River City Girls 2 (PS5)

Three years after the release of River City Girls (RCG), a game that I really enjoyed once I finally tried it out, WayForward released a direct sequel, simply titled River City Girls 2 (RCG2). The lead-up to it felt exciting, with some hype centered around the six playable characters and, later, the ability to play as Jimmy and Billy Lee from the Double Dragon series. There was even a Gallery Nucleus event that I attended where some of the people involved, including artist REM, talked about some of the choices they made for the game. However, my own enthusiasm waned as I had made the mistake of ordering the game from Limited Run (the version with the soundtrack), so I didn’t get around to finally playing it until recently due to other game releases and events coming up in the meantime. Now that I finally have, it feels bad for me to say that, in spite of the general improvements and positive reception the game received overall, it still felt like a letdown compared to the original in the places where it mattered.

River City Girls (PS5)

Does the name River City ring a bell? If it does, you’re likely familiar with River City Ransom, an old Beat ‘em Up/Brawler game from the NES days. For others, however, River City, the localized name for the Kunio-kun franchise, wouldn’t mean much due to the rather niche awareness of the series for the longest time. That would change, however, with River City Girls, a 2019 Beat ‘em Up co-developed by WayForward and Arc System Works that brought more mainstream attention to the River City series. So much so that a related 1994 Super Famicom game, Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka, would finally receive an English localization under the name River City Girls Zero in 2022.

Since I had no familiarity with the River City games, however, I didn’t have any interest in River City Girls at first, but wondered if I had missed out on something when I saw enough praise. Because I prefer physical discs, I patiently waited for a Limited Run “Blowout Sale” that included the PS4 PAX cover variant and snagged a copy. Even after I got the game, however, it took the announcement of a sequel and River City Girls Zero to finally see if I actually liked it before investing further. For the most part, I actually enjoyed the game (via the free PS5 upgrade) and feel more comfortable with playing more of the series, or at least the Girls portion. However, some design and writing quirks nearly stopped me.

Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2

I didn’t have too much experience with the output of Arc System works, but I did look forward to, and subsequently play, Dragon Ball FighterZ. I really enjoyed its style and presentation, so I decided to try a title that I heard was similar, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, which I later learned was an update to Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- that got a PS4-exclusive physical release. It took me a while to get around to actually playing it, but I’m glad I did, since the flair and presentation kept me hooked like with FighterZ. However, beneath it all, I felt like I missed something.