River City Girls Zero Reviews

River City Girls Zero is ranked in the 30th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
70 / 100
Feb 15, 2022

‎A great "brawler" for Super Nintendo, unreleased outside of Japan, which to this day is still a lot of fun. Although the limitations of the 16-bit machine are noticeable, its sense of humor and variety of levels make it worthwhile, especially in local mode for 2 players.‎

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6.5 / 10.0
Feb 16, 2022

It’s not that River City Girls Zero is inherently bad. It definitely isn’t, but I do think that its title did the game no favors. The original River City Girls was amazing, elevating the Kunio-kun franchise to a previously unheard degree of quality, so attaching the name to a port of a really dated Super Famicom game made me (and will surely make everyone else) expect a lot more from it. Pay double attention before biting the bullet with this one.

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No Recommendation / Blank
Feb 16, 2022

River City Girls Zero features a previously Japan-only Kunio adventure and River City Girls' first foray in beating the crap out of people with their respective boyfriends.

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7 / 10.0
Feb 16, 2022

I'm quite happy that we finally have an official port of this 16-bit beat 'em up gem. Although River City Girls Zero isn't as fun as River City Ransom or its modern sequels, it's still an exciting brawler with a rather engaging story to boot.

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7 / 10
Feb 17, 2022

You're being treated here, not to a replica of 16-bit graphics, but the genuine article, and that in itself carries a wonderful charm. With varied locales and great music, River City Girls Zero cleverly all takes place in pseudo real-time, the sun setting into night and eventually dawning again as you near end of your journey. It's an endearing romp across a quaintly rendered Japanese urban landscape that continually offers new places to scrap - from fairground rides and collapsing buildings to nightclubs and sun-drenched bays - all becoming especially colourful in the last hour. While it's very much a game of its era, River City Girls Zero is still rewarding for those interested in experiencing one of the saga's more creative entries.

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Feb 19, 2022

River City Girls Zero is a charming prequel that fans of the series should add to their collection. However, as the game is almost thirty years old players shouldn’t expect the fast pace action from the more recent games. But nevertheless River City Girls Zero is a fun but tough port that deserves your attention after taking so long to be released outside of Japan.

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7.5 / 10.0
Feb 21, 2022

River City Girls Zero is geared more toward existing Kunio-kun fans rather than those who are new to the series. Existing fans can appreciate the callbacks to older titles and like the fact that the game tries something different with the formula. Everyone else will still enjoy the game but may wonder why many series elements and genre traits are missing. It is a solid game, but be cautious going in if you aren't already a fan of the Kunio-kun series.

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8 / 10.0
Feb 22, 2022

River City Girls Zero is a good port that, although it has small flaws that keep it far from perfect, it feels cared for and leaves you with a sense of nostalgia when you play it.

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6 / 10.0
Feb 23, 2022

River City Girls Zero is an awkward title. It's fun but it's also infuriating and relies on cheap tactics to see you through. At 3 hours tops for your first run, and with replayability being quite low on this title, it makes it a hard sell for anyone who isn't a die-hard citizen of the River City. If you are a fan of the franchise and go in knowing that this is just a classic title repurposed as a hype device for the upcoming River City Girls 2 then you should be fine.

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6 / 10.0
Feb 23, 2022

And then, and this is truly the best part of RCGZ, you unlock the ability to play the Intro, Outro, and End Credit sequences from the main menu. You can also flip through scanned pages of the original game's Japanese instruction booklet if that's your bag. I haven't played too many games where the bread is the best part of the sandwich, but here we are.

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6 / 10.0
Feb 23, 2022

It's hard to recommend River City Girls Zero to anyone who enjoyed the 2019 game, as the prequel has very little in common with the more dynamic, modern formula of its sequel. It would have been great to see Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka remade in the River City Girls engine and offered alongside the original game in a revamped version with everything that is entitled, but the truth is that we will have to wait for River City Girls 2 to relive an experience similar to the first game. As it stands, the re-release is a good choice only for enthusiasts of old games, re-releases and assiduous fans of the franchise.

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8 / 10.0
Feb 23, 2022

I am confident in saying that River City Girls Zero and the Carbon Engine used to power this game is an immensely promising sign of future things to come: spectacular emulation quality, plenty of options to mess with, an improved gallery, and two great english translations on offer lead to River City Girls Zero being an outstanding package for both RCG and Kunio fans alike!

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7 / 10.0
Feb 23, 2022

WayForward take us back with River City Girls Zero, offering up a piece of history as a new block in their own franchise.

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7 / 10
Mar 1, 2022

River City Girls Zero presents us with the original 1994 game that shows where the characters' stories began. A fun, intuitive beat'em-up with a lot of plot, but which also shows that it doesn't follow its contemporaries when it comes to pacing and lifespan - indeed, this game feels too short and it advances too slowly. A full remake would have been a better option, but as it is River City Girls Zero is an enjoyable beat'em-up that fans of the genre will like to get their hands on.

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Mar 5, 2022

"Kunio-kun moves to west!"

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7 / 10.0
Mar 20, 2022

Awesome 16-bit graphics and nostalgia will distract you from the sluggish gameplay. Players unfamiliar with retro brawlers should probably skip out on this one. But if you're a fan of the River City series and want to take a trip back in time, this is a good place to start.

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NoesPaisparaFrikis
Isaac Garcia
6.9 / 10.0
Mar 22, 2022

With all this, is it worth getting this River City Girls Zero? The answer is not so obvious since we are not dealing with a great classic of its time, one of those that should be on the resume of every self-respecting video game lover. However, all those older beat 'em up players will find in RCGZ a more traditional cut experience, with the flaws of the time but also with its charm. In addition, this Zero is a good excuse to enter the world of Kioko, Misako, Kunio and Riki and have more context when facing the 2019 River city girls game (or to complement it if you had already played it). And despite the fact that the game does not bring major changes in the audiovisual sections, all the additions are appreciated.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Apr 2, 2022

The origins to River City Girls can be traced back to Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-Tachi no Banka, a 1994 title on the Super Famicom – Super NES for Western gamers. Developed by WayForward, River City Girls Zero acts as both a prequel to River City Girls, and a remake. This is due to the title being updated and repackaged for its release to Western markets. Now featuring full localisation, River City Girls Zero is a great introduction to the wider Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun franchise.

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6 / 10.0
Sep 12, 2022

Released at a budget price, River City Girls Zero will undoubtedly find an audience. And retro fans are likely to lap it up, savouring its old-fashioned gameplay. Those who have spent the last few years playing fantastic modern beat ’em ups such as River City Girls and Streets of Rage 4, however, should probably view this as a curio and nothing more. It’s nice that it’s finally available in the west, but its gameplay is definitely showing its age.

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5 / 10.0
Sep 12, 2022

River City Girls Zero is an outdated beat em up with clunky combat, and is hard to recommend to anyone but the biggest fans of the franchise.

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