River City: Rival Showdown is coming to new platforms

Obligatory “Barf!”

Arc System Works has announced that the 2016 3DS title, River City: Rival Showdown. is coming to PC, Switch, and PlayStation platforms.

River City: Rival Showdown was the second Kunio-Kun/Downtown/Nekketsu/River City title to be released on the 3DS, following River City: Tokyo Rumble in 2013. Both were similar titles that take the Kunio-Kun/Downtown/Nekketsu/River City beat-’em-up formula started in 1986’s Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun/Renegade and cemented in 1989’s Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari/River City Ransom. Chubby arms, pained expressions, and lots of smacking take center stage in these games.

The new port of River City: Rival Showdown will include all the features of the 3DS version but will also include a brand new prequel story called Cold-Blooded Hardcore Yamada-kun. Beyond that, there will also be spiffier graphics and some quality-of-life improvements.

I’d call myself a huge fan of the Kunio-Kun/Downtown/Nekketsu/River City games, but I’ve had trouble getting myself into the more modern titles. I own River City: Rival Showdown on 3DS. I just couldn’t tell you why I haven’t played more than a few minutes of it.

Oh, wait, yes, I can. It was a horrible time in my life. I wish I hadn’t remembered that.

In any case, I’ll hopefully be giving this one another chance. If you haven’t already, you should definitely check out Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle. It has all the Famicom games in the Kunio-Kun/Downtown/Nekketsu/River City series, but they’ve gone the extra mile and localized all the ones that were previously Japan-only. Seriously, an impressive effort.

River City: Rival Showdown will be releasing on PC, Switch, and PlayStation on October 12, 2023.