River City Girls 2 is the sequel we’ve all been waiting for, and it’s a must-play on Nintendo Switch. Find out why in our River City Girls 2 review!

 

[PlayStation 5] River City Girls Review

River City Girls 2 is the sequel we’ve all been waiting for, and it’s a must-play on Nintendo Switch. I had a lot of fun with River City Girls from WayForward and Arc System Works, so much so that I even ended up playing it again on PlayStation 5 for our River City Girls review, so I was definitely up for checking out the sequel for this River City Girls 2 review! The game can be played in single-player or in local or online multiplayer. You can customize your experience by selecting between three difficulty settings (Normal, Tough, and Nightmare), as well as by activating or deactivating friendly fire – basically, if your attacks can damage your companion or not.

With a bigger threat looming on the horizon, now that Sabu has broken out of prison and is joined by Ken – who you might remember from River City Girls Zero – things are not what they used to be. With Sabu running things in town, you end up being expelled from school! With trouble hitting strong, it’s time for Misako, Ky?ko, Kunio, and Riki to jump into action… along with some friends! They’re now joined by Marian and Provie, along with a rumbletastic four-player mode. But before you can play as either one of them, you’ll first have to unlock both of them. To do this, you’ll have to progress further in the game to battle them. Beat each character, and they will be added to your hideout.

If you’re not up to speed, Marian is the very close friend of brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee from the beloved Double Dragon series, and she made an appearance in River City Girls as the owner of one of the shops. As you can tell from the video above, Marian has a very toned physique, with solid abs that are perfect for taking a punch or two while she unleashes a powerful counterattack. If you don’t remember, Marian is kidnapped at the start of Double Dragon after being punched in the stomach by a lowly regular enemy. That was not the first time she was kidnapped, which left her with plenty of time to exercise and improve her skills.

 

Provie is a character that makes her way from River City Ransom: Underground from Conatus Creative. This was a game that acts as an officially licensed sequel in the River City Ransom series, and it was originally funded by way of a Kickstarter campaign way back in 2013 – a project that I backed and for which I got a very cool physical NES cartridge with a secret inside. She’s a breakdancer with a fighting style that shares some elements with Capoeira. While not as powerful as Marian, she more than makes up for it with her speed and her ability to link moves for longer combos. Provie is searching for her friend Chris, who she believes has been abducted by Ken.

You’ll control your character with the left analog stick or the D-Pad as you jump with the B button and attack with the Y button while jumping or on the ground. The X button is for slower but more powerful heavy attacks. While a good offense is usually the best type of defense, sometimes you’ll need to block incoming attacks, for which you’ll have to press the R button. As was the case for the prequel, you can recruit some of the characters you defeat so that they can join you on this journey. The ZL and ZR buttons will be used to bring them into action. And if you ever need to check out the map, you can do so thanks to your cellphone’s handy GPS function by pressing the – button.

Punches, kicks, and jump kicks are powerful enough to defeat all of the colorful enemies and bosses you’ll run into during your time with River City Girls 2, using special abilities and weapons can certainly speed things up! Grab a volleyball, a park bench, a trash can, a baseball, a bicycle, a shovel, a saxophone, or a yo-yo, and use it to beat up as many foes as possible before said weapon breaks. You can also throw your current weapon to deal some extra damage from a safer distance.

 

As was the case for River City Girl, every now and then, you’ll be able to make an opponent beg for mercy right before you’re about to defeat it. They will drop to their knees and beg for you to spare them. If you want to do this, you can get close to said enemy and grab it so that you can then press the ZL or ZR button to assign it to one of the slots for recruits. You can have up to two enemies join you. There’s also the option of hiring henchmen, which are stronger than the regular recruits you can get.

Along with checking out your phone’s GPS to open up the map and see where you need to go, you can also use the other apps on your phone to gain some extra info. For example, you can open Snpr to see some cool pics or then check Honkr to review the short-format messages from the many characters in River City Girls 2. Honkr is also useful for checking out your objectives to complete! Check a Honk, and you might be steered in the right direction.

Since you’ve been away from the action for a while – after all, two months have now passed between the group being expelled from school and their new adventure properly beginning – you need to regain enough experience points to recover your stats and abilities. As you level up, you’ll gain access to mighty abilities such as the mighty flurry of kicks that Dragon Feet will give to Ky?ko or the powerful Flying Knee for Kunio, each one at the cost of some of your energy bar – which feels up as you dish out and receive damage.

 

Buying food and eating it will help you recover some of your lost health… and some of it will also give your character a stat boost! Buy some sushi and you’ll recover 20% of your health, as well as a boost to your attack! You can always eat the food right away or have it to go so that you can use it when needed. You can also purchase accessories and equip up to two at a time to boost your character.

Some Eyeshadow can make heavy attacks heavier, Heart Earrings can help to fill up your recruits’ bar at a faster pace so that you can call them into action, Bomb Bottoms to make collecting money heal you, or you might want to buy a Bomb Bra, which can make thrown weapons explode on impact! Money can also be spent at the record store to unlock new music for your hideout. And you could even visit the dojo to pay to unlock some extra moves!

River City Girls is a solid beat ‘em up that pays homage to the Kunio-Kun series while doing its own thing and taking the base set by River City Girls Zero to bring the spotlight over Misako and Ky?ko. After completing the game, all I wanted was a sequel that would give me more of the same, and River City Girls 2 does that in spades and then some! We’re getting a four-player multiplayer option, two more characters joining the cause thanks to Marian and Provie, which offer new ways of beating up hundreds and hundreds of opponents. And, as was the case for the prequel, the solid voice acting for all characters does a great job of complementing the whole experience, not to mention the excellent soundtrack from Megan McDuffee and Dale North. River City Girls 2 launches on December 15 with a $39.99 asking price.

Disclaimer
This River City Girls 2 review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by WayForward.