When people think about the best games of all time on the 8-bit NES console, we all have our favorites. While games like Super Mario Brothers 3, Duck Hunt, Tetris and The Legend Of Zelda almost always make the top of the list, another biggie is without a doubt “River City Ransom”. With the help of it’s fans (as well as Kickstarter), an officially licensed sequel to the classic title is currently in the works thanks to Conatus Creative. But, they still need your support.

River City Ransom was developed by Technōs Japan and originally released in Japan on April 25, 1989. The background story involves Alex and Ryan, two high school students, attempting to cross River City in an attempt to rescue River City High, as well as and Ryan’s girlfriend Cyndi, from the clutches of a villain called “Slick”. The fighting style in this part beat-em up, part RPG, is very similar to Double Dragon in that, the player may freely move while pressing buttons to perform actions. Items such as brass knuckles, trash cans and pipes can be thrown at enemies, or in some cases, be used as a melee weapon. The effectiveness of the character is determined by several unique statistics and their knowledge of fighting techniques.

Over the years, many people have awaited for a sequel to this NES classic, and thanks to some help from Conatus Creative, Kickstarter and gamers like you, it very well may be in the future. Previously, some of the developers of the original game were pondering creating a new game in the series, however after the team leader decided to make other projects a main priority, this idea came to an end about a year ago. Conatus Creative, who are now the current owners of the games licensing rights, are now working on this sequel that we’ve all wanted for so long, with the new game entitled “River City Ransom: Underground”. From the Kickstarter page:

“We’ve set out to create a sequel worthy of the name, paying homage to the original while recapturing its charm and gameplay innovation. This is our love letter to River City Ransom, Technōs Japan, and the epic fighting and wrestling games of the 80’s and 90’s. We’re pushing the envelope of all two dimensions with this ambitious retro revival. While Technōs is no more, a new company, Million Co., was founded by former Technōs staff, acquiring the rights to all intellectual property in 2001. We acquired a license from Million in April to make an official installment in the series, which means we’re on the hook to make sure our game can exist in the River City canon. You’re backing a 2.5D open world beat’em up with RPG elements, just like the classic game, for the Windows platform. We’re making River City bigger, adding more stores, items, and bringing the cast and crew into the modern era. You’ll reunite with old friends (and punch them in the face), meet new ones, and play through an epic story in an urban, open world. Yes, the game will feature local co-op play, and online co-op depending on our distribution partners on launch day.”

The game is currently slated to be released exclusively for PC’s running Microsoft Windows, however the people at Conatus are aware of the demand for other console availability. So while making the game for Windows is the primary goal for now, in the event that enough money is earned on the project, other platforms may become available at launch, and will make the game widely available as such:

“If we do release to additional distribution channels we control or have free code generating ability (i.e. Mac, Linux, Steam), any backer who is entitled to a copy of the game on Windows will get it for all of those additional platforms.”

To get a copy of the game when it’s completed, you will need to pledge at least $15 Canadian. In addition, a bid of $25 gets you an original soundtrack in digital format, $60 will get you a choice of weapon skins, and other goodies such as t-shirts and posters are offered at higher tiers. Did you want your own dialog to be featured in the game? A $275 pledge will do it!

In order for this game to become a reality, a total of $180,000 Canadian must be earned by October 9th at 12:59pm Eastern Time. As of now, the project has accumulated over $38,600 over the course of over 1,000 supporters, with 27 days remaining. If the game does get released, the estimated release time frame is about 1 year from today, with a possible release in September of 2014.

Kickstarter Page: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/combitstudios/river-city-ransom-underground?ref=live