River City – Rival Showdown

River City – Rival Showdown (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari SP in Japan) is a role-playing beat ’em up game in the Kunio-kun franchise released on October 27, 2016 in Japan. It was developed by Aplus Co., Ltd. and published by Arc System Works. The Western versions of the game were released on November 21, 2017 and are published by Natsume, who previously published River City: Tokyo Rumble. The Japanese version originally had a release date of April 28, 2016, but was delayed twice.

This game acts as a sequel to River City: Tokyo Rumble with the events of River City Super Sports Challenge ~All Stars Special~ taking place directly after this game. While on a walk late at night, Kunio is suddenly attacked by a mysterious duo that flee in the middle of the fight at the sound of police sirens. Following the attack, Kunio understood that it was planned with precision where he would be alone and the most vulnerable which had his intuition insisting that a much larger threat was at play.

On the following afternoon, Kunio learns from Hiroshi that his assailants were two twins who recently transferred to Reihō Academy and took control over the school seemingly overnight. The twins have clashed with other schools and have targeted their top delinquents in an effort to gain control over them. On-top of this, it appears that Mami, the girlfriend of Kunio’s rival Riki has gone missing.

Kunio then spends the following three days unravelling the conspiracy at Reihō Academy and it’s key players. The game follows Kunio in a 3-day journey to figure out who kidnapped his girlfriend. This game features new paths and endings compared to the original. The game also includes a fighting game known in Japan as Fighting of Double Dragon –2016- which include 14 playable characters.