The latest issue of Famitsu has revealed that River City Ransom is making a comeback, this time on the 3DS.
Like the original, the new game, entitled Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun SP, features a mix of side-scrolling brawling (similar to Final Fight and Streets of Rage,) and some light RPG elements. The Famitsu preview makes the game sort of sound like a 2D take on open world action games: in addition to fighting rival gang members, players can also accept sidequests from NPC’s and travel around the entirety of the game’s city at their leisure. The game will reportedly feature a lengthy story-based campaign that focuses on series protagonist Kunio’s attempt to free Japan from the clutches of an evil teenage street gang.
The game will also use the 3DS’s oft-neglected Download Play ability to allow four player multi-player off of a single game card. In addition to letting multiple players join in on the brawl, the game’s multiplayer mode will also feature a separate Dodgeball mode that recreates the gameplay of 8-bit classic Super Dodgeball (which was also made by RCR’s original developers.)
The new game is being developed by Guilty Gear and BlazBlue creators Arc System Works. River City Ransom’s original developer, Technos Japan, went out of business in 1996.
Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-Kun SP is due out in Japan this August. No US release date has been announced yet, but given how popular River City Ransom is with retro-gamers here, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game got localized eventually.
Daniel Crenna
There is an actual follow-up to River City Ransom being developed and published in North America by our studio. (http://combitstudios.com/2013/04/river-city-ransom-announced/)