Wait, There’s ANOTHER River City Ransom Brawler Spinoff?
It was only two months ago when WayForward’s River City Girls, a River City Ransom/Kunio-kun series spinoff, released to solid (though not spectacular) critical acclaim. The game starred Misako and Kyoko as its main playable characters, the girlfriends of main series protagonists Kunio and Riki, in a side-scrolling brawler that packs a good challenge. (The boyfriends are also playable.) It came with several appealing aspects, but nothing made it more attractive than the excellent sprite work. The animation team at WayForward slaved over its creation to craft animations that gave the heroines far more character than they ever received in previous spinoffs, and included excellent references to previous titles and other games and media. Not every aspect of the game was championed, like the lack of online co-op and especially the divisive ending, but it’s one of the best brawlers in recent memory.
This game was enough to keep fans of the franchise and genre satisfied and busy for the time being. But can you believe that yet another RCR spinoff released on gaming platforms today? It’s another game in the same genre, and doesn’t use the traditional RCR/Kunio-kun art style to boot. It’s nice that the franchise is still receiving regular installments after coming into existence decades ago, sure, but it’s possible to release too much too quickly.
The new game is Stay Cool, Kobayashi-San!: A River City Ransom Story. This title takes place at an unspecified time after the original RCR, and stars the titular Masao Kobayashi as its main protagonist. He’s the leader of the Big Four group in Reiho High School, one feared by all the other students due to their toughness. But his reputation is harmed when he gets into a scuffle with Kunio and loses. Kobayashi feels he didn’t give the fight his best effort, and vows to show his power by taking down the mysterious and evil organization that Kunio previously fought.
He’s joined by Kouki Mizoguchi, who befriends Kobayashi after admiring his power, and backs him up by using mysterious devices. They’re joined by the aforementioned Kunio, who’s still fighting the organization and offers assistance.
To no surprise, each playable character can chain their attacks together for combos, with some including juggle potential. They also have an array of special techniques in their arsenal. Several of them are shown through animated GIFs on the official website, but are shown in further detail in the trailers. The animation isn’t even within spitting distance of River City Girls’, but this game notably goes for less than half the price at $13.99. (RCG is $29.99, and has yet to be discounted.) But it’s tough not to compare it to that game considering how close their releases are.
A key aspect potentially in this game’s favor is how its development team includes staffers involved with the oldest games in the franchise. Yoshihisa Kishimoto, responsible for directing the first RCR/Kunio-kun game (known as Renegade, though RCR was the first to achieve popularity in western territories) and the earliest Double Dragon games, is on board as co-director. He’s joined by Moqeqe Sekimoto in sharing the director’s chair.
This sounds encouraging ostensibly, but keep in mind development doesn’t always work out when older staffers return to assist with the development. One key example that showed how this can go awry involved Kishimoto himself, who returned with other team members after a long absence for Double Dragon IV, a sequel to the NES games that used the same late 80s/early 90s sprite style. The game, sadly, turned out average at best, and paled in comparison to WayForward’s prettier and more enjoyable Double Dragon Neon. Let’s hope history isn’t repeating itself here.
Also discouraging is the barely-okay localized text contained on both the official website and shown within the game through the screenshots and trailers. It’s not quite “Google Translate” bad like some games translated into English for Asian markets, particularly the infamous Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment for Vita, but it’s lacking. Whoever provided the text has a defined vendetta against commas and periods, and should work on their syntax. The in-game text at least looks better than the official website text. I had a minor struggle parsing and explaining the story details above because of this, something I hope isn’t a problem in the actual game.
Stay Cool, Kobayashi-san!: A River City Ransom Story released today for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, the same platforms River City Girls arrived on. We should find out how good it is (or isn’t) throughout the weekend, assuming its potential fans are even aware of its release. But even if this title doesn’t turn out well, two spinoffs releasing so close to each other is proof that the franchise is still healthy enough on a worldwide scale; so, publisher Arc System Works will continue green lighting new projects.
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Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
