ATLUS U.S.A., INC. SET TO RELEASE RIVER CITY RANSOM EX ON THE NINTENDO GAME BOY ADVANCE

A cult-classic is reborn!

Irvine, CA, May 14, 2002 - Atlus U.S.A., Inc., today announced its plans to publish an enhanced version of the cult-classic NES game, River City Ransom EX for the Game Boy® Advance. River City Ransom was and still is a truly unique experience which blends a significant amount of action, fighting and role playing elements into one game.

Story:

Panic strikes River City!

"To the citizens of River City: I hold your high school captive! With my gangs of students and vicious bosses roaming the streets, nobody can stop me now! Meet my demands - or else!"

Slick, the meanest, most powerful gang lord in River City, has issued this ultimatum - and the entire town is powerless in a grip of fear!

Fortunately, Alex and Ryan weren't in school the day Slick took it over. But now, their fellow students are prisoners - including Ryan's girlfriend! It's up to our two young heroes to battle their way past several dangerous city gangs, then defeat the gang lord to free the students of River City High and restore peace to the panic-stricken populace!

"With its unique character building system and customization, River City Ransom EX truly is the 'RPG of side-scrolling fighting games,'" said Akibo Shieh, Project Lead, Atlus U.S.A., Inc. "We are bringing to life a videogame classic to the Game Boy Advance and we look forward to developing other titles based on this awesome franchise."

Features:

• Features two different game modes: Story Mode (story-driven, one or two player cooperative mode); 2 player Battle Mode (Take your customized character against another player)

• Buy items to increase your stats and learn powerful techniques.

• Dynamic story mode allows events to take place as you progress through the game, allowing you to gather clues, make or break friendships, earn items/techniques, and much more!

• Special link mode allows you to use one Game Boy Advance for actual gameplay and another to display the status screen and watch how your NPCs are doing.

• Depending on the things you do when playing the story mode, or how your friend plays against you in battle mode, you can save the gameplay style and create a computer-controlled AI character. By exchanging data, you can fight against another player’s custom AI character.

• Customize the game any way you want! Change your character status, techniques, background music. Save your customized data and exchange it with another person.

River City Ransom EX has not yet been rated by the ESRB. For more information, visit the official Atlus web site at www.atlus.com.