264 · River City Ransom
The evil Slick has kidnapped Ryan's girlfriend and taken over the high school. The player is cast as either Ryan or Alex (second player) and has to fight his way through River City's merciless gangs before confronting Slick and freeing his girl.
River City Ransom opens with a ransom note that holds a whole high school captive and also names Ryan's girlfriend, which made us wonder whether anyone had checked on the mayor. It is the Kunio-kun series finally stepping out of the arena, from the same Technos Japan that made Double Dragon. We expected a beat-em-up and got a beat-em-up RPG we didn't think the NES could do.
What works
- Fighting is the economy. Beat up gang members, take their money, spend it at the mall, come back stronger. Each half feeds the other. Enemies can be walked around, so the game never forces a fight; you just won't get far without them.
- Shopping with a mystery. Food costs $3 or $5, then Texas boots show up at $99 and you know they must be great. Nobody tells you what anything does until you buy it. Joe and his co-op partner didn't realize they started with $20, so they were broke and took turns escorting each other around to die, since dying costs half your money. When the stone hands and dragon boots finally landed, it felt earned. Playing single player later with a guide, Joe had less fun.
- Charm. Enemies yell "barf" when they go down, every thug has a name, and you can order a free smile at the mall and blush. We compared the vibe to EarthBound: guys named Greg, nothing over the top except the violence.
- Gear that sticks. Weapons never break, so a trash can can ride over your head into the mall, where you can't put it down. Bricks stun with knockback, and a thrown chain plus dragon feet handled most things.
- Forgiving deaths. Losing half your money stings without sending you back.
What doesn't
- Not really open. It is one long line with short dead ends, and each district is a stage with a mall checkpoint.
- Same fight, new shirt. Gangs change colors and payouts, and the cowboys and zombies in the manual are flavor only. Bosses mostly gain HP. The two-enemy cap from Double Dragon returns and feels loose on wide streets.
- Stats you can't read. There are too many, and the shops don't say what you are buying. A line of flavor text would have helped, and we wanted visible gear and CDs that changed the music.
Beyond the game
Merlin's secret shop, unlocked after a clear, sells cough medicine that randomizes your stats, lottery tickets, rocket shoes, and a $999.90 custom character. The X68000 port allows three enemies on screen. The Game Boy Advance EX swaps co-op for an AI partner, which was a dealbreaker for us.
The bottom line
Essential. We split: Sean and Joe voted it onto the Essential Games List, and Mike did not. Mike found it charming but felt the areas, enemies and bosses never evolve beyond "I eat this food, and now my willpower has increased." Joe said it gave him the most agency of any beat-em-up so far, with co-op and solo both a blast. Sean added that the simple fighting feels good and makes a hangout game even alone, especially picking up a dude to throw at his friends.
Written from our conversation in this episode.
- To the citizens of River City! I hold your high school captive
- NES Longplay
- Introductions
- Like any good ransom, this game starts with a note from the bad guy. He has the city captive and Ryan’s girlfriend. Feels like those two things are not on the same scale
- Between River City and the Highschool this all feels like CW’s Riverdale
- Kunio-Kun
- A few of the early Kunio games for the NES were localized for the North American market. These include Renegade and Super Dodge Ball
- All these games in japan star the same high school character, Nekketsu and his town “river city”
- We of course get the heavily americanized versions of these games.
- Overview
- You play as Alex or Ryan (or both!) as you explore your local town hunting down the various gangs searching for the whereabouts of Ryan’s missing girlfriend Cyndi and your Rival, Slick.
- Gameplay
- Open world Beat em Up
- Exploration (or lack thereof)
- Enemies (divided into gangs, no comedic or overpowered enemies, no unique weapons, just shirt color changes)
- Very Yakuza like with going to shops and buying everyday food/items to gain buffs
- And then also very Warriors like with the various Gangs (Cowboys, The Squids, The Zombies, The Plague)
- Boss battles don’t feel too different from regular enemy characters
- Are there set pieces like in the Double Dragon series?
- Open world Beat em Up
- Sequels and Spinoffs
- River City Ransom EX
- 2 player with and without a friend
- But also the option to play solo
- Ability to choose allies and enemies
- 2 player with and without a friend
- River City Ransom EX
- EGL
- This is a charming beat em up game with a simple plot and simple gameplay. It attempts to feel bigger with the shops and the exploration, but they didn’t break up the feel of the areas/enemies/bosses enough to actually make it feel like the world or player was evolving. The dialogue was fun and the simplicity can make progress feel good, but once you realize you’re not doing much different area to area the game kind of loses its appeal.
- Next week - Roadblasters
- NEStalgia Byte - Captain Tsubasa II: Super Striker
Found automatically from the transcript and checked, but it can miss things or pick the wrong page. Spot a mistake? Tell us.
Games
- River City Ransom mentioned at
The episode's game: an open-world beat-'em-up with RPG-style shopping, set in River City, released by Technos.
- Renegade mentioned at
Earlier Technos NES beat-'em-up from the Kunio-kun series, covered previously on the show.
- Super Dodge Ball mentioned at
Earlier Technos NES sports game from the Kunio-kun series, also set in River City.
- Retro City Rampage mentioned at
A 2012 parody game of 80s pop culture, the only other similarly named game one host recalled.
- Super Mario Bros. mentioned at
Used as a comparison for how early games were linked into a shared universe.
- Double Dragon mentioned at
Technos's other beat-'em-up, compared for enemy design and its two-enemy-at-a-time limit.
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge mentioned at
Previous Double Dragon episode game, and one of the games in the PC Engine collection.
- EarthBound mentioned at
RPG cited for its everyday, normal-world setting with game mechanics layered on top.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mentioned at
Used as a joke about role-playing strictly, like waiting to be bitten by a vampire.
- Nintendogs mentioned at
Joked about as a Nintendo game with no equivalent in a console-versus-console podcast.
Hardware
- Sharp X68000 mentioned at
Japanese home computer that received an enhanced port with three enemies on screen.
- Nintendo 64DD mentioned at
Japan-only disk drive add-on for the N64, brought up as a comparison.
- Super NES CD-ROM mentioned at
The canceled Nintendo and Sony CD add-on, the so-called Nintendo PlayStation.
- TurboGrafx-16 mentioned at
The North American name of the PC Engine.
- Sega CD mentioned at
CD add-on for the Genesis, compared to the PC Engine Super CD-ROM.
- Game Boy Advance mentioned at
Nintendo handheld that got River City Ransom EX and sparked a closing debate.
- Game Boy mentioned at
Nintendo's original handheld, compared with the Game Boy Advance in the closing debate.
- Nintendo DS mentioned at
Handheld one host looks at more fondly than the Game Boy Advance.
Companies
- Technos Japan mentioned at
Developer of River City Ransom, Double Dragon, Renegade and Super Dodge Ball.
- Archie Comics mentioned at
Publisher of the comics that Riverdale is based on.
Film, TV and music
- Riverdale mentioned at
The CW teen drama based on Archie Comics, joked about because of the River City name.
- Arrested Development mentioned at
TV comedy mentioned in a joke about characters checking themselves into jail.
- The Warriors mentioned at
1979 film about rival street gangs, compared to River City Ransom's themed gangs.
- Ben 10 mentioned at
Cartoon the hosts compare the EX box art style to.
- Samurai Jack mentioned at
Cartoon the hosts compare the EX box art style to.
Articles, videos and sites
- GameFAQs mentioned at
Game guide site that lists River City Ransom's item stats.
Other
- Kunio-kun mentioned at
The Japanese Technos series the hosts say River City Ransom, Renegade and Super Dodge Ball all come from.
- Persona mentioned at
The Atlus series known for high-school life simulation, referenced as a different kind of high school game.
- Yakuza mentioned at
Sega action-adventure series compared for buying food and items to boost stats.
- Simon Belmont mentioned at
The whip-wielding Castlevania hero, referenced when talking about the long chain weapon.
- ChatGPT mentioned at
AI chatbot joked about as a computer-controlled co-op partner.
- NEStalgia Essential Games List mentioned at
The show's list of NES games that define the system; River City Ransom was voted onto it.
Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.
River City Ransom, to the citizens of River City, I hold your high school captive.
And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. And I'm Joe. And like any good ransom, this game starts with a note from the bad guys. They have River City captive and Ryan's girlfriend, specifically calling out Ryan's girlfriend. Feels like these two things aren't quite on the same scale. Like, do they actually have the city captive? Like, is the mayor okay? Has anybody checked in on the mayor of River City? Or is this just like some kind of high school level prank? I mean, is it the high school? It's just the high school. Yeah. Is it the girlfriend? Or is it the whole town? It's not very clear.
Between River City and all this high school stuff, this feels like CW's Riverdale. Yeah. You know, that show with the Archie comics people. And by like season one, it was already off the where else. But then eventually they joined like a fight club and go to prison and get multiversal dimension. Is that what the show's about? Yeah. It's crazy, man. Never watched it. That show is so much better if you just read the people who do watch it, their tweets. If you just read their tweets, it almost sounds like they're making up ideas as it comes along. But the show writers are always one step ahead of them with the crazy nonsense that the show actually does.
Is the comic like that? The comic is not like that at all. It's worth mentioning that the comic is, you know, it depends. I haven't read like since CW released this show. I haven't read of like Archie comics, like got a re-release and updated with the Times or whatever. But no, they basically just took the characters and a little bit of their personalities and then turned it into the first season's like a murder mystery. Then the second season is like a gang wars style thing.
And then the third season, I think Archie goes to jail, voluntarily joins the jail and then starts an army of like shirtless. Can you do that? Dudes. Can you like check yourself into jail? It's a recurring theme on TV shows, right? Didn't Arrested Development do something similar? Well, Arrested Development did that. That shouldn't be the bar. I would put Riverdale right alongside Arrested Development as some of the zaniest television I've ever seen.
Back on schedule, we're not talking about Riverdale. We're talking about River City. And that means Kunio-kun, who we've already seen a few of the Kunio games from the NES, Renegade and Super Dodgeball. We liked both those games. Felt that they were lacking in a few things. They didn't quite get on the essential games list. But we liked those games. The thing is that, you know, we get the heavily Americanized versions of these games. And in Japan, it's a whole nother series starring this high school kid named Niketsu and his town, River City, which finally we are seeing here as River City Ransom. But technically, we've been in River City before for both Renegade and Super Dodgeball.
Yeah, this is like the, you finally get to see the expanded universe, like, from a top down. Yeah, well, when I was playing Super Dodgeball, I was like, I really just want to get out of this, like, dodgeball court and see what else is out there. So this is really fulfilling that dream, finally.
I mean, I don't think, was dodgeball in River City? I thought it was all over the world. Yeah, I can't remember if it starts off in, like, a gymnasium and then moves on, but it does definitely, like, at least show, like, Mount Fuji and stuff like that. So you definitely are traveling to other areas. Well, I was making that joke with no actual memory of that game. Oh, how dare you. So you didn't want, like, a Persona-style high school simulator game when you heard that we were, our high school was being held captive?
I don't know what exactly I wanted out of this game originally, because it's also a game that I've heard of, and I was, like, aware a little bit of the concept. So, like, I was kind of expecting a lot of, like, I don't know, I was, like, mixing a lot of, like, RPG tropes into what I was thinking this was going to be.
Yeah, I just, the only memory that I have of anything that's even named like this is Retro City Rampage, which is a completely different game from a completely different era. And that's just, like, a parody on a bunch of 80s things. So I was totally caught off guard by this. And in a world where now everything has to have its own cinematic universe or be connected to everything to, like, be a respectable franchise, it's interesting that this River City Ransom and all these other games were linked together so early on in a way that maybe, like, even Super Mario Bros.
hadn't quite done yet, you know? Yeah, I kind of dig it, because it doesn't, it's not too in-your-face. Like, all these games, like, if we weren't doing these podcasts and I was just playing these games, maybe I'd recognize that some of these dudes look the same and, like, oh, maybe they're made by the same company and this is just their style. Like, I wouldn't have really known if we didn't talk about this Kunio-kun thing background.
They're all self-contained. And in this one, you don't play as Niketsu because it's the American version. You're playing as Alex or Ryan or both if you have a friend. Ryan's the one whose girlfriend is kidnapped, yet you're, you know, like, player one is Alex. So it's an interesting, like, it's an interesting lead that they didn't think that it was important enough to steal, like, the main character's girlfriend. They were like, let's steal the guy who's most likely going to be player two. Let's take his girlfriend.
Now, you can choose to be Ryan. That's fine. But there's a reason why they didn't say, I have your girlfriend. I have Ryan's girlfriend. Can you be Ryan in single player? Yeah. I think you get to choose, right? Oh, you do get to choose. Okay. Yeah. But, like, why would you choose to be the one that was weak enough to have his girlfriend stolen? I'd much rather be the heroic friend that rescues the other person's girlfriend. You're going to steal his girl. Is that what the game is?
Yeah. But also, one thing to note is that right away on the menu screen, before any story really even is told, you can name your characters. I didn't know it was going to be that significant. So, like, all right. I played two player, and we named ourselves Joe and John, which is our names.
And then it's like, Ryan's girlfriend's been kidnapped, Alex. And I'm like, who are these people? Who are we talking to? This is weird that it lets you change your name, but then doesn't change it in, like, the text. Oh, interesting. Now, Joe, that is a good point, because the game goes as far as to have a lengthy dialogue system throughout of just whether you're actually playing the game, dialogue still continues.
And then there's some cut scenes where dialogue takes place. Even in those, they don't take the time to correct them anywhere. So it's not just that they forgot the very first screen. They forgot it throughout the entirety of the game, so much that if you don't even rename the character and you're playing as Ryan, people will still tell you about Ryan's girlfriend to Ryan. Well, they didn't want to have two different...
Obviously, there's no, like, variable that tells you, like, oh, use this character name. It's just Ryan. So they're not going to write it twice. That's a waste of time. And that part, I understand a little more. They didn't want an alternate line where they have to actually change the words around. But, like, couldn't you just replace, like, as long as you keep it under a certain amount of characters, just replace Alex with whatever I input. Like, I assume that that's not too... And I feel like we've seen that before. Yeah. But they didn't do it, Joe. Yeah. They didn't do it. And so... Which is why I'm voting this jank folder. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on. We got a while before we get to the votes, buddy.
My bad. Because we haven't even started to talk about the game, which is what I'm going to say very generously as a open world beat-em-up. We have played so many games where beat-em-ups are just defeat all the enemies on the screen, and then you can move a little bit forward. But in this game, you are actually not only able to just disregard the enemies and continue moving on, but you can actually backtrack and go to other areas to find specific locations where gangs hide out and beat up specific gang members for money and use that money to go to the malls.
And different malls have different items, and you buy different items at those malls to increase your stats. And those stats help you in the combat that you were doing both earlier on to defeat those enemies more easily, but also to take on harder enemies later on. So I think in a way, this is the beat-em-up RPG open world game that I personally didn't think was even possible on the NES. Yeah, that's a pretty all-encompassing description of what this game is.
Basically, the streets are just overrun with your enemies. Like, the gangs are just all out. The only refuge from the gang violence is the mall, which I assume is just an agreed-upon safe zone where all of the civilians go.
And yeah, that's the gameplay loop. You go and you fight and you steal their money, and then you go to the green zone and eat some chili, and hopefully that raises your stats enough to go fight other guys with different colored shirts.
And you just sort of explore, and it's not just streets. Like, there's warehouses and offices, and it's a pretty wide variety of places. And yeah, I agree, Mike. Like, it's very strange that I just didn't expect it to be as wide open as it is, even though it's not truly open. Yeah, I'm also, like, just impressed with how those two genres, the beat-em-up and the RPG, really, like, they really got them to sort of complement each other really well, where,
like, you're incentivized to play, to do the beat-em-up stuff because you get your money, which is what is basically your experience that you use for the RPG elements. And then those RPG, that money is spent on specific upgrades, hence the RPG element, where you're choosing what you want, which will help you decide how you want to play the beat-em-up. Like, it's really kind of like this nice cycle gameplay loop that keeps at least me wanting to do both elements of it, not feeling like, okay, this, let me just get back to the beat-em-up
portion, or this beat-em-up thing is distracting, I just want to, like, play an RPG. Well, yeah, but also, it's pretty, like, while I've just praised the variety and, like, sort of the scope of this game, like, there really are two modes, and one is very much subservient to the other. Like, I'm never, like, oh, I just want to go and pretend to spend money on food. Like, the animation's fun. Like, it's cool to just see them eat a whole plate of spaghetti or something.
Um, but one is very much in service of the other. There really isn't much depth to the RPG element. It's really just stats going up. Well, yeah, I'm not saying that I think that, like, oh, literally the act of going into the mall and buying spicy chili is fun.
But, like, I'm saying that the ability to choose your stats works really well in the beat-em-up element. Like, to choose your level ups and stuff. Like, it's, rather than just powering through and, like, I want to go do the RPG stuff because I know it'll help me with the, I guess that is kind of what you're saying, too. But, like, each incentivizes me to do the other. And just, I was just looking forward to maybe the RPG elements being more than just stats and, like, there being, like, side quests.
Right. Yeah, and instead it's really just an economy. Yeah, that's what I was going to get at. And that's what this game is missing in the RPG area is just that, you know, even if there weren't side quests, the whole, like, exploration idea of having this whole city available to you is limited in the sense of what you can actually do. So, you're going mostly, even if the game tricks you into thinking, like, you've discovered,
oh, I can go north on this screen instead of going to the east. You're going mostly in a straight line fashion between districts inside the city that then eventually lead to mall safe zones where, surprise, the further into the city you go, the stronger items you get at the mall and the more expensive they are. So, the game progresses that way, but otherwise you're just doing the same straight line style gameplay of beat up a bunch of characters, use the money that you just collected from them to then buy better items when you finally make it to the next mall.
It's not like, oh, I'm in this new area of the town and I got to figure out, like, I got to solve the mystery here of, like, who is the gang member I needed to defeat for more information. You just kind of continue to move from screen to screen until you get to the lead gang member. And then it's a, you know, you get some cool dialogue from them and you fight them and they are more difficult for one reason or another, whether they have, like, really high health or they do a move that other characters don't do.
You do that for a while. You take down these gang members. The point being that you can't actually interact or do anything in these areas, these districts within the city, you're just, um, you're just kind of using them as checkpoints between levels. So theoretically they are just stages, right? Like you could argue that before you get, when you, when you start the game, you're on
stage one. And when you get to the first mall, that's like your checkpoint. And then you move on to stage two. Yeah. And then now that you mentioned it too, when I, you know, when I first started playing and got to this like mall or like town city, whatever it is, a little, little mall section, I was expecting to have to like talk to people and, and get intel from people and like figure out where to go before I kind of realized, okay, there's really only ever one way to go.
And if there's another way to go, it's usually like a dead end that you go to get something and then you go back out and keep going on the path you were going. Yeah. Those, um, when you can go like North to like, yeah, the stuff off the side of the street, it does look like, like, Oh wow. There's this sort of non-linearity to it, but it's really just a really long line with some short lines going off of it. Um, it's not like a, like a maze or anything. And yet it felt kind of, it felt like an early Yakuza game for me, for that franchise where, you know, going to the shops and buying everyday food, uh, or items to gain buffs is something that happens in those games too, where it's like, wow, do I really want to just buy, um,
you know, like a, uh, sashimi and have this temporary power up here? It actually buffs your stats for good. But in Yakuza, it's like that, it was just missing some mini games and, you know, maybe a little more of the side quest stuff that we were just talking about to get that feel. But I still noticed that trend. You could also say that it was a little bit like the film, the warriors with the various
gangs, the cowboys, the squids, the zombies, all that's flavor in the manual. They really just change color shirts in the game and have different payouts depending on which gang they're a part of, which is interesting because the gangs change based on like how you enter the screen. Right. So you can walk into a screen, see that it's like, oh, this time it's the cowboys. And you're like, yawn, they don't pay enough.
Leave the screen, enter right back in and hope for a more expensive gang. Yeah. I didn't know that. I did like the names of the gang, but yeah, I was expecting a bit more uniqueness to the enemy design. Like we already saw this and like the, uh, in double dragon where every enemy has a really interesting character design and when the whole like basis of this game is that each of these gangs are somehow different, I would have thought that there'd be a bit more variety there.
And another thing that this game is similar to a double dragon in respect to besides the fact that it's a beat them up. It also has the two enemy limit per, uh, per battle, if you will, you know, like more enemies will spawn in after you defeat one of the two enemies, but you can never have like three enemies on screen at a time, four enemies on screen at a time. And in double dragon, maybe that was less noticeable because the sprites were a little bigger or the stages were a little more claustrophobic, but most of these are just, you know, you're on the streets or you're in the parks or you're in open warehouses.
And so the, uh, you know, the two V two, or if you're playing by yourself, one V two aspect of this game constantly feels a little, uh, you know, too spread out. Like it is kind of just easy, especially on the easier difficulty to just work around these fights without, you know, like you, you basically get to choose like, do I need money or not? Do I need to save health or not? There's, there's really not too many battles in this game that feel either different from the previous encounter or, uh, have like major set pieces or, uh, or themes are based around the locations that they're at to make them stand out.
Uh, it's, it's funny. I actually, until right now, didn't consciously notice that you're, that it's only two at a time, but I mean, yeah, you're obviously you're right. Um, so like, I don't know what it was about this game that that was less noticeable for me. Maybe, I mean, I was playing two, I played two player and then I played like halfway through a playthrough of a single player.
Um, and I finished it in two player. Maybe it's because there were two of us on screen and two of them and I, we were just talking and it was just like, there was a lot going on and I just didn't like focus as much on, on like that. But, uh, it, that didn't stand out to me, but what did, what obviously I did notice is the, uh, lack of like variety to the enemies.
I mean, I think that the only difference in a lot of the enemies is like these guys take more hits, these guys take less hits. And then as far as like novice versus, uh, advanced mode, like you, you definitely notice the difference in like the aggression of some of the characters, like some of them are like will run at you and stuff, but like they're all doing the same moves. They all have the same attacks. It's just like, are they, you know, bullet sponges or punch sponges or whatever, or are they not? Yeah.
The only opportunity that this game really gives you for a set piece is like one, when you get like the bosses and it's not really like the same kind of thing that we've seen like, Oh, you got to fight on a train or anything kind of that interesting, but it's either something like that. Or when you go to these places off the beaten path and you're not just like on the street where it seems to just be randomly generating or just continuously generating enemies as you
walk. Um, and yeah, you could just walk around a lot of these guys because there's not that like hold and stop and fight mechanic that we see in these beat them ups. But because the whole loop is fight to get money to upgrade. So you could fight more, uh, like it, you're not going to get too far if you're not fighting because then you won't have any money to get better at fighting.
Yeah. It's a natural incentive to fight rather than the game just saying like, Nope, you, you have a record, you have a quota to meet before you can move on. It is a funny game though. It has a lot of charm and personality, not just in the cute sprite work design and stuff like that, but just the, the way that the enemies always say like barf when they get killed. Or I think they say a couple of other things like wham and stuff like that. Or is this fun yet?
Um, you know, there's, there's charming things like that throughout the game with the dialogue system. But then there's also like when you're in the mall and you could order, I forget which person it is, but you can order a smile and it's free, you know? Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. And then you'll blush after you get the smile.
Like things like that are cute. Uh, and I'm glad that they're there. And to be honest, like, even though this is one of those. Translated games. Uh, and you know, sometimes that causes some weird syntaxes in, uh, in the sentences. It, it's cute. And it's, um, and it is telling like a story or at least feels like a, a lived in world because of the dialogue. No matter how much it repeats, I still get a kick out of barf every time.
Yeah. And it gives these people who are saying, who are, who barf or who are saying like, is this fun yet? Or where or mama or whatever. They all have names too. It's just like unnecessary, but a nice little touch. Like you, Oh, you've given name to this person. You just beat up. Yeah. It's kind of got, um, not, not perfectly, but it's almost got like an earthbound vibe where you're getting all these mechanics from a game, but everything is so normal. Otherwise, at least at first glance, like you're, you're fighting against guys named Greg and you're just walking by the, like the, the garbage where you put the garbage at this warehouse and like nothing's super over the top except for the action itself.
Since we were talking about double drags. And river city ransom. What do you guys think about? I don't know if this is gonna be mind blowing or not, but they are made by technos, Japan, both games. Do you, we, we were kind of pitting them against each other when in reality they're made by the same developer. So they're clearly going for like two different kinds of things, right?
The, the set pieces that were missing in river city ransom, you know, in the double dragon episode, we were kind of saying, or, you know, I know Joe was definitely saying that as long as beat them ups are just this, they're not really like a complete package. River city ransom kind of, you know, maybe strips down the action intensity of what was going on in double dragon, but offers a, uh, a longer, um, more intricate, uh, gameplay experience to the player with its own set of caveats.
Yeah. I did know, uh, that they were made by the same people and that's kind of why I was surprised. Like it doesn't need to be, uh, like these wild designs because they're going for a more grounded aesthetic here. But knowing that they're the same company, I would have expected something more than just different colored shirts, you know?
Yeah. But I mean, as far as, cause I didn't know that they were made by the same company, but, uh, I can see like them scratching different itches sort of like, you're, you know, like this is, like you said, this is kind of giving you like a different, you know, and maybe it sacrifices some things in the beat them up portion, uh, but like gives you like a different overall experience. And I think it comes down to like, yeah, like your player, the player preference of like what kind of game, or I think it was, uh, our friend B Wood in the, uh, in our patron discord
said something like, um, uh, double dragon is a great game to play. If you just like want to sit down and play, have a quick playthrough or like just, you only got a little while you want to just sit down and play something. Whereas river city ransom is like, you're going to take some time and like play a long playthrough of something. And, and you have a lot more like thinking about like how you want to play it to do and stuff like that. Uh, it could be totally, uh, poorly paraphrasing, but, but I, but I, but the point is I agree with that sentiment. Like I can see the, um, I can see the appeal of this game for like really sitting down for like a long, a long journey.
And I can see why, like, you might not want to pick this one. If you like, uh, you have a half hour and you want to just like play something real fast just cause you're bored. Well, you could do that. You just have to do a lot more writing down a very long passwords. True. I didn't use the passwords at all. So I, I, I, I have nothing to add on the password front.
We could go all day on password. We'll do a bonus episode about the passwords. This could be more of a complaint about, um, shop mechanics in video games and maybe, you know, not specific to river city ransom, but something I noticed about the mall when you're, uh, when you're offered so many choices, right? You're given so many different stores and you're given so many different items to, to buy. And you could have like, I don't remember the exact items, but it's food, right? So let's say, uh, you know, you can have a hot dog for $3 or a burger for five. Right. And nobody's telling you what the hot dog does until after you buy it. Just like in real life. Right. Nobody's telling you what that hot dog is going to do to you until you eat it.
Um, you know, but $3 versus $5. And you know, you don't have money to buy everything. And these aren't, uh, these are unlimited things. They're always going to have hot dogs at the stand. So you could buy as many hot dogs as you want. So it's not like, Oh, buy the hot dog. And then later upgrade to the burger.
Like we're used to in shops, all this to say, I'm fine with all that. I think that, uh, that kind of stuff is intriguing and makes for a fun playthrough of just imagine just ordering what you like. Like, I'm just going to order the dark meat chicken. Cause I like dark meat chicken in real life, and I don't care for what the bonuses are, but don't ask me to buy the biscuits because I don't like biscuits. You know, like that, that's your own prerogative.
When you get to the shops and you start noticing the items, which are priced at, you know, the things you could actually equip on you. Uh, I forget what the, the Texas boots, I think they're called. Uh, they're like a hundred dollars. And so, you know, that they're going to be pretty freaking good because food in that area is like $5. And now all of a sudden you've been greeted with a $99 item. Um, you could just grind for the Texas boots and then have them and find out just how amazing they are. Is that a, is that good design that you're able to just like unlock such a great item at your own will power to be like, I'm going to just kill enemies that I don't really care about for as long as possible until I have enough money to buy the Texas boots.
And then I'm just going to sail on through this game. I guess we've talked about grinding and whether that's good or bad. And I think there are, uh, reasons to say yes or no. Uh, I, I think it's fine in the context of this game. Like, I guess one thing that you could have done to circumvent that is like, you have to have hit some sort of checkpoint before it unlocks at the store. Um, but then you also have to give like the player a reason to go back there for any, like for, um, if it's going to be more linearly, um, sort of balanced in that way, then you have to give them more of a reason to go back. Um, I, I think it's fine. Uh, the one thing about the shops that I would have liked if they did differently is if, uh,
because there are other items besides just apparel and, uh, and, and food, like you could also buy CDs, you could buy new moves and the moves actually are something different and aren't just like a stat boost, but the, the clothes too are just another stat boost. Uh, I would have been interested to see, like, just to give it more character, like have this effect to your, your, your actual character. Like, I'd like to see the boots on my feet.
I'd like to, to, to wear the gear and like, this is sort of my customized guy and you can also buy music and it would be funny if that actually changed the background music in the game. Just to give it more of a reason for like, it's not just go to the store to upgrade your stats, like go to the store to customize, go to the store to have a bit more fun with stuff that isn't exactly like one-to-one making you fight better. Yeah. Buy the color shirt of your enemies. This way that group of enemies doesn't attack you.
Yeah, exactly. I love the idea of making these more than just like the stat boots, like making your stat boost, like changing the music. I mean, I know that that's asking for them to compose more music, but like, that would be amazing. But as far as like, whether or not I like the idea that, that you're kind of grinding for all of these items that you don't know what they are. I feel like I have a sort of complicated opinion on this because I played this two different ways and I played it.
First, I played co-op and we, until today, actually, I didn't realize that you start with $20. Like, I guess we just didn't like know that we didn't know what we were doing at first. We were just like buying shit and stuff. So then once I kind of like realized, okay, these things are doing stat boost and I looked up like, what should I be buying? Like, what do these things do? And I saw like, okay, the dragon feet and the stone hands are supposedly like really good. And they are. Uh, we were like, okay, we got to go get $28 or whatever, which we could have gotten pretty easily from the beginning. But since we didn't know that we started with 20 bucks, we were already at zero.
Um, so we were grinding and it was like, it was actually kind of a challenge because every time you die, you lose half of your money. So like, we were like going through, like, I would escort, I would escort my, my, my co-player, John, I would escort him somewhere and just like, it's okay if I die as long as you get a bunch of money until you can afford it. And then once you have it, you escort me until I get a bunch of money so I can afford it. So we would never, and it was like, it was, it was kind of a fun thing, but, um, and then like after we got those, like the stone hands and the, and the dragon boots were like, wow, like we really do feel like we charged up and it was very satisfying.
Um, then I played a single player game and in that game, I'm like, okay, I already know. And look, I got 20 bucks. So I just beat a few people, went and bought the dragon, uh, boots right away. And I, and I do feel like I had more fun the other way, like, like not knowing. So like, I feel like I kind of wish that I didn't look up what these things did.
This is just my preference though. Like, so like it was fun to kind of have to figure it out as you go along, even though we did eventually Google it. It was fun to be like, okay, how do we solve this problem of having zero money? When you start from the beginning, knowing exactly what's good, that it was still fun, but it was, it was, I was a little overpowered, I think from the beginning. And I think all that to say, I think this is like a game where you can really good or bad game design. I think it's designed in a way where you can really choose how you want to play this game,
which like you can just power up your punches and just get items that power up your punches and just be like, I'm just going to do the punch. You could never get the stone hands, which really changes the punch and be like, let's see if I can get my regular base punch strong enough. Like maybe I'm overthinking like other ways to like, you know, getting into like speed run territory of I'm trying to come up with like other challenges in this game, but I feel like it's kind of built in that way or I think so. I'm just going to be a weapons master in this game or something. So like in that sense, I think it is good game design.
Joe, this game in general benefits from knowing as little as possible going into it. I don't think this is a game that you want to go under the hood. And even if you do go under the hood, I think it's like disappointing what you might learn about min maxing like you were getting at, but also just even, I don't know, you buy the army boots, right? And if you look up on Wikipedia or game FAQs, which is the Wikipedia of games, it's punch plus 10, kick plus 10, agility plus 10, jump plus four. Like those things don't mean as much as they feel in the game.
And even just like using any kind of guide for this, like it's a pretty, pretty straight line game anyway. But using a guide to figure out like the locations of the gangs and like where the next theoretical boss fight is, is just cheating yourself out of like maybe the five minutes that it takes to roam around the area and find the little like alcove that leads to the park or the warehouse or something. Like it's not that, it's not that challenging of a game.
It's simple enough that it's not worth like cheating yourself out of that experience of figuring it out on your own. But also even the complicated mechanics of the game, such as the, you know, 20 stats that you can move around and upgrade and unequip items and do, but you know, do the whole gambit on that stuff. Isn't as interesting to know, like, oh, okay. So the chow main is kick plus one stamina plus 35. It's like, just eat the chow main.
Well, here's where I'm like on the, that this is where I was on the fence. I totally agree that like looking up where the boss is or where you have to go next, like in this game particularly does feel like it's robbing you of some of the fun. And like I already said, when I looked up the, what the items do and then used it at the beginning of the game, game, uh, the playthrough, I felt like it, I was losing something, but I am also like, I do think it's like so far on the other extreme where it's like, okay,
like there's a lot of, it takes some time to get to accumulate this money. And there are a lot of things that are expensive that some do really good things. And some, I think there's one, it's like the, it's like the stomp boots or whatever, where you like can jump on enemies. It's pretty expensive and it really doesn't do that much.
Like, I wish it gave me something. It doesn't have to tell me like, oh, this is punch plus one and kick plus two. But it'd be like, hey, this is like a, you know, sushi roll. Hey, eat this to, to get stronger. And it's like, okay, well, some things get stronger. I don't know exactly. Like I wish there was a happy medium. I wish I had some idea of what I was spending my hard earned money on. Yeah, just a little description. I don't want to know exactly. Yeah.
I mean, yeah. And with some like flavor text to just allude to what it does, I think that would have been helpful. There's enough room on the UI. And the manual sort of does exactly that, but. Yeah. Well, you were talking about like being a weapon master. And that just reminded me like, unlike a lot of, a lot of the beat-em-ups that we play, like you're, the gear on the ground doesn't just like suddenly flash away. Like you can, well, once you, once you have something, it's sort of there and your gear doesn't break. So you only get rid of your weapons when you really want to get rid of your weapon or I guess you die.
And so when you like sort of transfer from one level or area to the other, you also keep that weapon. So I just thought it was funny that like, you know, you can end up going into the mall with a trash can hovering over your head and you just sort of continue with the game. You can't attack in the malls. You just carry in this trash can around like menacingly over your head in this supermarket or whatever. It's just a funny little thing I noticed.
Yeah. We also discovered actually that in the malls, you can't put your item down. So if you have that trash can, you cannot get rid of it while you're in the mall. Well, thank goodness. Cause once I have those bricks, I don't ever want to lose them. Those bricks are like the best item, the best item you can pick up and just hit people with. Cause it's like, it instantly stuns them with the knockback so that you hit them and then they fall down. Then they get back up. You hit them right again on the head. Uh, it, it could be slapstick comedy for some, but for me, it was a great way of making progress fast in this game.
I was a big, whatever the chain, chain whip. Yeah. Chain, chain, chain guy until I got the dragon feet. And then I would just pick up the chain or whatever item to throw it at someone and then just dragon feet everyone to death. Apparently there's also a longer chain. Um, I don't know if it's like Simon Belmont chain long, but like apparently there's a long chain. Chain, a pole, a ladder and a bucket. And those are the like rare items that you might see in your playthrough. Otherwise, you know, all the same normal stuff.
Speaking of rare items, can I ask you guys something? As always, I'm watching some footage of the game while we're recording. And this guy, whoever's playing this on YouTube, just walked into like literally like a secret area that you wouldn't see. And there's a, there's a secret shop. Did anyone see the secret shop that sells Excalibur, Zeus's wand, you know, gold metal, bunch of that?
Yeah. Not in my playthrough, but I did see that while I was watching other people play. I don't, I don't know what happens when you buy one because in my, my thing, he didn't buy anything there. Yeah. I think we're watching the same one. He didn't buy anything. What the heck? Well, also some of those things, that's Merlin's shop. Um, so some of those things, uh, aren't available until you clear the game at least once.
Hmm. But yeah, that, that has like, that has like the cheat code section. So unlike some of the other things that just have stat boosts, right? Uh, you were saying, uh, the Excalibur is just like a stat boost thing, but what was another one, Joe? Um, Zeus's wand. No, no, no. Give me something different. Uh, those are stats. Those are stats. There's only like four.
Uh, let's see. Road, roaden wing? Okay. The roaden wing. Um. Gold metal? Nope. Okay. So yeah. So this guy, um, this is a playthrough where, this is a playthrough where the guy didn't, uh, beat the game at least once first before, uh, playing this file because there are things, uh, such as being able to, uh, buy cough meds that change your stats randomly. You can buy a lotto tickets for the chance to win big money on your lotto ticket.
You can buy the rocketeers to run super fast. You can buy the skaters for $500 to have a teleport attack. And then, uh, this one sounds interesting. For $999.90, not 99 cents, uh, because you can't collect pennies in this game. The, uh, you can unlock the custom character to change characters. Now, I have to imagine that's only changing between whether you were Alex or Ryan, right? That's weird. Maybe you can change between, like, some of the enemy sprites. It'd be cool if that was possible. Yeah. This sounds like Merlin's Mystery is actually the cheat, uh, code story, you know, like the game genie of the game.
That's some great, like, replay value for a game this old. Yeah. Buying cough medicine and having your stats change randomly is just like real life. Yeah. Get that scissor. You know, another thing I was thinking about because I brought this up on, I brought this up earlier and, um, you know, we didn't quite answer it, but I think you guys had some great shop discussion otherwise.
I think it's fine now that I, now that I'm, uh, going back and thinking about my personal experience with the Texas boots, because think about it. If you're, uh, you know, a high school kid in the neighborhood and you see that there's a expensive item at your, uh, local store, you might like do some hard work, save up, and then you have that awesome thing. And sometimes it's not so awesome. The thing that you, uh, hyped up in your head and you bought for a large amount of money.
And other times it is the Texas boots and you start kicking ass all over town. Um, maybe not that specific, but in the river city ransom world where everybody just beats the shit out of each other, uh, that would make perfect sense for your character to walk by the window, do some window shopping, be like, I can't wait to get those. I'm just going to keep, uh, killing people until I get money for it.
I think if you're, if you're, if you're like an extreme rule player, then fine. Yes. Like if you're playing this the way that I play Skyrim, then yes. And who's not playing river city ransom like Skyrim?
That's true. I, uh, I couldn't wait to, uh, be bit by a vampire and have to figure out how to, how to fix that. You know, I wish there were more vampires in this game. That's true. Very few.
It is worth mentioning with the whole like stats thing, since we're not getting in depth on that and all the various stats that you can upgrade. There's too many stats. Yeah. There's so many, there's so many stats. That's the point being that you actually do have to upgrade those stats. Uh, you cannot like, I actually don't know if you can beat the game on low enough stats. I'm sure that's a challenge that somebody has done, but certain boss fights in this game,
uh, from the rival gang members will just go on for almost forever. If you, if you don't work on boosting your stats. So you have to eat that California roll and you do have to listen to that rock and roll music because otherwise you just won't have the stats appropriate by the end of the game. Yeah. I, I, I didn't beat the game, but I did notice that like, as I was progressing, uh, they were becoming more, I guess, punch sponges.
Um, which I mean is one way to make it more difficult because like the, the enemy AI, well, I think it's actually impressive that there's like several different states that they can be in. Like they might be like waiting for you to get away from a, a weapon so they can go and retrieve the weapon. Like some of them will, uh, sort of back up if you've been, uh, a little, uh, a little too aggressive. Uh, that being said, there are really only so many things that can be done in a fight in this game, uh, by an enemy. So there isn't a lot of progress on that. So, uh, when in doubt, just make them have more HP.
And they're forgiving on the dying in this game too. Yeah. I appreciate that. It's still, it's still a, uh, like, like when Joe was saying you lose half your money and when half this game is just acquiring currency to be better at killing, uh, that's kind of a slap on the wrist itself. Yeah. I think it's a nice, a nice balance, uh, the losing half the money rather than having to start the game over, which like other, uh, or do even a section over, which a lot of other games have done because it, yeah, it's still a punishment. It's not just completely forgiving, you know, but you don't lose all of your progress.
One more thought. Did you guys play on novice or advanced? I played on... I was on novice. Yeah. I played on novice first and I couldn't help but feel like that can't be the actual intended experience. It's funny when we get that stuff, um, in the American version, because usually they give us like either the, the hard mode or they say, no, no, no, can't make the games too hard for them. We got the choice of both, but the novice one, I was kind of flying through. So I did go back and play the, uh, what was it called? Advanced? Advanced. Yeah. How, how did you feel about the difference?
Cause I, I beat the game on novice and then I played about half, well, to like the warehouse, wherever that is, like a little ways through single player on advanced and so far advanced, I see the difference, but when I'm looking online, people are saying like advanced is really, really hard. So maybe it gets really, really hard at the end or like later in the game, but so far I'm not noticing it being like that much harder than not. Well, the advanced thing, I think what I noticed in, in my playthrough is just that you do have to spend more money on things that, you know, like you have to, you have to boost your stats
faster earlier on to continue to keep up with the power creep in the game. I don't know if maybe you were just buying the right items, but I feel like some people might not be like, say, might not be grinding enough early on to, to buy big ticket items to be able to continue to make the progress that it sounds like you and I were able to make on advanced mode. I agree. It's not nearly as challenging as what was being described, but it is definitely like
novice mode by, uh, you know, by comparison was a bit of a cakewalk. Yeah, definitely. I mean, at first when we didn't realize like the way to play the best way to play the game, we were having trouble getting the money, but, but yeah, I mean, I guess it also kind of comes down to the fact that advanced was my second playthrough and that's when I already knew like the optimization strategies a little more. On the sequels and spinoff side, River City Ransom has a few ports. Uh, it got a port on the X68000. I'm always surprised to say thousand. I always think it's going to be X6800, but no, it really is that many zeros. Uh, and on that one, it has a few enhancements over the NES version. They have now figured out how to get three enemies on screen.
Yes. Not four, but three. It's a good upgrade. I mean that, that we joke, but I feel like that would add some complexity to the fights. Just that one extra guy. Yeah. They also added in, uh, things that we've, we're familiar with in the Double Dragon series, such as the headbutt and, uh, the whirlwind kick.
That was, that was in the game, but only for enemy characters in the NES version. Uh, in the X68000 version, you can learn those moves too. In the PC Engine version of the game, which, uh, it was for PC Engine Super CD-ROM. So I feel like, what is that? Is that, is that like a really expensive, is that like the N64 DD where like nobody really ever played that? Have you guys ever heard of the PC Engine Super CD-ROM? The N64 DD was, uh, the disc drive version of the N64 that was only released in Japan. That's wild because always the, the biggest like knock on the N64 was the, uh, what you could put on a cartridge. Yeah, but they weren't CDs.
What was the disc? The discs were like floppies. It was crazy. Oh my God. They really couldn't, they really couldn't get it together. Weren't they working with Sony at one point? That was for the Super Nintendo. That was Super Nintendo. Oh, I figured I'd have to go with the PlayStation. Yeah, the Nintendo PlayStation. Uh, that was going to be their, uh, their follow-up to the Super Nintendo with, with basically like a SNES with a CD drive.
Anyway, to answer your question, I have not heard of this thing. Uh, I'm sure it's just like that though. I'm looking into it and it does link you back to the TurboGrafx-16, but that's that's, that's just what the PC engine is. So the PC engine Super CD-ROM must've been like the, uh, Sega CD where it's like a really expensive, like you attach it to your base console and then also buy even more expensive CDs to play these games. All that to say, this was in a collection of games, uh, included Super Dodgeball, um, Double Dragon 2 and, um, looks like another version of, nope, that's it. That's all they gave us. But it featured enhanced graphics, uh, fully voiced characters. So that's pretty cool.
And, um, the player's progress is saved, um, via just the PC engine's memory, not you having to type in incredibly long passwords. So they are saying like barf out loud. I don't, I think they would have given them new lines of dialogue other than just barf, but I can't confirm. I can't confirm. Okay.
I would have to believe, choose to believe that. I would have liked to have just heard people say barf rather than make a vomit sound effect. Yes. Saying barf is better. Then there's the Game Boy Advance version of River City Ransom, uh, EX, which by all accounts is the best version of River City Ransom.
Don't let the box art fool you. The box art has this weird, uh, like, I don't know, Ben 10 meets, uh, Samurai Jack style animation on the, on the box art, but they didn't change. Yeah. Don't worry about those. Don't worry about those references. Uh, they didn't change the graphics in the game. Uh, the real, the real change is that, uh, instead of a true cooperative mode where Joe and his friend can play the game, the game can be played with an AI controlled partner. Like chat GPT?
Yeah. So yeah. Like, like, why is that? Like, why would this version be considered better if it lost something that even the NES was capable of? The Game Boy Advance had a link cable, but apparently it does a bunch of other things too. It, uh, it makes it so that this way, um, you can play, uh, you can choose like which allies and enemies you want on this, uh, on, on your particular playthrough. You can, uh, change your character's appearance.
Uh, you can do different, like, because there, there's more, uh, the shoulder buttons and stuff like that. There's different ways to perform the techniques. Uh, I don't know. I, I don't think River City Ransom EX sounds like enough of an upgrade for me. And so I'll be sticking with the NES version. Or maybe I'll buy out the PC Engine Super CD-ROM and figure out what that old thing is. Never even heard of it. I think we need, we need it just for- You're gonna buy them out? Like, laboratory, uh, like, research purposes. I'm gonna buy every single last one, Joe, because there's gotta be like, what, five?
But you know what? There's more than five of. I was wondering how you were gonna do that. Fingers. Uh, no, there's five. Well, no, it depends. Yeah, I guess you're technically right. Yeah, you're technically right. There's more than five per person, but only five per hand. True. You hope, you hope. I'd hope. Yeah. Uh, no, there are more than five essential games on the essential games list, and we're about to find out if River City Ransom is our next game on the essential games list.
This is a charming beat-em-up game with a simple plot and simple gameplay. It attempts to feel bigger with the shops and the idea of exploration, but they didn't break up the feel of the areas, enemies, or even the bosses from the enemies enough to actually make it feel like the world or the player were evolving other than just, I eat this food, and now my willpower has increased.
The dialogue was fun. The simplicity of the game can make progress feel good, and if you're playing on the, um, the novice mode, it can make it feel fast, too. You could theoretically, uh, beat this game faster than you could beat Double Dragon, because Double Dragon's a hard game to beat, right? You might never get to the end, whereas with enough time, you could get to the end of River City Ransom. Once you realize that you're not doing much different area to area, the game does kind of lose a little bit of its appeal and becomes more of a neat, like, I didn't even think they would make this kind of game on the NES, yet here we are.
Unfortunately, as we found out on other essential games list votes, just because we didn't think it was possible on the NES isn't enough to get it on there, so for me, this is not essential.
Joe? I had a great time with this game. As far as a beat-em-up goes, I mean, this is so far the one that I felt that I had, like, the most agency in how I play. Now, granted, some of that stuff, like, when you really look at it, doesn't, there is an easy optimization choice, and it doesn't necessarily, like, it's not like there's some crazy wide range of things you can do, but there's a lot. There's a lot of ways to, there's a lot of reasons to replay this game. There's a lot of charm in the, just the shops and the food and the way that you, the way that you decide on how you're leveling up, and it really is noticeable in the game. I do feel that there's progress.
While it could definitely, like, fulfill other things on my wish list and become more robust and have more, have more variety in the enemies and whatnot, it's just a simple, straightforward game that, like, has plenty of depth. Like, I don't know, maybe that's redundant, or that's contradictory, but I had a blast with this game. It was great to play in co-op and also had a good time playing single player. So, I can't not vote this on. I think this is a fantastic beat-em-up, and the RPG elements just make it, make me want to keep coming back for more, trying more things. I think this is absolutely essential.
Sean? Yeah, I've had, I mean, we've been nitpicking this game, like, we've kind of gone back and forth between nitpicks and just like, oh, wow, that's really cool. Um, I do have a lot of things on my wish list for this game, uh, like those weird, like, customization options to give more weight to, uh, your shopping experience, uh, the variety of enemies has a little bit to be desired. But one thing that we didn't really, like, say before, um, is while it is kind of just a simple beat-em-up, like, the simple beat-em-up does feel very good.
And the kind of lower barrier to entry, or just, I guess, lower barrier to progress makes this, like, a very cool, like, hangout game, even if you're just hanging out by yourself, because I didn't have a person to play with, and I still enjoyed my time here.
Um, so I can only imagine that co-op is a lot of fun, too, going back on Joe's perspective. Um, so yeah, just like, the, the unique vibe, the, the tight controls, uh, being able to pick up dudes in the same way that you'd pick up a trash can and throw them at their friends, like, that's fun. Like, I just had too much fun with this game, uh, to not also vote yes, it is essential. And with that, it's on the essential games list, so now there's definitely more than five.
There is more than five. There was, there were more than five. Just one last thing, uh, because we end up in discussions like this before. Like, oh, there's, like, already an EX version, so isn't that, like, the better one? Well, Mike even said himself that maybe, uh, he would prefer the standard version, so. I don't know why you wouldn't.
I don't want to play with a computer as my co-op partner. Yeah, see? There it is. I'm very defensive. Game Boy Advance sucks. That's an interesting, uh, debate for another day, Joe. Is the Game Boy... Probably gonna lose that debate. No, no, like, is the Game Boy Advance actually better than the Game Boy, though? Like, was it, was it better, you know, now with the retrospective, uh, catalogs, uh, you know, well past their Prime, which one, which one holds up better? I don't know. Uh, Game Boy Advance certainly has a lot of great games, but I would actually say, I probably look more fondly at the DS these days than I do the Game Boy Advance, and I'm not sure
which one I'd pick between, uh, Game Boy Advance and Game Boy. So, Joe, you might have opened up a whole new world for us, uh, maybe a whole new podcast. We didn't have Nintendogs. We can do, like, a Console Wars podcast, console versus console, always pitting up two different consoles. Forget this podcast. Right. Yeah. This is done. It's the last episode. Right. We figured out River City Ransom is essential, and now we have to figure out which Game Boy Advance games are essential in, uh, Advanced-stalgia. Ooh. It's advanced.
It's advanced. It's advanced. It's advanced.
Thank you.
