Whoa, thanks!!
So precise ;)

I think this review is pretty spot on and sums up the differences better than I can:

https://medium.com/@Xander51/river-city-ransom-underground-review-a-reimagining-of-the-classic-franchise-816c92201567

The only thing I have to add is, "Hey! You got Street Fighter in my River City Ransom! Delicious!"

This series originated as an arcade game not on the NES...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZBquFpsh4w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC0GZNjZVH8&t=95s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFb8GaCoEyQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhOoLLBFrmk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np7-xrlYhLg

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(video_game]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(video_game[/url])

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Dodge_Ball

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Dodge_Ball_(Neo_Geo]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Dodge_Ball_(Neo_Geo[/url])

There's a dodgeball game on Steam too
http://store.steampowered.com/app/326340/River_City_Super_Sports_Challenge_All_Stars_Special/

oops, not dodgeball, but I think is there too...

You might want to pick this up sooner rather than later if you're interested. One of the soundtrack artists for the game (Alex Mauer) has apparently lost her mind and is using DMCA to removed everything that contains her music from the internet. She has gone after RCR:U on Steam already and may soon come for the GoG version. GoG has a habit of removing games from the store when any legal issues come up until they are resolved. Then again this seems crazier than most so I don't know what will happen.

[EDIT] Valve is apparently ignoring her at the moment as she really has no legal standing for this.

Some of your videos link to the game Renegade, not RCR. Renegade is a different series.

NES also had at least two Renegade games. They are good, but not nearly as good as RCR.

Both of you are right. Renegade is in fact the international version of Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, the first game in the Kunio-kun series, of which River City Ransom (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari in Japan, Street Gangs in Europe) is a part of.

Calling Renegade a different series than River City Ransom, though, is not technically correct, since all Renegade and RCR titles are part of the larger aforementioned Kunio-kun universe. I totally understand why one would consider them completely different series, though. Plus, knowing all this stuff about Japanese games isn't mandatory, fortunately, and it definitely shouldn't influence our enjoyment of the games we like to play.

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(video_game)]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(video_game)[/url]

Renegade is a video game released in American and European arcades in 1986 by Taito. It is a westernized conversion (including changes to all of the sprites and backgrounds) of the Japanese arcade game Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (熱血硬派くにおくん, which roughly translates to "Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio"[1]), released earlier the same year by Technos. It is an immediate technological predecessor to Double Dragon, and Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun is the inaugural game in the Kunio-kun series (which includes Super Dodge Ball and River City Ransom).

[1] Kurt Kalata & Saikak. Kunio-kun / Nekketsu High School. Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved on 3 March 2008.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunio-kun

For Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, the first game in the series, see Renegade (video game).

The Kunio-kun (くにおくん) series is a video game series started by Technōs Japan. The series is now handled by Arc System Works who purchased all of the intellectual property rights from Technōs' spiritual successor, Million Corp. The first game in the series is fully titled [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(video_game)]Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun[/url] (熱血硬派くにおくん), which roughly translates to "Hot Blood Tough Guy Kunio", with Nekketsu being the name of Kunio's high school.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunio-kun#Nekketsu_K.C5.8Dha_Kunio-kun

Title Details
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(video_game)]Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun[/url]

Original release date(s):

JPN: May 1986

Release years by system:
05/1986 – Arcade
2006 – PlayStation 2
03/06/2012 Windows[citation needed]
Notes:

The first game in the series, in the original Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (熱血硬派くにおくん, "Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio") the player takes control of Kunio as he fights against the various gangs who bully his friend Hiroshi at the start of each stage.
The international version, titled Renegade, features changed graphics and dubbed voices that gives the game a more western-looking setting. The plot was also changed from Kunio beating gangs to avenge his friend to the main hero having to rescue his girlfriend.
Released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan as part of the Ore-tachi Game Center Zoku lineup on January 26, 2006.

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renegade_(video_game)]Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun[/url]

Original release date(s):

JPN: April 17, 1987

Release years by system:
1987 – Family Computer
2008 – Virtual Console
Notes:

Based on the Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun arcade game, the Famicom version was Technōs Japan's first game for the home console market.
The final stage features a maze-like structure in which the wrong path leads to a previous stage.
Released in Japan for the Virtual Console on March 18, 2008.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_City_Ransom

River City Ransom, originally released as Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (ダウンタウン熱血物語 Dauntaun Nekketsu Monogatari, lit. "Downtown Hot-Blooded Story") in Japan and later as Street Gangs in PAL regions, is an open world action role-playing beat 'em up video game for the Family Computer/NES. It was developed by Technōs Japan and originally released in Japan on April 25, 1989. It is the third game in Technos' Kunio-kun series released for the console, preceded by Renegade and Super Dodge Ball. Like its predecessors, River City Ransom underwent great changes in its storyline and graphical presentation during its localization in order to make the game more palatable in the Western market. It was one of the first console games published by North American subsidiary American Technos.

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Target: Renegade is the sequel to the first Renegade. There's also Renegade 3, which came after Target: Renegade.

Like it has been said many times before in this thread, Renegade is the international version of the first Kunio-kun (Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun), with changes to pretty much all backgrounds and sprites of the original Japanese game, effectively becoming something different. I honestly can't think of Renegade games as being a part of the Kunio-kun series, since they altered so much stuff. Plus, though the first Renegade was developed by Kunio-kun developers, Technos, Target: Renegade and Renegade 3 were made by Ocean, effectively making the series not related to the Kunio-kun universe at all.

I hope this helped with your confusion, though it probably only added to it. :P

River City Ransom is not a sequel to Renegade. Renegade is a different IP and different series altogether from River City Ransom.

The sequel to Renegade is a second game called "Target: Renegade." River City Ransom is not a sequel to that either.

Do you even read what other people post? This has been addressed over and over again in this thread, already. There are lots of posts discussing this.

You're both right and wrong at the same time. River City Ransom is not a sequel to Renegade. That much is true. They're not, however, different series. Both Renegade and River City Ransom are part of the Kunio-kun series, by Technos Japan. Renegade is just an international localization and reskin of the very first Kunio-kun game, called Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun in Japan, and River City Ransom (sold as Street Gangs, in PAL regions) is the North-American version of Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari, the fifth game in the Kunio-kun series. I understand why you'd think they're not games in the same series, because the international versions changed a lot of things in all of the released Kunio-kun games (even changing the same character's name from title to title, for instance).

So, yeah, technically, Renegade and River City Ransom are not sequels (even though they are so in the original Japanese), but they are, in fact, part of the same series, Kunio-kun, along with Crash 'n' the Boys, Super Dodge Ball and Nintendo World Cup. The two sequels to Renegade, Target: Renegade and Renegade 3, however, being sequels to the international version of Renegade, and developed by Ocean instead of Technos, are *not* part of the Kunio-kun universe or series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXhx7r1nqgI

Alex Mauer is still trying to get "River City Ransom" off Steam, since she claims to not have signed documents with the publisher of the game or her fellow musicians, she made the soundtrack with.

Soundtrack is still online on bandcamp:

http://music.disasterpeace.com/album/ram-son

Very ugly situation, I would urge anyone to buy the game as fast as possible, she tries to kill her soundtrack from the game at any costs. "StarMazerr" is still "work in progress", but "River City Ransom" is complete, a new soundtrack would suck VERY much because it would be a different game.

At least today we can download the original version of the game, I hope this will not change...

I am not a fan of the people that go around saying people need to be fired for their beliefs. At this point however I'm starting to think she should be blackballed from the video game industry. Any doubt I had that she might have been right before is now long gone.

Also thank you GOG for bringing this game here. Bought!

She finally backed off. She is seeking the help that she needs for her condition. I wish her luck in that regard - she really needs it.

And she blackballed herself from the industry because of her own actions. She likely ended her own career in the video game industry at this point. She's also in a whole pile of legal issues because she went after the wrong people (including Turner Broadcasting Systems).