River City Ransom is a story of a guy (or two brothers in multiplay) who has his girlfriend kidnapped and held hostage in a high school. You must fight your way through gangs of high schoolers to save her.

This game is flat out fun. It's an open ended game where you punch, kick, use and throw objects at people to defeat them. The battle system is just like Double Dragon. You don't earn experience but you earn money, which you use to buy power-ups in the form of food, clothes, music, and other consumables in the malls of River City. You can buy skills to increase your jump, your weapon attacks, your punches, kicks, and other bonuses. You build your strength, defense, and attack power through eating food.

River City Ransom is addicting because it's easy to play but tough to beat. The gangs get increasingly more difficult and boss battles are wide open. You fight on streets, in gyms, and in parks around the city. You can jump on benches, fences, and walls to gain advantages over your enemies. It has a nice plot, a good linear path to travel and do battle, fun places to shop and improve your skills, and good, difficult enemies.

Set the difficulty on hard and watch how much effort it takes to win.

Go save your girlfriend!