River City Ransom has quite a cult following as a classic beat em up action game, so much so, that a sequel recently got funded on kickstarter 20 years after the original!!  One of the things that made the original so memorable and especially unique compared to other beat em up’s of the day like the TMNT series or Double Dragon was the lightly layered in RPG elements.

You could stop at shops to buy magazines, eat food, etc. to raise the stats of your character and learn new skills.  It wasn’t anything deep, but back in the day it made this beat em up seem that much more special compared to it’s peers.

Well, the entire thing has come full circle as that classic beat em up with RPG elements in becoming a full fledged RPG.  Being published by Arc System Works, Hot-Blooded Magic Story follows Kunio and all his friends from the Kunio universe into a magical fantasy world that is much different from the rough streets of River City that we are familiar with.

It will be a land of brutish warriors, majestic wizards, and valiant knights.  Also, like any good RPG the game is said to contain over 100 quests with dozens and skills and weapons to obtain.

The game is set to release on the Nintendo eshop on April 30th in Japan and will be priced at 994 yen.  No word on a western release yet, but I wouldn’t expect it to be far off.  Stay Tuned.