Over the Wire

In celebration of this week’s release of Grand Theft Auto IV, why not go back and check out one of the first GTA-style games ever released: River City Ransom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in North America in 1990 by the now defunct American Technos, River City Ransom is best described as a role-playing game mixed with a beat-’em-up, or perhaps the perfect fusion of Double Dragon and GTA. You can basically go anywhere you want in the sprawling expanse (seriously, there’s an incredible 20 side-scrolling screens and that’s a ton for 1990) of River City, but just watch out for eight rival gangs that will beat you up and steal your lunch money should you wander off too far into the urban jungle. Oh yeah, and when you beat people up, they give up the ghost with the solitary cry of, “BARF!” What’s not to love?
—Kevin Ciok