River City Girls 2, the sequel to WayForward's stellar beat 'em up RPG, finally launches on December 15. Things have come a long way since we last spoke to WayForward about the new game. We caught up with Bannon Rudis, RCG2 director at WayForward, to learn even more about the River City Girls 2 development process, RCG Zero connections, game balance, new features like 4-player co-op, and lots more!
Co-Optimus: Thanks for returning to our palatial headquarters for another obviously in-person discussion. We last interviewed you about River City Girls 2 in May. Have you had a chance to play any new games since then?
Bannon: I've mainly been playing Rumbleverse when I can actually find time, and Call of Duty: Warzone. I'm really liking the DMZ mode. It's like a roguelite first-person shooter where you can crush other player's hard work and effort at the last second. And for anti-social times: Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Co-Optimus: One game that came along over the summer is this year’s other big beat ‘em up release, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. Have you had a chance to try it out?
Bannon: I have. Me and a couple of my friends all hopped on together to try it online. It's incredibly charming and fun to just mash away at Foot soldiers. I like how it focuses on gameplay instead of older beat 'em up arcade games that were more focused on being hard for the sake of gobbling up your quarters. River City Girls 2 is an incredibly different experience from TMNT though.
Co-Optimus: That’s true! Speaking of River City Girls 2, what stages of development has the game gone through since May?
Bannon: Stages of grief, mainly. Online multiplayer and cross play are no joke.
Co-Optimus: Ooh, let’s talk about online in a bit. With the River City Girls games, WayForward is working with the River City/Kunio-kun license owned by Arc System Works. Did Arc System Works provide stipulations about characters or the story? Did you have any ideas that needed to be modified at their request?
Bannon: They're pretty lenient with who we use and how we use them, but if it veers too wildly from lore and the core of the characters, they will chime in.
Co-Optimus: One exciting story element of River City Girls 2 is how it connects with River City Girls Zero, the classic 16-bit game that WayForward brought to modern platforms earlier this year. Can you give us some examples of connections between RCG2 and Zero?
Bannon: Mainly, that's the game that inspired the Girls series. The antagonists from that game make their debut officially in River City Girls 2. There's mention of one of the main villains in the first game, but we intentionally kept them hidden until the sequel. Plus, RCG Zero is a Kunio game that had bigger characters instead of the usual chibi/chunky character sprites. That's why our characters are bigger and more vibrant in RCG 1 and 2.
Co-Optimus: I love those bigger characters. Focusing on the gameplay, the first RCG was a bit tough for some gamers. Has the difficulty balance been adjusted in the sequel?
Bannon: The sequel has three difficulties that players can choose from. The difficulty levels and balancing is more in favor of the players [to help with facing] multiple enemies at the same time. There are new techniques and moves that really let the player get into more advantageous situations. This allows players to creatively stomp the mess outta anyone they come across.
Co-Optimus: Glad to hear it. Speaking of beginner players, what would you advise them to first prioritize when buying from the in-game shops and restaurants?
Bannon: I always tell players to eat one of each food item. They shouldn't think of them merely as regaining lost HP. Think of [food items] as permanent stat boosts that also heal you. And please, please, please bring healing items to boss fights. We made it much easier to do this as well. You would never fight a Final Fantasy boss without some potions and Phoenix Downs.
Co-Optimus: River City Girls 2 has an improved enemy recruitment system – two recruits can be equipped at a time, and all recruits can be selected from the player’s hideouts. In the first game, I’m always unsure of just how much I should beat up enemies if I’m trying to recruit them. Any advice?
Bannon: If they are the last enemy alive, get them down to about 20 percent health. Additionally, this time, you'll see them glow yellow when they're stunned, and they will get up begging instead of being dizzy as well.
Co-Optimus: The new game features two new playable characters: Provie from River City Ransom: Underground and Marian from Double Dragon. Let’s talk about Provie first. How do we say her name, and what is her backstory?
Bannon: So, Provie is a real person and friend of mine. I butchered her name for the first couple years of knowing her. She never corrected me. It's pronounced "Proo Vee." In the game, she's best friends with a character named Chris, who would eventually start a gang of her own. They trained together and Provie is the sassy one. The sassiness is definitely based on the real-life Provie.
Co-Optimus: We look forward to the sass. Now, about Marian: getting to play as her is pretty special because she has rarely been a playable character in other games. What’s the story behind Marian joining in Misako and Kyoko’s adventure? And, more trivially, why is her hair white now instead of blond?
Bannon: Well, she's kinda always been in this world as a side character. Her hair was [also] white in her previous appearance as a shop owner in the first game. I always figured she's much older than our cast of characters since she's been doing Double Dragon stuff since the '80s. I don't want to spoil why [Marian has] joined up with [the main characters in RCG2], but it's not centered around her being kidnapped per usual. She's done with that whole shtick.
Co-Optimus: RCG2 has improved navigation tools such as a GPS feature to help players get around River City. How large is the map compared to the first game?
Bannon: Because of the sheer size of the map, the GPS had to be more helpful this time around, for sure. I would say it's about three to four times the size. There are places that make return appearances, but they have changed visually to show the passage of time in the city. There are also whole new areas to explore as well. This time, we let the players choose their own path.
Co-Optimus: River City Girls 2 is the first game in the series to offer online co-op, and you mentioned that cross-play will be supported as well. Which platforms can play online together?
Bannon: This is what has taken the longest to develop and make sure everything runs smoothly. We can't answer this question outright because of multiple companies involved, and those companies have consoles.
Co-Optimus: Intriguing! Speaking of online co-op, the Japanese and Asian versions of RCG2 will receive online support post-launch rather than at launch. Once these versions get their online updates, will they be able to play online with the North American and European versions of the game?
Bannon: Indeed they will, and we have multiple written languages this time and a choice of English or Japanese voiceover. Just make sure everyone picks the same region when connecting.
Co-Optimus: Another new feature in River City Girls 2 is 4-player local co-op support, which was announced at the beginning of September. How did you decide to add this feature, and what kind of challenges did it add to the project? Does the enemy count change when more than two players are present?
Bannon: This was decided the moment we finished the first game. Knowing that we would have, at bare minimum, four characters to play as, it just made sense. I really pushed for it because I think beat 'em ups really benefit from that party-game atmosphere.
The biggest challenge came with balancing. How do you allow four players, who can each do their own crazy double-digit combos, to all attack one enemy in a corner and still make it fun and challenging? It took lots of tweaking and balancing.
The more players you add in, the more enemies show up. There's lots of stuff happening behind the scenes to balance all that out.
The other big challenge came with level designing since you don't have to share the screen in online mode. I had to make sure enemies didn't gang up on one player while the other one was hanging out by themselves in a corner of these massive levels.
Co-Optimus: I know I’m very excited for the game to come out. Do you have any last pre-launch thoughts that you’d like to share about River City Girls 2?
Bannon: I just hope people can see what I was trying to achieve with the sequel. This game shouldn't feel like a quarter-munching beat 'em up; I really want [it] to feel like its own thing. This is a game for people that might finally convince people that never tried a fighting game or beat 'em up to give it a shot. It's also a game for hardcore combo maniacs and fighting-game enthusiasts. I'm super excited to see what people can do in this game.
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River City Girls 2 supports 4-player local co-op and 2-player online co-op. The North American version of River City Girls 2 will sell for $39.99 when it launches on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and Steam on Thursday, December 15. The soundtrack is available now for $11.49 at Amazon and other digital music stores!