus allowing us to expand our attack possibilities when facing the enemies. On top of being some the characteristic features of the series, these elements give River City Ransom Underground’s gameplay a level of deepness and complexity rarely seen in a Beat ‘Em Up game, making the game really addictive. On top of all this, the game includes other features typically seen in the series, such as the constant and hilarious conversation among the characters (both allies and enemies), which will provide us the info we need in order to find our next target, as well as other features like the possibility of “encouraging” the police to look for us every time we commit acts of vandalism such as hitting innocent people or destroying private property, causing the police to flood the stage in order to deliver some “justice” and making the things even more complicated for us. Of course, no good Beat ‘Em Up can be complete without a multiplayer mode, so River City Ransom Underground includes the possibility of playing multiplayer matches for up to four players, both, local and online, as well as a versus mode that will allow us to play against other players using all the characters from the game, which includes any enemies we might have unlocked playing first the story mode. However, it’s worth to mention that the online mode has some stability issues on top of not allowing us to level up our character when playing online, although the team seems to be working to improve this.

These are some of the wacky enemies we will face during the adventure.

Regarding the presentation, River City Ransom Underground is a true pixilated treat for the eyes that respect the source material as much as possible while it adapts it to the current time, although it is possibly one step behind of what we could see in the awesome Scott Pilgrim VS the World. The characters have great models, although the overall design perhaps reminds more that of the above mentioned Scott Pilgrim VS the World and its wacky characters rather than the style of Tecmo´s original title, but what really shines are the fluid animations, which reflect perfectly the game’s goofy and irreverent style. The stages are also really well done, displaying details in every corner that give them a lot of charm. And if the graphics are good, the music is no less good, with a soundtrack full of retro style chiptune melodies that match perfectly with the action that takes places on the screen. It is truly easy to appreciate how much love and dedication the Canadian team has poured into the game’s presentation.

River City Ransom Underground is another title that comes to join the recent series of retro style games that little by little are taking over the digital platforms and that are being so well received by the fans, especially among the most veteran ones, a love letter dedicated to the classics that, not only pays tribute to Tecmo´s timeless classic, like the brilliant introduction tutorial that will allow us to revive the last moments of the original classic, but also to many other classic franchises, be it with cameos of enemies from another series such as Abobo from Double Dragon (also from Tecmo), with special attacks that remind to those of Ryu and Ken in Street Fighter, with alternative color schemes for the characters that remind to the ones used by other classic characters such as Little Mac from Punch-Out!!, with stages full of elements that will remind us classic manga series such a Akira or games such as Castle Crashers, or even a boss that uses a cargo robot similar to the one used by Ripley against the alien queen in Alien 2. It is true that the game might benefit from the nostalgia factor, but saying that Conatus Creative´s game wouldn´t be so good if it was not because of the nostalgia wouldn´t be fair, for regardless of its legacy, River City Ransom Underground is an excellent classic style Beat ´Em Up game that offers many hours of fun, whether it alone or with friends, and although it is true the team still has to polish some bugs (especially regarding the online mode), it is impossible to deny the huge amount of love and effort the team has dedicated to the game, a game that, although not perfect, it is definitely worthy of the River City Ransom name, something that that it’s an achievement itself and that requires a lot of courage, especially for an indie team that lacks the resources of the more well-established teams. If you like Beat ´Em Up games and especially the River City Ransom/Kunio-kun series, you MUST try River City Ransom Underground, for I´m totally convinced you will fall in love with it right from the very first minute. So far the game is available exclusively for PC via Steam. Oh, and by the way, if you like River City Ransom Underground, you should also give a chance to Ryuko No Ken Nekketsu, the freeware game developed by indie Italian team SEEP with the OpenBOR engine based also on Tecmo´s franchise. Enjoy it!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOAch5GB_WM&t=78s

The members of our gang.