River City Ransom Critic Reviews

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.

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.

River City Ransom EX is a hilarious, complex beat-em-up with a ton of options and plenty of options for fun combat.

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.

A tremendous port of one of the most unsung games of all time, and a must-have for any serious collector.

Fans of River City Ransom on the NES and brawlers as a whole will love this version.

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.

The GBA version retains all of the game's charm and style and offers slight improvements to the graphics and screen text.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lousy interface aside, the game does give you a hefty amount of options to work with.

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.

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.

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.

A pretty faithful remake of a fondly remembered NES game, though this works against its success almost as much as it helps its cause.

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.

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.

Ultimately, we would have been better served by an all-new River City Ransom.