River City Ransom has seen a game or two since the NES classic, last in 2017 as River City Ransom: Underground. But while the classic beat’em’up has inspired a whole genre like it and Streets of Rage 4 is currently in the works, there hasn’t been a reinvention of the series. That changes now: Shantae developer WayForward announces River City Girls as the next installment.
River City Girls focuses on new protagonists, high school tough girls Kyoko and Misako. This time, the classic protagonists Kunio and Riki are kidnapped and the heroines are out to rescue their boyfriends. The game will make a more RPG-styled affair out of exploring River City and kicking its denizens’ collective asses with items, shops, NPCs to interact with and recruit, and changes to the combat system to include weapons. The girls will of course be playable in co-op.
Check out the trailer below. River City Girls is being published by Arc System Works and will release on September 5, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.The MSRP will be $29.99, and a physical release is planned later via Limited Run Games.
