Note: This review addresses the base game and DLC.

Some games adopt the theory sequels need to be the same, but more. River City Girls 2 puts this concept into practice, for good or ill, mostly for good.

Before I go on, I want to make a few notes to cover when this game takes place, as it mashes together the English and Japanese adaptation canon into a bit of a confusing mess. It's a sequel to River City Girls 1, but blends the normal route final boss as the canon one with the events of the alternate route (these were mutually exclusive, the discrepancy is left hanging on purpose for laughs). It's also a follow-up to River City Girls Zero (the 2022 port of Super Famicom game Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka). For this, elements common to the "modern" and "original" script options of Zero are canon to RC Girls 2, except in cases where characters believed dead in the Japanese version are alive and well in RC Girls 2. Aspects of Double Dragon are adapted, with the important takeaway being the character Marian is alive in this continuity. They even feature some characters from River City Underground, a sequel to the Western canon version of River City Ransom. For this last one, this is adapted via alternate continuity given Underground was nowhere near the same time period as the other games. Finally, a few Americanized versions of Japanese characters are now their own distinct characters.

The story begins right after the end of River City Girls. The female yakuza boss Sabuko is picked up from where she got kicked out a window into a dumpster by her insufferably smug adoptive brother Ken. Taken to visit their father, Sabu, currently cooling his heels in prison, he's not pleased Sabuko had the Sanwakai syndicate effectively taken apart by two teenage girls. After punching a wall and making his way out like the Koolaid Man, he begins to take back the city his syndicate had almost conquered and plans to get revenge on Misako and Kyoko, the two girls who humiliated the Sanwakai.

Fast forward to the present day as Misako and Kyoko, late for class, are ambushed by Ken, who reveals the Sanwakai took over. After returning the favor by having them kicked out a window into a dumpster, they spend the next two months effectively self-expelled playing video games. Finally venturing out to get a new game to play, they realize the yakuza have made the town of River City way worse than it was before, and wind up joining up with new friends to take down Sabu.

This begins the game of River City Girls 2. Like the first game, it's a side-scrolling beat 'em-up set in the city of River City, a series of areas separated into different districts which the player will need to completely explore while gaining stats, fighting moves, and defeating hordes of yakuza goons and other miscreants. Ultimately, the main characters must gain access to Sanwakai Tower to topple Sabu's criminal empire.

Unlike the first game, which had just Misako and Kyoko with their boyfriends as secret characters, all four are available by default. You also can get Marian Kelly (who was an NPC in the last game and is now playable) and Provie (an alternate universe import from the Americanized canon River City Underground), each of which has their own distinct play style. You will need to level up each character separately, but to avoid any of them falling behind too much, they have a new system to prevent this. Specifically, if you purchase an upgradeable stat item for one character all characters you can play get the same bonus. The Double Dragon DLC allows Billy and Jimmy Lee, the OG protagonists of Double Dragon (semi-retired as NPCs running training dojos here) to return to the fight as bonus characters.

There are also a lot more sidequests in this game compared to the first, many of which provide bonus gear and EXP. They also expanded the system to allow recruit enemies as supports by including new ones whose services you can purchase via talking to them. Some are new to this game, and some are from the last game like Noize. Boss battles are a bit more interesting in this game, as all bosses have their own unique gimmicks and tactics, making boss battles require some forethought compared to the last one.

Graphically, this game retains the anime-style look from the last game, with anime cutscenes, hand-drawn backgrounds, and HD pixel sprites in the game itself. Both are colorful and distinct and look great. The cutscenes occasionally use a pseudo-comic book style while recounting the story or doing a flashback which is well-animated as well.

The music and sounds retain the mix of vocals by Megan McDuffie from the first game with some remixed music from Double Dragon and prior Kunio-kun games. I rather enjoyed the smooth jazz-rock remix of the River City Ransom boss theme and the vocals have some amusing and quite apropos lyrics. Sound effects are quite arcade-style. The voice acting of the first game returns, sounding quite good in English, and this time having a native Japanese option by default, fixing an odd oversight for the first.

This game can be controlled by keyboard and mouse or via a Steam-supported controller. The developers highly recommend the latter, and I concur with that. The keys can be remapped, but I found the default control scheme to be quite accessible. Aside from a bit of mild annoyance with timing jumps over terrain due to the 2D style not always making clear distance for some areas well, the controls are responsive. The controls on the Steam Deck are also quite responsive out of the box.

The game stability is excellent. This isn't going to require a demanding PC at all. It is rated as Playable on Steam Deck and works on that and Linux via Steam Proton with little trouble. There is a multiplayer feature with Local and online cooperative multiplayer. Single-player and multiplayer are generally well-balanced so players can choose either.

Like the first game, this also has a fair number of moral issues of note.

Violence is beat 'em up style. Courtesy of fists, feet, and various objects, you and your enemies can do damage. It's generally presented in a rather cartoonish manner, but there is no doubt this is pretty heavy physical violence. There are some "zombie" enemies that issue some green blood when hit, but there is no gore and bodies disappear after defeat. There are some moves that deal obvious pain to the crotch region available to almost all characters as well.

Language is mostly mild but with some occasional use of d*mn, h*ll, p*ss off, and a**. There are a few sexual innuendos, such as the main player character implying they'd be bisexual for at least one woman and another character vaguely implying she was in a threesome. Some outfits are fairly revealing as well.

Unlike the last game, where one character claimed to be a practitioner of the dark arts (though the claims were dubious and this game has another character outright refute the claim), there is a confirmed witch in the game, complete with confirmation she has summoned demons and that Hell is quite real. There are some zombie enemies as well (and at least one confirmed it was the result of a seance gone horribly wrong). Your main characters generally refrain from touching the supernatural as a rule, though they can buy some dubious accessories that may or may not be augmented by supernatural powers if you like.

Morally, your main characters (Misako and Kyoko) are "nominal" heroes at best. While they have an unambiguously good goal of stopping a criminal syndicate, they aren't above being a bit more brutal than needed. Also, one side quest has them interfering with an attempt by said criminals to put money gained under likely criminal means in a bank. While they do show concern about the source of said money, it doesn't stop them from pocketing it for themselves. Authority issues are a bit less severe than in the last game, as all authority has been subverted by criminals in every relevant regard, so resisting it is obviously a good idea.

Overall, I enjoyed this game, which basically consisted of more of the things I liked about the first game with a few rough edges sanded off. Morally, it's got some concerning content only fit for older teenagers on up given the themes. If you want more wacky fun in the Kunio-kun universe and/or enjoy beat 'em-ups with some RPG elements, then this is definitely worth picking up.