Topic: River City Returns in DS Sports Games

[NWR_Neal]

River City Soccer Hooligans and River City Super Sports Challenge are heading to North America.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=21183

 Aksys Games is reviving the River City brand with River City Soccer Hooligans and River City Super Sports Challenge, two DS sports games that were released in Japan last year as part of the popular Kunio series. In North America, the Kunio series is known primarily for River City Ransom and Super Dodgeball.    

   

River City Soccer Hooligans appears to be the spiritual successor to the NES game Nintendo World Cup. You take control of Captain Kunio as he leads a team to the World Soccer Championship. The game features 12 different teams, a practice mode, crazy special attacks, and 50 different unlockable items that boost your team's stats. There is also a multiplayer mode that is playable with up to four players.    

   

River City Super Sports Challenges, which looks to be modeled after the NES game Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge, is a competitive beat-'em-up with six different teams that have six players each. Players take their team through different missions that involve racing, fighting, and more as you try to take down the villainous Tobioka Group. Along the way, you can edit your characters, upgrade your stats, and compete in four-player multiplayer modes.    

Aksys did not announce a release date for either game.

[KDR_11k]

BARF!

[Stratos]

MAN! I was on the forum index and saw Re: River City Returns i.... What a let down. Why don't they just release the ill-fated River City Ransom 2 on the DS or WiiWare instead. I'd bet that would sell really well.

[Mop it up]

I wasn't even aware that this company was still around.

My older brother liked both Super Dodge Ball and Crash 'n The Boys Street Challenge for NES. The dodge ball game was fun, but I never much cared for Street Challenge. There was going to be a second Crash 'n The Boys game, Ice Challenge, which I've heard was completed but never released. I wonder if it's possible to put unreleased games onto the Virtual Console?

[Stratos]

There is always DSi Ware or WiiWare.

[Mop it up]

I don't know how well it would go over releasing an NES game as WiiWare, people expect more out of those games than they do from stuff on the Virtual Console.

(Mega Man 9 doesn't count)

[Stratos]

If they only charge 500-600 points then I'm sure people wouldn't mind.

[NWR_Neal]

I really like Super Dodgeball, but the DS game let me down. So my hopes for these games aren't high. I did like Nintendo World Cup back in the day, so maybe I'll keep an eye out on River City Title Ransom: Soccer.

Super Sports Challenge confuses me, though. I can't tell if it's a sports game or a fighting game. Mopitup, what is Street Challenge like?

[Stratos]

If the opposing players don't yell 'barf' among other things when you score then the game is a fail in my book.

[rbtr]

YES!

I love these games!

"Super Sports Challenge" if its anything like crash and the boys street challenge, should be a host of normal track and field style events.  However they all have a twist, or you get to beat the crap outta your opponent.  I remember there was a 100m dash with hurdles, and you ran by mashing buttons.  You could tackle through the hurdles, and pick up the wreckage, and then throw that at your opponent slowing them down.  There was a swimming race, but you could swim to the other side and drag your opponent down and drown them.  There was shopping inbetween, where you could spend money collected in each round to try and buy stuff to better your stats for the next round.

It was a mindless button masher, so I'm way more excited about the soccer game!  And hopefully, the inevitable hockey game, or basketball.

[Ian Sane]

I wasn't even aware that this company was still around.

They're not.  They went bankrupt and a different company bought their intellectual property.
 
These games hold up at more than most NES games.  Technos really found a good feel and style of gameplay.  It's timeless.

[Mop it up]

Mop_it_up, what is Street Challenge like?

Rbtr covered two of the events, but there were three others.

There was Hammer Golf, which is a combination of hammer throw and golf. Throw the hammer across the horizontally-scrolling screen, and get it to the pin in the fewest number of throws. There are hazards like sand and water to watch out for as well. Another was called Fighting Scene. It's basically a simple fighting mode where you just mash A and B to punch and kick. Lastly was the Roof Top Jumping, which is the only one I liked. With this one, you didn't have to mash buttons to keep running, just to get up to your max speed. You had to pick up pole vaults and use them correctly to jump over the gaps, and there was also times when you had to grab a unicycle and cross a tightrope.

There were items you could buy too, and deciding whether or not you needed an item was a part of the strategy. The overall winner of all events was based on how many medals you won, and you also used these medals to buy the items. Therefore, you couldn't just buy up every item before every event, or else you wouldn't have enough to win the competition.

To sum it up, yeah, it's a button masher like Track and Field, but with less events. The game did have some good concepts and personality, so it could be turned into a fun game if the events are more intricate.

[rbtr]

There was an event on the gameboy release of the game, that if they brought back, it would make me buy the game (twice....).  You and your opponent jumped off a building and fought the whole way down for an umbrella.  Which if you had by a certain mark would allow you to float gracefully down, while your opponent fell to their death.

I hope that, even with the river city name, they keep the translation true to the Kunio serious, as opposed to the butchered American plot.

It seems they are already released, so I need to hunt down more info!

EDIT:
Okay, this is NOT a remake of crash and the boys street challenge.  It's a remake of the japan only "track and field" game.  You ran through obstacle courses and there was a view other events.  It was a racing game almost, and you played mostly like river city ransom.  Also, it's in 3-d which is a first for the series, so that's cool!

Here's a trailer

still looking for soccer info!

[Chozo Ghost]

River City Ransom was one of my favoritest games of the NES era.

[KDR_11k]

Here's a trailer

that... voice... AAAARRRRGGGHHH