Hello, I'm Miss Rhodes. I am one of the directors of WayForward. Among other things, WayForward makes Shantae and River City Girls games. I've personally been developing River City games for nearly a decade using Arc System Works. I started by removing sprites and animations from River City and have struggled to figure out how to animate them. This pushed me down the path of developing my game. But I know you are not with me. Marianne, one of the new playable characters in River City Girls 2, is the main attraction of this article, so let's get down to business.
Marianne has enjoyed a long and earned career as a troubled girl. For decades, he was openly attacked in the streets, kidnapped by a criminal gang, held hostage in front of magical stones, or shot (though later did). Needless to say, he struggled. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that her boyfriends Billy and Jamie fought to the death over who would date her. This is too much.
Marianne's final production art, as well as concept art show off her powerful moves at work.
Times have changed and so have Marianne. No longer a helpless victim of these morbid thugs, villains and morbid skeleton wizards. Over the years, Marianne has trained her body to withstand the physical and psychological abuse she has inadvertently experienced over the past decades. The unwanted blows to the stomach were just a vague memory of old Marianne.
Two of Marianne's many expressions. There seems to be something mysterious going on.
Marianne learned boxing and wrestling techniques. He didn't want to be seen as a "slow but mighty warrior". His rapid barrage of punches and kicks makes him a very unique but very familiar fighter.
Marianne stars in the first River City Girls movie. On popular demand, go from a petty dealer to a playable character in RCG2.
The current design of Marian from River City Girls appeared in the first game River City Girls in 2019. Players and fans of the series immediately reached out to Maria. It was a fan favorite and an obvious choice for one of the new playable characters in the sequel. Marian is also bridging the gap between the Double Dragon and River City series. We have done this with Arc System Works, the licensee, and they fully agree with this decision.
Frame by frame study of one of Marianne's powerful moves, the Knockout Knife.
Despite being a wrestler, he's not necessarily slower than the other characters, and he has a variety of moves that make him incredibly versatile. He is the only playable character with Command Takes. These moves are great at inflicting damage on a single enemy while dealing enough damage to destroy the mobs nearby.
Marianne launches a combo, throws an enemy into the air and then throws them back to the ground with an air pancake.
He also has several bombing moves that can help him attack enemies from above using alien movement. This movement can propel him forward quickly hitting distant enemies, or it can be used as an anti-aircraft spinner attack, or if you wait until the last minute when he stops spinning, you can throw the special angle air cylinder. Below is an attack on unsuspecting opponents.
Another feature is team capture, which only works if it's between two enemies within range. Marianne performs mental mixing, which grabs the enemies on either side and pushes them together. If he uses a move against one enemy, he will instead throw an Irish whip (a stupid wrestling move where an opponent can't stop running after being hung on the ropes). This will allow Marianne to attack them when they are vulnerable.
Marianne proves that two heads are better than one with a cranial brain followed by a knockout blow.
And finally, his KO Cutter. This move is a smashing right-hand fist that can take down multiple enemies in front of her. Or, if you select the right time, the movement can be charged by holding down the assigned button until it starts automatically. This will do more damage and give you the added benefit of making enemies bounce off walls towards you.
Another useful move in the Marian arsenal is the Carousel Throw, which damages not only the thrown enemy, but all unfortunate opponents enough to block the way.
Marian is completely different from the other playable characters in the game, but she needs to be simple enough that anyone can instantly grab her and feel comfortable. Our new characters, Marianne and Brophy, were such fun characters that I personally felt the original characters needed to rethink their playing style so they could keep up with how awesome the beginners were. I hope you enjoy playing Marianne, Brophy, and our returning heroes (all shown in the sequel) as much as we do when the game launches on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.