Two years ago, Arc System Works released River City Saga: Three Kingdoms, a game that combined the famous Three Kingdoms story with characters from the River City/Kunio-kun franchise. Now it's getting a sequel called River City Saga: Three Kingdoms Next. The sequel promises more historical drama and beat downs, the ability to ride a motorcycle, and 4-player local and online co-op.

In June of 2021, WayForward announced a prequel to River City Girls called River City Girls Zero. The Switch version of Zero arrived in February of this year, but the wait has been much longer for other platforms. Today at the Game Realms store in Burbank, California, WayForward held a Q & A session for the RCG series. Attendees and Twitch viewers gained fascinating insights into the development of both River City Girls Zero and 2, plus we learned when the two games are coming out.

While beat 'em up fans continue to wait patiently for WayForward's River City Girls 2 and River City Girls Zero, those aren't the only games in town. Straight from Arc System Works themselves, River City Saga: Three Kingdoms has just landed on PlayStation, Switch, and Steam. This installment transplants the River City/Kunio-kun cast to China's Three Kingdoms period. Both a 2-player story mode and a 4-player arcade mode are included, each supporting local and online co-op. Oh, and the "River City Girls" are in it too!

It's not often that a game receives online multiplayer years after release, but it does happen. Case in point: Double Dragon IV from Arc System Works. The retro-style beat 'em up came to all major platforms, one system at a time, but initially without an online mode. A few years later, though, the game was updated to add 2-player online co-op! That's quite an addition for a small-scale $7 game, so we had to try it out and share our impressions.