The beatdown at Felghana: Ys III & River City Ransom | Metroidvania Works 20

The Ys series continues to trek along in the footsteps of the Zelda games... but does it really? Sure, you could mistake Ys III for another Zelda II clone, but—in typical Falcom style—the game spends a lot more time digging into its own roots than it does aping the latest trends. It's more that Ys III borrows the outward form of Zelda II in order to create a game that feels distinctly Ys-like. This side-scrolling take on Ys has a lot more in common with its predecessors than Zelda II did with the original Zelda. Also of note this episode, we have an unconventional take on the action RPG in the form of River City Ransom. If I were the type to make screamy rage videos on YouTube, this episode would have a thumbnail featuring my face screwed up in fury and demanding, "They did THIS to the sequel to Renegade?!?!" But gentle viewer, I am not, and they did. River City Ransom feeds the action RPG genre elements of a wildly unrelated format—namely, the brawler. And it works! Even if the difficulty is hilariously lopsided and the game becomes trivial once you boost your stats and skills enough. But hey, that's OK, too. Production notes: Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more! Why watch when you can read? Check out the massive hardcover print editions of NES Works, Super NES Works, and Virtual Boy works, available now at Limited Run Games (https://limitedrungames.com/collections/books)! Look forward to SG-1000 Works: Segaiden Vol. I in August and Metroidvania: The First Decade in 2024. NES footage captured from Analogue Nt Mini. Video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister.