Two games that were released exclusively for the Famicom in Japan have been translated in English and are now getting officially released by Limited Run Games. Both games belong to the “River City” franchise of games by Technos a developer which specializes in beat’em up games. The games in question are “River City Fighting Legend” and “River City Basketball”. The games can be pre-ordered from Limited Run Games either separately or together in the “River City Ball and Brawl Bundle”. The franchise is best known in the west for their Nintendo NES titles “River City Ransom” and “Super Dodge Ball”. The franchise also continued on the Super Nintendo but only in Japanese for the Super Famicom with “River City Renegade” which can be experienced in English by a fan translation patch.
The games are currently in pre-production status and Limited Run Games is taking pre-orders. As many of you know, Limited Run Games does not have the best reputation, being caught lying about engaging in many shady business practices such as printing far more copies than advertised effectively cancelling the ‘limited run’ status they claimed their games had. They were also caught making copies of CD based games on burnt discs instead of being professionally pressed thinking that customers would never find out since they bet that very few people would open their sealed copies. I personally would not trust them, however if you are considering purchasing from them just be aware of the dangers and do your research so that you can make an informed decision taking into account the risks involved.
The hero and main protaganist in all the River City games is Kunio-kun and his trusty sidekick Riki-kun. Most of the games in the franchise can be played either in single player mode or 2 player co-op mode with Riki supporting Kunio as the second player. There’s also battle modes in most of the games allowing the two pals to test their skills in head to head matches. In River City Fighting Legend the main storyline is about a fighting tournament which actually pits the two allies against each other instead of their usual dynamic of working together. Both games are 1 – 4 players meaning that it’s compatible with the NES Four Score multitap device. Both games are high quality NES titles and will provide many hours of single and multiplayer fun for the NES enthusiast. Each game is being sold for $59.99 USD each or $109.99 when purchased together as a bundle.
Relevant Links
- River City Basketball [https://limitedrungames.com/es/collections/all-games/products/river-city-basketball-nes] Limited Run Games Pre-Order Page
- River City Fighting Legend [https://limitedrungames.com/es/collections/all-games/products/river-city-fighting-legend-nes] Limited Run Games Pre-Order Page
- River City Brawl and Ball Bundle [https://limitedrungames.com/es/collections/all-games/products/river-city-ball-brawl-bundle-nes] Limited Run Games Pre-Order Page
