River City Girls ZERO (Switch) – Glad to See, Hate Playing

Before the anticipated sequel comes out, it looks like we have to take some beatings in this “prequel”. PhantomZ2 enters back into River City to brawl through River City Girls ZERO: Kunio-tachi no Banka! Thank you to WayForward for providing us with a review code.

We’re currently two months into 2022 and it seems like we already have a theme: preserving classic video games through re-releases and remasters, including titles that never made it to some territories originally. Starting off this lineup is River City Girls ZERO – and hearing that title might confuse you as River City Girls, the first title with such a name, was released only two years ago, so allow me to explain.

History

In 1994, publisher Technos released the “fourth” title in the Kunio-Kun series: Kunio-tachi no Banka. It was developed by Almanic for the Super Famicom and was exclusive to Japan, having never seen an official release outside of the country – until Valentine’s Day, 2022. Technos closed a mere two years after originally releasing Banka, though Arc System assumed ownership of their properties back in 2015 and has collaborated with WayForward on creating River City Girls and now bringing this title outside of Japan.

Although this game mostly stands on its own, it is titled River City Girls ZERO. Not only because it features the first instance of Kyoko and Misako, the two River City Girls protagonists, but because this release features a dash of new content in order to present the two titles as being directly related, somewhat. But that’s where we get into the story.

Story

River City Girls ZERO begins with an animated comic strip showing Misako coming over to Kyoko’s place as she’s inspecting a new game she bought. This game, just like in our real world, features the two girls’ first adventure together. They decide to play it, mostly because it features their boyfriends, Kunio and Rikki, on the cover. ZERO’s intro is quite on the nose and playful in stating tiny facts about it, while also having Kyoko state:

See, they know what they’re doing, even if it does introduce some strange fourth-wall-breaking questions I’ll talk about later. Anyways, now this is where the real game starts.

Kunio-tachi no Banka starts off in the dead of night as a motorcycle speeds down the road, crashing into who I assume is a little girl’s father. The driver behind the motorcycle is… Kunio himself? Consequently, Kunio and Rikki are quickly thrown into jail, never even getting a trial (they would’ve been found guilty anyway). Soon, the two are forced to fight their fellow prisoners and, after making quick work of them, the goal of our two River City brawlers becomes clear. Kunio and Rikki later talk with their cellmates, insisting they weren’t responsible for this hit-and-run. Breaking through this conversation, the two receive a visit from Hiroshi – Kunio’s brother or probably just their friend, depending on which translation you’re playing. From him, we learn a few things: Kunio’s school has gone out of wack since his arrest, his girlfriend, Misako, seems friendly with the guy who’s flipping things on their head, and there seems to be someone going around that looks exactly like him…

Finding a way to break out, the two head towards their schools to put things back into place. First, they visit Kunio’s school to take out the guy who’s been screwing with it, Daiki. Then they reclaim their signature outfits – their respective school uniforms. Additionally, they run into Misako, who clears the record by promising she would never go for someone who isn’t Kunio. Although initially reluctant to partake in the brawling, she joins the team. Their next stop is to check out Rikki’s school, which is falling apart, and to check on his girlfriend, Kyoko. After defeating Ryuta and having Kyoko join the team, the gang must head from one area to another in order to find out what’s really going on and to clear Kunio’s name.

I’d also say Rikki’s name considering the fact that he was also arrested and suspected for the crime, probably having a look-alike walking around, but it’s never addressed at all. Anyways, as the game is very old and is the West’s first instance of experiencing the title OFFICIALLY, I won’t outright spoil the game. Instead, I’ll color the text the same as the background, so if you want to be spoiled, highlight the text so that you can read it!

After defeating the leader of the Blue Emperor Motorcycle Gang, Shinji, the gang meets up with Officer Takayama, the man who arrested the two, and his son. They reveal that the look-alike our leads are chasing after is not just some doppelganger, but is actually Kunio’s separated at birth twin brother, Ken. In addition, he’s being fathered by Sabu, the leader of the Sanwa Group. Now, it’s no longer a fight between the River City Gang and a Kunio look-alike, it’s a fight between the River City Gang and Kunio’s brother, who’s palling around with the leader of a criminal organization.

Skipping to what matters most, as the game is quite short, the two sides clash for the first time – but for a very short time, as Sabu quickly gets rid of the River City Girls by shooting them in the face without any hesitation. Not only was Ken surprised, I was in a state of comedic shock as I watched it happen unexpectedly. Anyways, with Kyoko and Misako no longer part of your gang after they’re taken to the hospital, Officer Takayama drives the two boys to Sabu’s hideout. You fight some goons, you fight Ken, beat him up, Sabu gets disappointed in his adopted son and shoots him, and then the two boys fight Sabu in his now collapsing hideout. You win, Kyoko and Misako are fine, the two boys ride their motorcycle into the night and give a thumbs up to the girl from the beginning of the game (who’s almost certainly dealing with some motorcycle-related trauma) and to you the viewer. Wow.

Having beaten the game, Misako and Kyoko revel in what was their first journey – while also questioning if any of those things actually happened. But the comic ends essentially solidifying that it actually did. Hmm.

You can play by yourself or with your friend, but that’s the gist of ZERO and Banka’s plot – and that’s fine. It’s quite cheesy and out of nowhere, but perhaps that’s just because I’m coming in straight from River City Girls. Maybe the kids of the time were fine with the story, perhaps it was alluded to in the previous games, or the build-up after a dozen previous spin-off titles made what it had to reveal tolerable. Either way, the story is super short, and clearing it shouldn’t take you any longer than two hours… if you can endure the frustrating gameplay.

Gameplay

Kunio-tachi no Banka is a beat ‘em up, so the type of gameplay it features should speak for itself. Don’t expect to travel freely around the city as you did in River City Girls, however; you’re just going from point to point here, beating an area’s enemies until you reach its boss. Punch, kick, and pummel your way to glory! One interesting addition to the gameplay are the motorcycle sections that you’ll play through to get to the other destinations. Some bikers will attack you, so you’ve got to kick them off the bike while managing the curves of the road. Touch the wall and you die, so be careful – depending on how fast you’re driving, steering your ride away from the curve will be tough.

Now, since my River City Girls review, I still haven’t played many beat ‘em up games – so perhaps I’m still not used to some of the genre’s qualities and quirks. However, the issues I had with RCG are also present in this old title. Placement between you and your opponent doesn’t always feel consistent. Sometimes I’m slightly above or under them and my attacks won’t hit, but theirs seem to consistently hit as if we were right next to one another. While I don’t blame the game for not having a health bar for your enemies, the fights between the tougher enemies feel tedious as you’ll wail on them for what feels like minutes – without even knowing how much damage you’re dealing. Additionally, the guys have some attacks the gals lack, so the fight may take even longer due to the characters’ differences.

Continuing on that point, through KTB you’ll be switching between Kunio, Rikki, Misako, and Kyoko. Although they all punch and kick like one another, there are some differences. Kunio and Rikki are able to grab enemies, standing or downed, and continue delivering punches or kicks. Misako and Kyoko, meanwhile, have increased movement options the game doesn’t tell you about (by the way, there are other instances of ZERO failing to communicate vital information). I only found out they have a wall jump ability on accident when I just happened to press the accompanying button at the same time. Nevertheless, these unique abilities don’t mean anything during boss battles. Whether from a standing or down position, Kunio and Rikki can’t grab or get on top of bosses to give ‘em a good pummeling. You can still kick them while they’re down, but the amount of damage you could be dishing out is diminished, making the fights last a lot longer.

Although you can switch between each character on the fly, you don’t switch after death. If you die with one character, it’s like you died with everyone, meaning you’ll have to continue from the last checkpoint. While this does mean that if one character is close to dying you could easily switch to someone sporting full health, eventually they’ll also take beatings. It’s not as if there are health pickups laying around either, as the only time you heal is after clearing an area. Ultimately, this setup adds to ZERO’s difficulty; reaching a boss when even one of your brawlers is limping along is dangerous, demanding you play perfectly.

Now, discovering things on your own when playing a game, especially older ones, is expected and welcome. However, something that is specifically referred to within the game is something that isn’t told to the player in its “How to Play” screen. Although shared between the boys and their girlfriends, the River City Gang has special attacks – or “Ultimate Techniques,” as Kunio and Rikki call them – once they get their uniforms back. These can really aid you in knocking down enemies faster, so it’s a shame that the dev team didn’t tell the player about it. In this case, I’m referring to the localizers and dev team of River City Girls ZERO: WayForward, Arc System Works, and/or Limited Run Games. The lack of their inclusion in the “How to Play” is also very strange as the original Japanese manual of the game is available within the game, on start-up, and features the moves and how to use them.

Presentation & Localization

I don’t have much to say about the original game in question; it looks fine, the music is ok, and there wasn’t anything I felt specifically grabbed by. However, the coat of paint that surrounds the game with River City Girls ZERO is what I have comments on. The newly animated intro looks great, as does the animation loop that is featured within the credits. The new song that airs during the intro feels pretty cheesy, but that’s not a bad thing – I just thought it was ok.

You have the ability to play the game in different resolutions or with a CRT filter, an expected feature of any port/rerelease of an old game nowadays. The same can be said with giving the game borders to fill the empty black space that’s left when playing the game in its original resolution. However, Limited Run themed borders? Aside from any personal issues I have with them, why not use borders that are based upon the game and its artwork? Even the border of an old CRT TV would work better and fit the context of the game, that the girls are playing it on Kyoko’s TV.

Thanks to this localization, Kunio-tachi no Banka is available to play in multiple languages: French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. Furthermore, there are two English translations: “Literal” and “New”. Now, while I’m not a fully fluent Japanese student and skilled or fully knowledgeable about localization, “Literal” translations are never: here is each Japanese word translated to English, but within the exact placement they would be in the Japanese writing scheme. “Literal”, in terms of this game, means more like: “Okay, here is a translation that is close to what was being said and the context of the story from the original source.” Thus, you get some very surprising sequences where Kunio calls Misako a bitch. While the “New” translation is also a translation of the game that captures what the story originally was, the characters are somewhat different. Kunio and Rikki aren’t as aggressive, they’re not referring to Misako or Kyoko as bitches, and Misako and Kyoko, in their minor amounts of dialogue, are characterized closer to how they were in River City Girls. Thus, that brought about some concerns.

: “Literal” Translation

: “New” Translation

: Character Change in “New” Translation

RCG and Kunio-tachi no Banka take place within different times and were made at different times, so while I understand changing Misako and Kyoko to better reflect the present-day, why weren’t they made to be closer to their introductory iterations? With the presentation and context that is present within River City Girls ZERO’s opening and ending comic scenes, the characters between the girls are incredibly different, so much so that they had no idea about their first adventure. It begins to feel like the idea is to make this older game fit within this new context. However, the full topic of context and localization and aspects of that sort is something that needs more time to itself, so I hope to talk about it in a more analytical and research-based framework, at greater length, at a different time.

River City Girls ZERO – Kunio-tachi no Banka is great to see in a time when we’re becoming more aware that some companies do not prioritize re-releasing their backlogs. However, the game itself is still quite frustrating and annoying to play. Paying $15 for it? Maybe, sure. However, spending $35 to $150 for Limited Run Games’ physical edition? That seems like a rip-off, even if I would still prefer to also have a physical copy of the game. It’d be best to pick it up on sale.