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February 2004 - Feature: Realize Games' River City Ransom 2
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kap
Minister of Paranoia
Minister of Paranoia


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 2103
Location: I hate you.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ballz wrote:
My stomach and gut began doing weird gurgling noises since mid-December, a few weeks shy of my 23rd birthday, and I have since gained about 7 pounds, putting me over 130 pounds for the first time in my life.


.. man, I haven't been at 130 since like.. eighth grade or something.. :(

Good article, Red. Send me my stuff dammit. :P
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zillford
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Joined: 10 Sep 2003
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 10:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

lets see...

I don't really have any particular framework for this stuff, but for anyone who's interested in some random thoughts me and/or Armen had, this is for you, in no particular order:


  • During the credits, you would find yourself wandering into the fictitious office of Realize Games (Armen's team) where you would find the dev team gathered around a table discussing whatever it is us game nerds discuss. you would of COURSE proceed to beat the living @*#$ out of us, as this is RCR. we would run around like girls, possibly mustering up the courage to throw a keyboard or mouse at you, but being lousy fighters we would mostly be howdy doody in abject terror. as you beat us, we would say dumb/funny/informative things about the game and the team. most likely once the credits were done, the screen would fade out on the massacre.

  • there were plans for two secret characters, probably achieved by beating the game, and beating the game on hard/with the first secret character. I can't recall who the first was, other than that he was some RCR character, possibly a boss, possibly Simon, possibly Mao? the second secret character was going to be a character from Armen’s Opus project (which he's waiting for his big break to make, and I know nothing about). I actually disagreed with Armen on his secret character, saying that:

    A) no one would know who he is, seeing as this game would come out LONG before Armen’s opus would.
    B) the character is so NOT RCR incorporable: it's like a demon winged fox in army fatigues. I feel this was Armen’s ONLY slip in his/our quest to keep RCR2 true to the original.

  • the levels would be largely the same locals, only we planned to make them better thought out (god DAMN that one blue building where you had to make perfect little jumps up those boxes.), more interactive, and more varied in look.
    while most of the town would be free roaming like the first, some areas, possibly, would have been linear, giving you a more dynamic setting. one example was some sort of river boat that Simons goons would set on fire. you'd have to battle along the flaming, collapsing, sinking ship, with the scene culminating in your narrow escape off the side. no others were discussed, but one could easily imagine more on their own. the final area would STILL have been the rival school, with the rooftop being the final showdown.

  • enemy AI was a big concern of ours. we wanted the tougher gangs to show smarts and not just throw hellacious amounts of punches to make up for crappy AI. of course, we still wanted the dumber gangs to exhibit some of the quirks that made the first memorable (I.E. running into walls, running back and forth, not climbing objects, etc.). we also wanted gangs to show larger differences in how they approached fighting, so that knowing a gang would actually aid you whenever you faced them. besides a token few gangs who would still stand around dumbly, most would now be able to follow you to any place you could go, including throwing each other up to higher lofts.

  • all of the fun games that came out of the great physics would still be intact including:
    steel pipe baseball - throw the brass knuckles at your friend and laugh as it bounces off their head! new to RCR2 would have been more objects that reacted differently still (a baseball so you could actually hit it far!).
    ride the wheel - jump on a thrown wheel and watch your character run along on it.
    and many more, hopefully some we didn't even think of thanks to the robust physics engine.

  • like I said, loads of new objects, but as with all other areas we would have attempted to not to get too crazy and far from the basics. most would be extensions of the previous weapon groups. a sword (in a pawn shop maybe?), baseball, bat, nunchaku, shopping carts (races, woo!), etc.

  • to go with Armen's 'transparent depth' idea, many objects would have two/more 'states'. bounce a trashcan off a goons head and it's lid will fly off, throw it again and it will now cover them, preventing them from fighting until they get it off (or have it beat off them). sticks that would break, on and on.

  • lots of things found in other Kunio games would be incorporated as fit. objects that could be rode in/used by two people, held two different ways, etc.

  • the infamous dodgeball would make some form of appearance. I thought it should just be found (in a gym probably) but Armen wanted to use it for defeating Simon. we debated this for awhile, but he really wanted it in the final battle. Armen's idea was that once you beat Simon's 'first form' where he'd be as wimpy as last time, he'd run off, and Cyndi would give Ryan the dodgeball as a present, it being the only thing she managed to buy while out shopping before the kidnapping. you'd begin to leave, only to have Simon confront you once again. My suggestion was that in the second battle, Simon should be only TRUELY damageable by the dodgeball, and any other attacks would merely knock him over/wind him. this would add a level of strategy, as well as reward teams of two or more players (it would be very hard to hold Simon off AND get the ball). whether or not throwing the ball while running would result in a 'super attack' was never discussed.

  • all your favorite quirks would return, including the odd shops, products, people, and more. like I said, we wanted this game to be for the fans, primarily.

  • we really wanted to also include several mini-games for two to four player fun. fighting, baseball, wheel races, dodgeball, etc. we wanted people with the GBA connector to really appreciate the game.

  • a smile would STILL always be free.



I'm sure there's lots more incidental stuff, but these are the main things I could think of. if you want to know any other details, I'd be delighted to fill you in to the best of my knowledge. nothing here was finalized, so if you hate any of these ideas, there's a good chance they wouldn't have made it past a large group roundtable.
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Kitsune
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Joined: 20 Nov 2003
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

zillford wrote:
B) the character is so NOT RCR incorporable: it's like a demon winged fox in army fatigues. I feel this was Armen’s ONLY slip in his/our quest to keep RCR2 true to the original.


It wouldn't be that bad, if Technos had made many more non-Kunio games... but yeah, I can see where you're coming from. This one really made me go "WTF O_o;;;"

The rest of the ideas rock though.
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Kitsune
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 4:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

?!

The Japanese version of RCR1 for the GBA has been dumped - and strangely enough, it has some game modes that are -very similar- to what the RCR2 team was planning to implement! The whole trashcan thing, for example: I threw the can at an enemy and it landed on his head, rendering him blind...

The game's pretty fun, too. But the music... egh. ;_;

Ah well.
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Kins



Joined: 04 Mar 2004
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK, I've been playing some RCR-EX, and I can lay people's minds to rest.

First things first, the fights are more complex. Enemies attack four at a time instead of two, they're a bit smarter (a BIT, they still run into walls), and they no longer stand around while you strut about on fences and other elevated objects.

Also, there's some new moves available from the start, including spin kicks, dragon punches (I kid you not) and best of all, backhanding an enemy behind you without looking.

And you can also have Ryan controlled by the computer, which is cool.

Overall, it's still great and that's what counts.

Oh, and while I'm here, Hi, I'm new! Love me!
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TheRedEye
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi
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Joined: 26 Aug 2003
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 5:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kitsune wrote:
?!

The Japanese version of RCR1 for the GBA has been dumped - and strangely enough, it has some game modes that are -very similar- to what the RCR2 team was planning to implement! The whole trashcan thing, for example: I threw the can at an enemy and it landed on his head, rendering him blind...

The game's pretty fun, too. But the music... egh. ;_;

Ah well.


The trashcan thing is from one of the spinoffs, it wasn't Realize's idea.
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Johnny Undaunted



Joined: 08 Sep 2003
Posts: 306

PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2004 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, they added a lot of features from Jidaigekidayo such as a seperate iventory for your special moves (Kunio and Riki have Mach Kick and Mach Punch respectively by default) and turn them off at will, the CPU partner, ect. Some of the bosses even get to do tricks they learned from later games, such as Yamada's telekinesis attack. It's a lot like Double Dragon Advance, where they added a bunch of stuff from the later games.

They also gave different hair colors for many of the characters (Riki has blue hair, Ryuji/Andy is blond, Sawaguchi/Rocko is green, ect.) You also meet Kuniko (a character from the later games who is a Kunio fangirl) after defeating all of the Shitenou (the zombies).
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zillford
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

well, I finally got a chance to play EX and I must say I feel both happy at EX's suprise additions, and even MORE sad that RCR 2 died.

the graphics are fine, I have no real problem with them. they did a great job removing the 'otter effect' (wherein the characters waist appears to start just above a normal humans knees) which was a must for all the new fighting moves.

which brings me to the biggest change, the fighting:
what used to be a simple mashing of buttons now incorperates a delay system on the buttons. if you tap kick, for example, your character throws a very weak fast kick out (it appears to be a random animation from about 4) if you hold it just slightly the kick gets stronger. both kick and punch have 3 levels of this delay charge, and they did a great job of working it into the combos, allowing you to go all jackie chan on your opponents.

for all it's flash, the combos don't seem to add anything gameplay wise. I have yet to encounter an opponent where I benefit from doing anything other than unleashing a flurry of kicks. one of MY biggest problems with beat 'em ups is the lack of strategic fighting.

my deep sadness comes from knowing that I could have helped RCR 2 bring so much more to the beat 'em up table.


playing EX along with this article brings me closure on the whole RCR dev thing. I might always wonder what could have been...


but for now, I'm going to go turn some fuckers into coin!

(now if only I could read the god damn book titles in the store, I could know what moves to save up for.)
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Kins



Joined: 04 Mar 2004
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Fri Mar 05, 2004 8:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, by the way. Merlins store has a really expensive, yet very useless, wallet. So, be careful with your coins.
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zillford
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 06, 2004 5:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

but of course...

anywho, we're trailing off subject here. more should be spoken to the greatness of Red's journalism. hear hear!


now update again!
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Rutilcaper



Joined: 23 Apr 2004
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 4:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A quick question, if you fellows don't mind.

River City Ransom EX supports linking GBAs, correct? Well, would I be able to play two player on the Gamecube via the GBA player? Because that would be like, totally awesome.
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TheRedEye
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 4:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's not out yet, so I have no idea. As far as I can tell, though, no.
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Smeg
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rutilcaper wrote:
A quick question, if you fellows don't mind.

River City Ransom EX supports linking GBAs, correct? Well, would I be able to play two player on the Gamecube via the GBA player? Because that would be like, totally awesome.


If you mean one player on a GBA and the other on the GB Player, I think the GB Player supports that. I haven't tested it though. If you mean both players on the GB Player, nope.
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Johnny Undaunted



Joined: 08 Sep 2003
Posts: 306

PostPosted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 12:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nope. As far as I know, you'll still need another GBA and another copy of the game to play with a second player. It's kinda stupid, considering the GameCube itself has plenty of RAM for a two-player game, but oh well.

I've been playing River City Ransom EX for quite awhile and it's an excellent remake. There's a few stuff Zillford didn't mention in his impressions though (although, I think they might be considered spoilers).

First of all, the game now has a hidden reputation meter that increases or decreases depending on your actions. If you fought agaisnt your enemies honorably (i.e: You don't hit bosses while they're talking, you don't hit your enemies while they're down and you often get your asses handed by them), your reputation will increase. If you fought like a heel (you don't finish the fights you started, you beat people while they're talking, ect.), your reputation will fall down.

Now, why does the game has a reputation meter. Well, if your reputation, you will fight agaisnt bosses than usual (for example, the boss fight before the final fight will have the Double Dragon twins teaming up with Onizuka before the fight with Yamada).

But if you have a high enough reputation, you can recruit defeated bosses to your side, acting as CPU-controlled partners. Some of them are quite hard to get (since you have to activate a few story events first or have to have a really high reputation), but they're worth it. You can even recruit characters from the later games such as Sugata (Cheese from Crash 'n the Boys), Maeda and Kumada. You can even recruit the each of Shi-ten-nou (the zombies) or have Sonokawa (Harry) and get the whole Senridai Bombers (the Generic Dudes) on your side. You can have up to four members on your party (you and three partners). The party system is really what sets it apart from the original NES game.
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Threeboy
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PostPosted: Tue May 04, 2004 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

goot article, sucks that the fan project got scrapped.

i'm gonna get the atlus version because i'm a sucker for river city ransom.
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Beeshu



Joined: 27 May 2004
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RCR EX definately has improvements over the original (faster pace, longer jumps, save file, etc) but damn they made Torpedo and Aero Circus into incredibly cheap moves. I also love how the Double Dragon theme plays when you fight the twins.

Also - for anyone else who's played this - do you only get to build a posse if you don't start out with a CPU partner?
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TheRedEye
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You have to build respect before people will join your party. If you kick people while they're down, or if you hit bosses while they're still talking, nobody's going to want to join you.
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Beeshu



Joined: 27 May 2004
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh really? That's a layer of depth I didn't expect. Pleasant, though. Makes replay more interesting.
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Johnny Undaunted



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PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 7:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beeshu wrote:

Also - for anyone else who's played this - do you only get to build a posse if you don't start out with a CPU partner?


You can build a posse even when you start the game with your partner, however certain characters will only be avaible when you're alone and certain characters will you join depending on you're playing as (Greg and Conan can you only join you if you're Alex, while Rick can join you're Ryan).
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KlarthAilerion
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 9:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beeshu wrote:
I also love how the Double Dragon theme plays when you fight the twins.


Did I miss something here? Isn't that in the original?

And River City Ransom without co-op play is like taking a shit without toilet paper.. it's just stupid.
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