River City Ransom falls into that category of "cult classic" Nintendo games that people remember more fondly long after its release than when it came out in the U.S. in 1990. I was neither internet savvy nor the fan of Japanese food and entertainment then that I am now, so I had no way of knowing it was a localized (i.e. converted to an American audience) version of a game called Downtown Nekketsu Story. Localization can be as simple as changing the text in the game from Japanese to English (adapting for cultural differences along the way) or as complex as completely redrawing the character sprites (Doki Doki Panic becoming Super Mario Bros. 2). River City Ransom had a little from both column A and column B, but to the young and impatient kid I was at the time those facts didn't even exist - nor did this game! I played it a couple of times while visiting friends, quickly concluded it was a bad knockoff of Double Dragon, and since the only Nintendo games I ever got to use were when I rented a console and titles it got NO PLAY.

In the almost quarter century of time that has gone by I've developed a greater appreciation of what Ransom had to offer - first through emulation and then through retro game collecting. That being said it's still not one of my favorite titles. It's not one I go busting out when I turn on the Nintendo and flip through a pile of cartridges. I think this is one of the few major differences I have with my man Mega Ran. Most of the games he raps about or raps over I am equally affectionate about for one reason or another, but when it comes to River City Ransom we'll just have to agree to disagree. Actually it may be that even Ran found this project harder to get into than he first anticipated, as his album page on Bandcamp notes that he started work on it in 2009, and didn't actually finish it until 2012 because "things got a little crazy for me." Maybe he just didn't find it as inspiring as Mega Man games. I know I don't.

As it turns out "River City Ransom" gives me a better appreciation for the game than the game itself. I couldn't to this day tell you anything about 'Park Beach', but Ran's rap over it above is a humorous albeit sad story about a guy getting kicked to the curb by his high school girl. The follow-up "A Letter to the Boss" set to the 'Shopping' theme is even more witty. It warns video game antagonists that kidnapping women is not the way to go - a message that Bowswer never seems to heed (nor for that matter the Ice King). Given the short number of tracks there's not much time or opportunity to enlist Ran's friends for contributions, but Pennywise and RoQy TyRaiD do get their shine on "3 O'Clock High" rapping to the 'Opening' theme.

Music Vibes: 7.5 of 10 Lyric Vibes: 7.5 of 10 TOTAL Vibes: 7.5 of 10

Originally posted: April 8th, 2014
source: www.RapReviews.com