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School's Out
If there's one title from 2019 that came out of nowhere, kicked down the front door, and immediately captured the attention of the video game community, it's WayForward's upcoming brawler River City Girls. With a reveal trailer dropped like a technicolour nuke, this new entry in the long-running Kunio-kun series won over an army of supporters, thanks in no small part to its attractive pixel art, retro-inspired soundtrack, and, of course, the magnetism of its fearless stars, Kyoko and Misako.
With the pedigree of both WayForward and Arc System Works at the helm, the title is expected by many to be a winner. But is there still a place for the simple brawler in modern gaming? At a time when many titles blend genres to create deep, layered adventure experiences, can the old-school simplicity of the Kunio-kun franchise still score a knockout?
I sat down with River City Girls writer/director Adam Tierney to look at our schoolgirl sluggers, the legacy carried on their pixelated shoulders, and the trick to keeping brawlers engaging in the modern era.
Destructoid: Hi, Adam. Thanks for taking time out from development to chat with us. I imagine things have been pretty hectic since the first trailer dropped. That clip seemed to generate a very positive response from the gaming community. How have the last few weeks been and what do you make of the early buzz surrounding River City Girls?
Adam: It’s been incredibly exciting! We’ve been working on this game for roughly the past year-and-a-half, and I think the earliest concepts go back to almost three years ago, so it’s really exciting to finally unveil our game to the public. The reaction has been amazing — so many people seem to already love the game, and all the fanart has been incredible. I can’t wait until the full game is released and everyone can get their hands on it.
Destructoid: Right off the bat, I'd like to ask about Technos' Kunio-kun/River City franchise itself. What made you want to create a new entry for this classic — but still somewhat niche — series? Is this a franchise that is particularly close to your heart, and what was the process of turning the project into a reality?
Adam: I’ve always been a River City fan, going back to the NES game, which was the third game in a roughly 50-game series in Japan. I knew about the sports games like Super Dodgeball and the fact that while we only got around a dozen Kunio-kun games here in the States, that it was a much bigger brand in Japan. But I’d somehow missed being aware of Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka for the Super Famicom, until another director at WayForward (James Montagna) brought it to my attention one day.
I instantly fell in love with the characters, particularly the playable girlfriends, Misako and Kyoko. You had these cute girls curb-stomping street thugs into the pavement. I love playing with juxtaposition in my games, and the visual of these pretty scrawny girls beating up dozens of massive street thugs resonated with me. So we decided to pitch a game focused on those girls to Arc System Works, who own the Kunio-kun brand. They loved the idea.
