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River City Ransom EX
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 4 votes
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Game Info
Publisher: Atlus USA
Developer: Million
Genre(s): Action, Fighting, Role-Playing Game
Players: 2
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Release Date: May 25, 2004
Summary
Panic strikes River City! "To the citizens of River City: I hold your high school captive! With my gangs of students and vicious bosses roaming the streets, nobody can stop me now! Meet my demands - or else!" Slick, the meanest, most powerful gang lord in River City, has issued this ultimatum - and the entire town is powerless in a grip of fear! Fortunately, Alex and Ryan weren't in school the day Slick took it over. But now, their fellow students are prisoners - including Ryan's girlfriend! It's up to our two young heroes to battle their way past several dangerous city gangs, then defeat the gang lord to free the students of River City High and restore peace to the panic-stricken populace! Features two different game modes: Story Mode (story-driven, one or two player cooperative mode); 2 player Battle Mode (Take your customized character against another player). Buy items to increase your stats and learn powerful techniques. Dynamic story mode allows events to take place as you progress through the game, allowing you to gather clues, make or break friendships, earn items/techniques, and more. Special link mode allows you to use one Game Boy Advance for actual gameplay and another to display the status screen and watch how your NPCs are doing. Depending on the things you do when playing the story mode, or how your friend plays against you in battle mode, you can save the gameplay style and create a computer-controlled AI character. By exchanging data, you can fight against another players custom AI character. Customize the game any way you want! Change your character status, techniques, background music. Save your customized data and exchange it with another person. [Atlus Software]
Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central
Also On The Web: GameSpot Preview IGN Hands-On Official Game Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
netjak
Atlus has managed to somehow improve upon one of the greatest NES games ever. To beat-em-up fans such as myself, the old school greatness means two schools – Cross Town High and River City High, with all the turf in between. Atlus took us back, and there’s no reason for anyone to resist one more bout with Alex and Ryan.
Read Full Review >Worth Playing
The combat system is not only intuitive and very fluid but is chock-full of “Did you see that?!” moments, and not only takes the hardcore feel of the original title but expands upon it with additional weapons, attacks, and techniques.
Read Full Review >AtomicGamer
River City Ransom EX is a hilarious, complex beat-em-up with a ton of options and plenty of options for fun combat.
Read Full Review >GameSpy
Fans of River City Ransom on the NES and brawlers as a whole will love this version.
Read Full Review >eToychest
Lastly, and most disappointing, there is no co-op mode. There is a link mode, which allows you to trade character data and techniques, but there is no two-player mode to speak of at all. This is very disheartening.
Read Full Review >Pocket Games
A tremendous port of one of the most unsung games of all time, and a must-have for any serious collector. [Summer 2004, p.39]
Yahoo! Games
Despite the game's limited length and distinctly Japanese presentation, River City Ransom EX remains a winner overall. From a punchy, bleeping score to cheesy kung-fu sound effects and esoteric script, the game comes off as a killer blast from the past.
Read Full Review >Game Informer
It's also funnier than I remembered: I had forgotten that the theme from Double Dragon plays during the fight with the Twins near the end of the game. [June 2004, p.139]
Read Full Review >Nintendo Power
The GBA version retains all of the game's charm and style and offers slight improvements to the graphics and screen text. [July 2004, p.120]
GamePro
A decent addition to the handheld fighter genre, and if players can discipline themselves not to buy many of the all-powerful techniques, River City Ransom Ex can be a cool gaming experience.
Read Full Review >GamingTrend
A ton of fun, and is an excellent port/upgrade overall. Shame on the company for not including two player mode though, as that’s where most of the fun came from.
Read Full Review >IGN
One of the few kick-ass, must-own, constantly-on-hand games in my collection for GBA -- there are so few games of this caliber on the handheld that match action with depth that, even with its faults, it's very needed.
Read Full Review >Inside Gamer Online
Lousy interface aside, the game does give you a hefty amount of options to work with.
Read Full Review >GameShark
There’s no denying that the title was one of those classics that lived on far beyond its intended marketability. In this respect, a port to the GBA was a sort of inescapable eventuality, and the final result is one that’s as faithful to the original as one could hope.
Read Full Review >GamerFeed
Sure, it doesn't have the dramatic punch of the Double Dragon series, but it more than makes up for its lack of flair with amazing depth, making it my portable fighting game of choice for Nintendo's handheld.
Read Full Review >NTSC-uk
Replay value is immense due to all the factors in play, and all the hidden aspects will take a long time to discover. A must-buy for old NES fans and a definite consideration to those new to the series.
Read Full Review >GameSpot
A pretty faithful remake of a fondly remembered NES game, though this works against its success almost as much as it helps its cause.
Read Full Review >Play Magazine
With hundreds of items and RPG-like stat-tracking, side-scrolling beat-'em-ups just don't get any deeper than this. And with tons of options and new features like CPU allies, this version is even better than the endearing original. [June 2004, p.73]
1UP
A flawed port of a brilliant game. The quality of the original product shines through regardless, and it's still a fine way to spend an afternoon with a friend, but it's impossible not to be disappointed. Because it should have been so much better.
Read Full Review >GMR Magazine
Ultimately, we would have been better served by an all-new River City Ransom. [Sept 2004, p.81]
Cheat Code Central
River City Ransom Ex is just an all-right game. It offers nothing special to the beat-'em-up genre. Some may even say that the game takes a step or two backward. One of the major complaints I have is that there is no two-player co-op mode.
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this game is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Najin J. gave it a10:
This game brought back so many memories! The improved graphics were a delight and I'm glad the designers of the gba version decided to preserve so many of the original nes features. a true retro classic!
Sam W. gave it a10:
I love this game as well as the origional. but i also feel that they couldve gone the extra five or so steps to make it a multiplayer game. so for single player: 10 for multiplayer: 4.
