River City Girls 2 Developers Talk Xbox Game Pass Plans, DLC, and More

Kunio-kun connection

ComicBook: The first River City Girls seemed to find a faithful following where other Kunio-kun games have struggled to outside of Japan. Why do you think that is?

Adam Tierney: I can't speak personally to the success of previous River City games over here, since we only know the sales and fanbase of our own games. But I can say that when we started planning on the first River City Girls game, one of our goals was to make it stand out from all previous Kunio-kun titles, so that there would be no confusion among gamers whether or not they already played this title, whether it was a remake of a previous game, etc. With 50+ Kunio-kun games released to date, there's a lot to build from, but it's also more of a challenge to make any new entry feel brand new. That's why we didn't use the traditional NES-style sprites, and gave the game its own identity.

Sequel planning

Was the plan always to do a sequel?

Tierney: Yes and no. We approached the first River City Girls not assuming there would be a sequel, putting as much of our effort into the first game as possible. That said, we did decide to hold a few major characters from the brand back (like Sabu, Ken, Ryuji, and Ryuichi) for a potential sequel, so that if we did end up creating an RCG2, it wouldn't feel staffed with just minor characters. And one of the big appeals about doing River City games in general was always that we would get to reuse (and expand on) this massive city with each game.

Bannon Rudis: Sequels are never really part of a definitive plan, but it always floats around in the back of your head when designing. Upon seeing the public's reaction to the first game, those little creeping thoughts of a sequel start blossoming into something more tangible and attainable.

Beat-em-ups

Given some of the limitations of the beat-em-up genre, was it difficult to come up with ideas that set RCG2 apart from the first game?

Rudis: I don't see the limitations of the beat-'em-up genre, only the ones that developers of the past thought they had to adhere to. This genre was originally meant for arcades and meant to drain your quarters with limited lives and the odds stacked against the player. We are not beholden to that anymore. The sequel really pushes in a direction I don't think many beat-'em-ups have gone before. I hope it inspires other developers to do the same with the genre.

Cameos

Are there any big cameos players can expect to see in this game?

Rudis: There are indeed. I am a huge non-spoilery kinda guy, so I am saying nothing. This game should feel like a love letter to the Technos developers of the past. Literally without them, this game wouldn't exist.

Making fans and newcomers happy

The first River City Girls felt respectful of its Kunio-kun roots, but it also felt welcoming for those less familiar with the series. Is it difficult to strike that balance?

Tierney: Not really, because at the end of the day, it's more important to have a great game that stands on its own rather than something that's canonically in sync with the previous games. As we reimagined classic Kunio-kun characters in our games, we tried to keep the spirit of each character, but didn't try to keep them 100% intact. In Japan, RCG is considered a "gaiden" series, almost like an alternative-universe version of Kunio-kun, so that gives us a lot of flexibility to carve out our own style and identity with these games.

Future plans

Alongside River City Girls Zero, WayForward has now worked on three games in this series. Are there plans to continue River City Girls in the future?

Tierney: Fingers crossed! I can say that the answer to this question relies almost entirely on the sales of the games. The first River City Girls sold well and was well-received by fans and critics, so we made a sequel. If RCG2 fares well (or better) then it's certainly possible. Although we might consider some post-launch DLC for RCG2 before a brand-new game; in hindsight, I wish we'd been able to have some DLC attached to the first game.

Rudis: I would personally love to dip my toes into other Kunio-kun-adjacent titles as well. The sports titles are on the top of my list.

Xbox Game Pass

The first River City Girls was available on Xbox Game Pass for a while. Has there been any discussion about bringing the sequel to the service down the line?

Tierney: We would love to see RCG2 (and RCG Zero) on Game Pass! The first River City Girls game was very popular on Game Pass and helped expand the game's audience a great deal. Game Pass is an incredible service.

Culture clash

Being a western developer, what types of hurdles are there working on a Japanese property like this one?

Rudis: Not too many. I have worked alongside Arc System Works for almost a decade now. They will give us cultural notes and feedback so things are not too off the mark with what their player base expects. The good thing about River City, as a place, is that it's not really the USA and it's not Japan. It's more of a hybrid of those two worlds and cultures smooshed together. That gives us a lot of leeway to do what we want and not have to worry about too much culture clash.

Longevity

What is it about the Kunio-kun franchise that you think has made it so enduring?

Rudis: They are loveable characters that are youthful like the player demographic, yet they do extremely violent things to each other that in real life would be viewed as abhorrent. The gameplay and characters probably scratch that itch that most people can't scratch of having a tight clique of competent fighting friends to roll through town and stir up some trouble with, all while looking adorable and never pushing the violence to the extreme.

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River City Girls 2 is set to release on December 15th.