Projects · Release
River City Ransom SNES
v1.0.0 · build 4305e · October 13, 2026
River City Ransom (NES, 1989), ported natively to the Super Nintendo. The original game code runs directly on the SNES CPU, graphics are converted to SNES tiles and palettes, and the NES music and sound effects play on the SNES audio chip through Memblers' 2A03 SPC700 engine, in the updated version from Project Nested. It runs on SNES emulators, flash carts and the MiSTer SNES core, and has been tested on MiSTer and on a real SNES Jr. via flash cart, where the whole game was beaten on Intermediate.
Screenshots: native 256×224, Mesen2, build 4294. Later builds look the same apart from the Gamer stamina bar.
Features
- Native SNES port (2 MB HiROM, FastROM) with SPC700 audio.
- Two new difficulty levels. Intermediate sits between the original Novice and Advanced. Gamer gives enemies +32, raises the stat caps to 127/255 (yours too), and makes agility above 63 actually faster.
- On Gamer, gang members and bosses get a red outline so you can read the crowd.
- Per-weapon, damage-scaled rumble on controller 1 with the MiSTer SNES core (SNES Rumble protocol).
- MiSTer SNES core save states work, and the Limited Run SNAC controller is confirmed working on MiSTer.
- A dedicated jump button (A) alongside the original Y+B.
New in v1.0.0
- Lockup fix.
- Gamer mode: item stat gains cap at 127.
- Passwords: stats are clamped to 63 when a password is made, so passwords stay valid; switching from Gamer to a lower difficulty clamps stats back to 63.
- Ending credits graphics fix, plus a struktured labs credit page and a slower splash reveal.
- Per-weapon rumble, and the logo sound now starts with the splash reveal.
How to patch
Bring your own US NES ROM; no ROM is distributed. Apply the BPS with Rom Patcher JS or Flips. A headerless variant of the patch is included.
| Input (No-Intro) | River City Ransom (USA).nes |
| CRC32 (with iNES header) | C3508F7E |
| SHA-1 (with iNES header) | A8612A36D9D2739D2B321B6EBB97C2757CCCA410 |
| CRC32 (headerless) | E9C387EC |
| SHA-1 (headerless) | CA794E6A2B0ECF69B2BE1753D379CCE6434C49D7 |
| Output CRC32 | C09D8B79 |
| Output SHA-1 | C811F61F1A97D6FBE1D8770349B8A2DF37BDC2BD |
Known issues
Occasionally the wrong graphics or stale sprites show on entering a room (workaround: open and close the pause menu), and there can be rare, brief tearing at the screen edge during fast scrolling. The full list is in the readme included in the download. The earlier v0.9.0 beta (October 6, 2026) remains available on GitHub.
Credits
Port by Struktured Labs. The 2A03 SPC700 sound engine is by Joey Parsell (Memblers), updated by Myself086 (Laurent Courville) in Project Nested (MIT licence), with this port's own audio fixes. Thanks to Rumbleminze, whose NES-to-SNES porting template informed the design, and to infidelity for porting guidance. Patrick Areny's upernes was the reference for NES-on-SNES audio delivery; thanks also to the Limited Run Games SNES Rumble protocol and the MiSTer SNES core developers.
River City Ransom © Technōs Japan / Arc System Works. This is an unofficial, non-commercial fan project, and no ROM data is distributed.