WayForward Technologies has been on quite a roll these past few months. With their co-development on the highly successful Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, an impending rerelease of their successful Mighty Switch Force! series, and a fifth Shantae title on the way this year, the American developer is making up for a 2018 that was relatively quiet.
Now, the company is looking to follow up on this streak with a 2D co-op beat-‘em-up title from a long dormant series from Japan. River City Girls, the latest entry from the long-running River City series (also known as Kunio-Kun in Japan) has been announced as their next title, slated for released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, GOG, and Humble Bundle on September 5.
In a surprising collaboration, WayForward has announced that River City Girls is also being co-developed by fighting game experts, Arc System Works of Japan. That alone should bring about a seal of excellence when it comes to this game’s combat, as Arc System Works is widely known for their 2D fighting game series like Guilty Gear and BlazBlue.
WayForward has also released a short teaser for River City Girls, which showcases the premise for the title and how it fits into the other games of the series. Check it out below.
River City Girls features two female protagonists, which is quite the departure from other River City titles. However, the trailer’s premise sets this up nicely, by having the series’ regular protagonists Kunio and Riki get kidnapped. Their girlfriends, Kyoko and Misako, who are also street-tough high-schoolers, are the only ones capable of rescuing them, which leads to a brawl across River City’s six regions.
The game features single player action or two-player local co-op, which is how this game is obviously meant to be played. The 16-bit style graphics also shows quite a lot of promise, contrasted with today’s bright color schemes and an incredibly catchy synth-pop soundtrack. While combat mostly consists of beating down enemies with their bare knuckles, Kyoko and Misako can wield weapons and recruit their defeated foes to join them in combat.
River City Girls will be made available digitally via the eShop on Switch, the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live, Steam, GOG, and Humble Bundle on September 5. WayForward is also planning a physical version, which will be available from Limited Run Games at a later date.
