The retro cult favorite River City Ransom is getting a sequel, due out this summer on consoles. Japanese indie developer Miracle Kidz told Impress Watch (via Siliconera) that they are working on River City Ransom 2, and some of the original staff is involved with the project as well.

The company plans to release the game on unspecified consoles this summer, and PC sometime next year. Miracle Kidz has already released Downtown Smash Dodgeball on the Xbox 360's Indie Games Channel, and a WiiWare version is due in May. It's likely that River City Ransom 2 will end up on at least one of the two platforms.

River City Ransom was always a bit of an odd duck, but it brought RPG stat-based elements into the framework of a beat-em-up, way back in the 8-bit days. Its quirky sense of humor garnered a lot of good will, so an actual sequel should be a welcome sight.