River City Ransom is the original good beat-'em'up. Released in the NES era as the domestic version of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, the game took the pompadour-wearing hoodlums of the Japanese school system and wrapped them in shirts and jeans for American consumption. And it was magnificent. RCR took the same gameplay that could be found in any number of other beat-'em-ups and added RPG elements that were downright revolutionary at the time. Sadly, Technos and Atlus didn't receive much acclaim for their stunning title, and for a while it seemed like apart from a devout group of fans from back in the day the adventures of Alex and Ryan had been forgotten.

But Atlus (the domestic branch thereof is rapidly becoming the new Working Designs in terms of fan endearment and niche releases, but not in terms of internal strife and spectacularly delayed releases) has once again endeared itself to the masses by releasing the remake to RCR, developed by the same people responsible for the great Double Dragon remake which was released earlier this year.

And how is it? Well, it definitely has a few flaws here and there, but the bottom line is this is still River City Ransom and it still is one of the best beat-'em-ups available. Whether or not that speaks more of the genre or the game is up to you to decide.

The graphics are far from the most amazing on the GBA, but they definitely do their job well. Taking the basic look of the original game and cranking it up with extra animation and more colors, this looks kind of like what a fan of the original game would expect the series to look like on a next-generation system. While not technically amazing, RCREX does deliver lots of great little details in everything from the different animations of what you eat when you chow down in a restaurant to the unique animation that each special attack has. True, it's more of an evolution from the original game's graphics than a revolution, but part of the appeal of this game is its connection to the original, and the graphics do a great job of conveying this link.

In a similar fashion, the sound in the game is also a blast from the past, with cranked-up (slightly . . . it is a GBA game after all) versions of all the classic River City tunes, from the main theme to the shopping music. Is it groundbreaking and devastatingly creative? No. Is it cool to hear remixed versions of all the classic themes? Yes. A little more work was done on the sound effects. There are a few new ones present, such as the sound of doors opening ominously informing you that, no, you haven't beaten all the enemies in this section of the stage yet.

Which brings us to the meat and potatoes of what makes any game great, and what has made RCR great for over ten years now. The gameplay has a few additions here and there, which will either amuse you or annoy you depending on how much of a purist you are. For example, in the original game you had the ability to purchase special moves that would allow you to fire off rapid combos simply by holding down whichever attack button you were using. This has been circumvented in RCREX by the fact that you now have charge moves where if you hold a button down you launch a different kind of attack. The effectiveness of these attacks is questionable, as the gangs in RCR seem to have more sophisticated A.I. than some enemies you'd find in much more advanced 3D games. (In other words, they don't run at you waiting to be mauled). Personally, I think the new regular attacks are a great addition because in the original game you used to abuse the effectiveness of techniques like Grand Slam where you could attack an enemy rapidly over and over again with a damaging weapon just by repeatedly pressing Attack. This mindless "strategy" could be used to easily defeat even the toughest bosses.

The problem is, however, that new equally cheap techniques take their place. For example, returning from the original game is Acro Circus where your character curls up in a ball and rolls around the screen like some sort of demented armadillo from hell. This time around, though, Acro Circus is nigh invulnerable, and depending on how high your attack stats are, you can cut a swatch of death through the stage like some sort of angry pinball. Arguably worse is Torpedo, in which your character pulls an M. Bison and becomes a spinning missile from Hell destroying everything in his path, sometimes hitting up to two times for devastating damage to all but the last few bosses in the game.

Of course, even those certain-death techniques are balanced by the game's classically wonderfully character building system. In the great RPG tradition, you develop several stats, from your general strength and your punching strength to how high you can jump and how fast you can run. It doesn't get said enough: being able to clearly tell that these stats make a tangible difference in your gameplay is simply exquisite. It's a joy that very, very few games offer even to this day. Yes, I know that RPG elements are more prevalent in regular action games now, but still it's a feature that I'd like to see more of. One great annoyance, however, was the fact that the "custom character" feature that Atlus was touting so heavily in its marketing was an item that had to be purchased. Not only that, but you could only purchase it after beating the game. You can imagine how irritating it was running in and out of Merlin's Shop repeatedly looking for that damned thing.

The presentation of RCR also gets a rather large gold star. Rather than following the "Let's take a great game and give it shoddy pre-rendered graphics" approach taken byMario vs. Donkey Kong (another great remake that came out in a similar time frame), RCR revels in its own sense of nostalgia. You still get dialogue from the thugs you throttle, ranging from the classic "BARF!" to the more modern "BizARF!" There are lots of little asides and fun jokes too, like what the effects of different albums from the music store do, and the names of certain gang members. Altus's localization team once again hits the ball out of the park and proves that small details can immensely help a game's sense of personality.

Now, that's not to say that this is the be-all end-all of games. It is inescapably a remake of the NES title, and as such doesn't add any new areas to the game. The game's save system is bizarre, forcing you to create a new file each time as opposed to being able to automatically overwrite your old file (you have to manually delete them). But probably the most disappointing thing is the fact that there is no multiplayer in RCR - especially considering how the game taunts you about this fact by allowing you to have up to three A.I.-controlled partners in your posse.

First-time visitors to River City are in for unique and enjoyable action that still plays remarkably well despite being over ten years old at its core. For veterans, this game will either be heaven or hell. Heaven to those who will be able to enjoy the awesome new features and simply be glad to have a new installment in the series, hell to those expecting a game that was produced to bitch-slap the crap out of every beat-'em-up created since. But assuming you're not a victim of your own expectations, this is a wonderful addition to your GBA library and hopefully marks the rebirth of the American leg of the Nekketsu franchise.

Download the rocking gameplay trailer to River City Ransom EX (MPEG, 625x480, 1:14, 11.8MB)

· · · Lee Francis