Virtual Console Monday: River City Ransom

It’s needless to say that the Virtual Console has been through a pretty slow slump in 08. We’ve seen a fairly good amount of first-party Nintendo titles, but it’s been pretty dry for third-party releases. Today, on 04/21, it looks as though as the slump is over, as a NES classic makes it’s way to the download service.

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

River City Ransom,was developed by Technos, the company behind the Double Dragon series. This title was released in 1989, and is heralded for its’ quirky style and interesting gameplay mechanics. The story follows two high school students, Alex and Ryan as they cross River City to save Ryan’s girlfriend Cyndi from the villain, “Slick”. Along the way, Alex and Ryan will have to take out the gangs plaguing the streets of River City. Besides its’ quirky comedic style, River City was praised for the incorporation of RPG-style elements into a beat-em-up joint. As you progressed through River City, you could ramp up certain statistics, and learn new fighting moves to use. While the structure of the game is linear, the choice of character development was ground-breaking at the time. Do yourself a favor and download this classic title.