downtown nekketsu monogatari
Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (ダウンタウン熱血物語, Hot-Blooded Downtown Tale) is a 1989 beat 'em up/RPG console video game released on the Nintendo Famicom. It's part of the Kunio-Kun series.
It is about a schoolboy named Kunio-Kun who teams up with a former rival named Riki in order to save Riki's girlfriend from the Reihou Gakuen gang.
While mostly an action martial arts game, Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari was unique in the fact that it also combined many RPG elements in its gameplay mechanics. The player's character can interact with several citizens in the streets to obtain information, buy several types of food to replenish health or buy items in stores and learn techniques in academies that enhance his martial arts abilities. All this with money obtained from defeated enemies ("BARF!!!").
The game was released as River City Ransom for the NES console in the US during the same year. The creator of the comic Scott Pilgrim has cited this port of the game as an important influence on his work.
It was also released as Street Gangs in Europe.