River King (Kawa no Nushi Tsuri, lit. Fishing the River Master), also known as Legend of the River King and Harvest Fishing, is a series of role-playing video games based around fishing. The games have been developed by Pack-In-Video, Victor Interactive Software, and Marvelous Interactive.
The plots of River King differ from game to game but the general end goal is the same: to capture the River King.
The series has a spinoff called Umi no Nushi Tsuri which is based around saltwater fishing.
Games In The River King Series:
- Kawa no Nushi Tsuri (Nintendo Entertainment System; 1990)
- Kawa no Nushi Tsuri: Shizenha (TurboGrafx CD; 1992)
- Kawa no Nushi Tsuri 2 (Super Nintendo Entertainment System; 1995)
- Legend of The River King (Game Boy; 1997)
- Legend of the River King GBC (Game Boy Color; 1999)
- Kawa no Nushi Tsuri (Playstation; 1998)
- Legend of the River King 2 (Game Boy Color; 1999)
- Kawa no Nushi Tsuri 5 (Game Boy Advance; 2002)
- River King: A Wonderful Journey (Playstation 2; 2005)
- Kawa no Nushi Tsuri 3 & 4 (Game Boy Advance; 2006)
- River King: Mystic Valley (Nintendo DS; 2007)
Games In The Umi no Nushi Tsuri Series:
- Umi no Nushi Tsuri (Super Nintendo Entertainment System; 1996)
- Umi no Nushi Tsuri 2 (Game Boy; 1998)
- Nushi Tsuri 64 (Nintendo 64; 1998)
- Umi no Nushi Tsuri: Takarajima he Mukatte (Playstation; 1999)
- Nushi Tsuri 64: Shiokaze Ninotte (Nintendo 64; 2000)
- Nushi Tsuri Adventure: Kite no Bouken (Game Boy Color; 2000)
This series provides examples of:
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: River King 2 has the typical Natsume translation job for the era.
- Deep Sleep: In Mystic Valley, your little sister Yunna is stuck in a magical sleep and you have to save her.
- Fishing Minigame: The series itself is all about fishing.
- Forced Transformation: In Kawa no Nushi Tsuri 5 you must rescue people who have been turned into fish.
- Kid Hero: The protagonist is usually a young boy, though a few games allow you to play as a young girl or an adult. River King 2 lets you choose between a child or a teenager, and has minor differences between the two.
- Long Song, Short Scene: Everything in River King 2, due to the bizarre decision to cut the music when your rod is out. Unless you stand around doing nothing or get lucky enough to avoid encounters while walking around, you likely won't hear too much of any track.
- Physical Gods: In Legend of The River King 2, the Mountain and Sea Gods have taken the form of fish, and you must fish them up.
- Raising Sim: Some games allow you to raise pets.
- The Rival: Manato in Mystic Valley is a self-proclaimed rival who challenges you to fishing tournaments.
- Shared Universe: With Harvest Moon and Hometown Story.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Sasara, a research scientist, wears glasses in Mystic Valley.
- Video Game Remake: 3 & 4 is a remake of the first and second titles.
- Youkai: Mystic Valley contains a kappa, oni, kodama, nekomata, and a few others. River King 2 has them as well, but they're called normal animals in dialogue in typical '90s localization.
