Probably my favourite side scrolling beat ’em up of all time is the Scott Pilgrim Vs The World game on the Xbox 360. Although I still have it on my console, it has now been delisted, so can’t be bought any more. What I liked about it, aside from bloody everything, is the upgrades and food items you could buy – just like in the NES River City Ransom game it is clearly a Scott Pilgrim themed homage to.
So when they announced River City Girls, which is literally a followup to River City Ransom, which also has modern pixel graphics like – or actually, surpassing – Scott Pilgrim, AND it was being developed by Wayforward, one of my favourite devs, I couldn’t not get it, could I. So I did. Immediately it was released.
![](https://i1.wp.com/lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/tumblr_pxl3ac4Jnh1svmpf2o1_1280.jpg?fit=840%2C473&ssl=1)
And today, after playing through it completely in co-op with my daughter, we completed it. And it was incredible.
Even more incredible than I was expecting or hoping for. From the fantastic graphics and animation, to the perfect voice acting, the humour, the cut scenes, the manga comic flashbacks, and such a brilliant sound track – plus of course the punching people in the face which is so well executed and with so many unlockable moves it never ceases to be enjoyable.
![](https://i0.wp.com/lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/tumblr_pxl3aeMt0a1svmpf2o1_1280.jpg?fit=840%2C473&ssl=1)
There are boss fights that seem impossible, but which then aren’t after you’ve nailed the tells and routines, bonus missions for the creepy Godai, and – and! – toilets. The game literally has all the things I want from a game. And now we have unlocked… spoilers… and there are still some hidden statues to smash and a new game mode to start, there’s still more to do.