River City Girls 2 will release in 2022 with online co-op & new playable characters

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-10-03 14:58 (JST)
Translated by. Ryuki Ishii

Arc System Works announced on October 3 that they will release River City Girls 2 in 2022. The game will be available for PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.

River City Girls 2 is a beat ’em up action game starring Kunio’s girlfriend Misako and Riki’s girlfriend Kyoko, two of the most fearsome high school girls around. It is being developed by WayForward, the same studio behind the previous entry River City Girls, which came out in 2019. WayForward is also known as the developer of Shantae series.

In River City Girls, Kunio and Riki were kidnapped, and the two girls fought through waves of enemies to rescue them. The story of River City Girls 2 will take place a few months after the events of the first game. The details are yet to be revealed, but judging from the new trailer’s voice lines, it seems like something ominous has happened at River City High, and the girls must investigate the situation.

Unlike the previous game, which only supports local co-op, River City Girls 2 will support online co-op as well. It’ll also include Japanese voices. Kyoko will be voiced by Sumire Morohoshi, Misako by Honoka Kuroki, Kunio by Makoto Furukawa, and Riki by Chiaki Kobayashi.

In addition, new playable characters, new stages, new events, and actions will be added to the sequel. In the trailer above, you can check out some of the flashy combos in action, along with a couple of new/old stages, and what appears to be the additional characters, all drawn in fluid pixel-art visual.

River City Girls 2 is scheduled to launch in 2022. It will be available for PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.

In related news, Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka, originally released back in 1994 (exclusively in Japan), will be ported to current-gen consoles. This is the game in which Misako and Kyoko first appeared as playable characters. The newly announced port will faithfully recreate the original, while adding new opening cinematic, theme song, and comic-style cut scenes. The release window for the port is yet to be announced.