Streets of Rage 2

The Good
Hi there and welcome to the game that crushed Final Fight. Let me talk about what this beauty does right.

The Graphics. A HUGE Improvement over the first streets of rage though not as big as Final Fight. HOWEVER the speed of the sprites and the number far outranks the Final Fight games.

Another great thing about the sequel is the complete revamp of the character graphics. Axel's sprite is bigger has more muscle mass then before and his clothes have a few more minute details compared to Streets of Rage 1. Blaze also has a few new graphical touches over the original streets of rage.

New Characters: Skate is a great addition to the game. He's blazing fast compared to Axel and Blaze and definitely max. Skate also adds some challenge due to having the lowest stamina and strength rating. Also Max joins in. A wrestler that is more akin to Haggar from Final Fight. Though it feels strange not having Adam in this game.

Special Moves! A improvement over Streets of Rage 1. You can now use a special move with the A button where like Final Fight you do a move that is a gang up prevention. Axel does a flaming dragon punch, Blaze does a fireball, Skate does a drill kick and max does a rushing dash. Great stuff. Also each character also has a regular special move. Like the "get da powa" uppercut move that Axel does.

More variety in the levels. In this game you go through bridges and arcades, beaches, a baseball mound, city areas. And several other amusing areas. Though to be honest I wonder why they go through this city on foot. Wouldn't it be easier to go through it by car?

Music. Is SERIOUSLY better this time around. Sure there are some remixes but the quality is far improved and sounds quite a bit better. The soundtrack in streets of rage 2 is the high point of the series and is a pinnacle in beat em up music pleasure.

Sound effects. There's far more this time and they sound far more clear and sharp compared to the original Streets of Rage game. There's punches, kicks, karate yells, axel yelling GET DA POWA, screams from enemies dying, knife hits and bar smacks. This game has tons of great sounding sound effects. Way to go.

The difficulty is adjustable and quite frankly this game gets insane once you start going into the hard and very hard and mania modes. This game offers tons of beat down and the higher the mode the more beat down you serve to the game. Playing this game is pure unadultered awesomeness when it comes down to it.

The Bad
To be honest the only nitpicks I can find about this game are below.

high scores disappear when game is turned off.

Why is it that only skate can run? Why not Axel, Blaze and Max?

The Bottom Line
If I could describe this game I would describe it as a pure rush. This is a pinnacle of beat em ups. Right up there with Double Dragon and just a scotch above Final Fight.

Beginners and Vets will love this type of action and the game never gets old. The game is also pretty cheap too ranging from 5-10 bucks so you won't be breaking the bank when picking up this cart. A give this game a deserving 10/10 for providing so much beatdown that it oughta be illegal.

The Good
Streets Of Rage 2, followed shortly after SOR 1. In 1992, the sequel to one of Sega’s most promising franchises hit the Genesis, like a baseball bat to the head.

In SOR 2, Mr. X the villain, defeated by the Adam, Axel, and Blaze, is back and out for revenge. So he abducts, Adam. Blaze and Axel, head out after him, joined by to new fighters. Skate, Adam’s little brother, and Max, a friend of Axel’s and a wrestler.

The game takes you from the streets, to a baseball field, to Mr.X’s base. The levels never seems out of place. Unlike many games of this genre, Final Fight, and Captain Commando, to name a few. And you can often see previous levels from your current one. The team combos are back, which of course was one of SOR 1’s best features, even many newer games do not make use of this feature. There is still a large verity of moves. If you are thrown by an opponent you can still recover in mid-air and take no damage.

Gone are the area effecting moves from it’s predecessor. Now new power moves like “Bare Knuckle” are available. Each fighter has several. Using them drains life from your fighters, so don’t count on them when your health is low.

The Game has much more to it than SOR 1. Stages are now multi-part. And are overall more plausible. With mini-bosses as well as stage bosses. The enemies are also more varied and the game relies less on “palette swapping”.

The Graphics are a vast improvement fro than of SOR 1. It is almost like comparing 8 bit, to 16 bit. The fighters are now huge on screen, giving the game more of an arcade feel, which it is trying to do. Blaze is even hotter.( Pun intended!) The backgrounds are sharp and have lot’s of detail. This game really helps one appreciate the beauty of 16-bit graphics.

The sound is improved over the previous game as well. The punching sounds are more realistic. Gone are the metallic punch sounds of SOR 1. As one would expect the score of SOR 2, by Yuzo Kosihiro, is excellent. Not as good as than of SOR 1 but still good.

The Bad
The plot is pretty absurd. How could Adam be taken hostage? Have you seen him fight? He kicks ass. And some how he is taken prisoner. Plus I hate the save the kidnapped person plot it is a major cliché.

The music is not as good this time around. And the game is too easy. Even on the higher difficulty settings.

The Bottom Line
Overall, if you want to see what all the fuss is over the SOR series, this is the one to play. And if you like it try the others.

The Good
Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckles to some) is Sega's kick-ass answer to Final Fight. It's success as an arcade and cartridge almost guaranteed a sequel, but fans were kept waiting and hoping for a bit. Would the wait be worth it? Heck! Yeah!

The game has quite a bit of memory for a video cartridge and the extra memory was put to good use. The original characters have been greatly improved upon, both in terms of design and attack moves.

More combo and special attacks are available, and all are easy to execute. New characters were added to the franchise, each with their own backstory and attack moves.

The graphics are some of the best seen in a Sega Genesis game and they are accompanied by some totally awesome music.

If you ever doubted the capacity of the Sega Genesis to produce some great, 16-bit audio and visual effects, you have it to look and listen to this game.

The Bad
It is difficult to find serious faults with Streets Of Rage 2. If you are not into a side scrolling, brawler then the game may seem a tad two-dimensional.

The additional ability to battle a friend in a Street Fighter 2-type arena is nice, but clearly almost added as an afterthought.

The Bottom Line
Streets Of Rage 2 is everything a great video game sequel should be. It is everything a great side scrolling, beat 'em up should be. If you are in the mood to beat up an army of vicious gang members and their sinister (and incredibly well financed) employer, then this is the game for you.

The Good
It's hard to get started, as there are so many things to choose from. Graphics are now true 16-bit quality, with large, well defined and animated characters, crisp backgrounds and great presentation, of near arcade quality. Some levels include some interesting visuals, such as the foggy Alien House, but for the most part, the style of the game follows the first, except a lot more detailed.

Gameplay, however, was the most improved part, mostly thanks to three things: the larger characters made the playfield smaller and by extension, gameplay faster, the rocket-attack was replaced by a more useful special attack (which doubles in both offense and defense) along a wider array of moves, and finally, names and life bars for everyone. Weapons are also more useful with some characters than with others: Max can make a huge deal of damage with a pipe, while Skate can barely do anything with it. These two characters also add more variety than in the previous game: while Blaze was only a little less strong and a little more fast than the two guys, Skate is lightening fast (and in fact, the only one with the upcoming dash move) but very weak, while Max is... well, saying "a walking battletank" does justice to him.

Music was once again provided by Yuzo Koshiro, and needlessly to say, it is again a wonderful piece of work, both inside the game and on it's own. The man himself considers this one to be his best work, so who are we to disagree ?

The Bad
For some reason, the difficulty level was tweaked down a lot. I sincerely doubt that anyone but a real novice in the genre can finish the game without losing more than a couple of lives in the process. If the players picks Axel, then things get even easier: his "Grand Upper" move is incredibly devastating, able to inflict a load of damage without much risk. One of the most difficult parts in the first game was dealing with the fat fire-breathers, as they were difficult to dodge if you were not ready, and couldn't throw/slam them. Well, now they are easier to dodge, and can throw them at will. It would make sense if Max could, but Skate? I don't think so.

Levels, while now visiting more than a place in each one, lack the traps of the first. The bridge gaps are sealed, and you can't get rid of some of the most annoying punks by "inviting" them to go head-first into the first floor, and the factory is lacking the presses, so most of them only change graphically, all being plain side-scrolling efforts (except the elevators).

The Bottom Line
This second installment in the series does exactly what a sequel should do: find out what was missing or wrong in the first, fix it and improve what was already good. The result is the best in the series, one of the best games of the platform and of the genre, to boot. While it is too easy for pretty much anyone (which only hurts those looking for a challenge), the gameplay goodness combined with the quality graphics and music make up for it. A true classic.

The Good
Streets of Rage is a side-scrolling, fighting platform game. Its very similar to Final Fight. However, unlike Final Fight for the SNES, Streets of Rage 2 is actually two player. Final Fight had an SNES sequal that was also two player, but I found that game to be more repetitive and flat than Streets of Rage 1 or 2.

There are also more techniques and combos in Streets of Rage 2 than in Final Fight and the game is longer, the backgrounds more diverse, and the enemies more varied. Its a great improvement over the original Streets of Rage also.

Graphically, it is about as nice looking as Final Fight for the SNES, and better looking than Final Fight for the Sega CD. Its not as nice looking as the Final Fight arcade game (which I still like better), but it easily beats any other Double Dragon styled fighting game on any home system from 1992 until 2000.

The Bad
The adult black character, Adam, did not return in this installment and he was my favorite character in the original. He was replaced by his annoying kid brother and a pro-wrestler pumped up on steroids. I really could do without these two new additions. I liked to play Adam. However, they did give Adam's moves to Axl.

Streets of Rage 2 is followed by an inferior sequel, Streets of Rage 3, which was still pretty good (and still lacked Adam). I would like to have seen a sequel given the full 32-bit treatment on the Saturn or the Dreamcast but that would have been intelligent and profitable which was against Sega's business policies.

The Bottom Line
Wonderful fighting game. It shows what the system was really capable of doing amid all of the crap titles that Sega's third party support was producing (Awesome Possum, etc).

I'd recommend Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 3, and Double Dragon for the Genesis. Golden Axe is also similar in some ways.

The Good
The range of moves, including those which involve the use of lead pipes, knives and other weapons you can pick up or knock from the hands of enemies. The levels are of imaginative design, the graphics all look good and there are plenty of first-rate tunes. The characters are all well-thought-out and well-designed, the villains are interesting and varied and the bosses are suitably impressive. The two-player mode provides extra value, and there is even a Street fighter-type one-on-one fighting game. You'll be coming back to this again and again.

The Bad
Erm....er....no updates on those blokes with boomerangs? No, that's just nit-picking.

The Bottom Line
Police officer Adam Hunter has been kidnapped by the boss of a criminal organisation who intend to take over the city. So it's up to Adam's brother Sammy 'Skate' Hunter and his friends to make their way through eight levels of gripping horizontally-scrolling mayhem to reach and destroy the power-mad Mr X. There are four characters including Skate and wrestler Max, along with Blaze and Axel from the first Streets of Rage. And there is a whole range of villains, including denim-clad thugs, knife-wielding maniacs, ninjas, fire-breathers, kick-boxers and many others. Along the way, you'll find varied pick-ups such as apples and chickens - which replace energy - and there are several extra lives, most of them hidden around the place. A first-rate beat-em-up, and the best of the Streets of Rage series.

The Good
Gosh, where to begin...

Let's start with the controls. First of all, all of the characters are controlled more or less the same way. (save for special circumstances like Skate's overhead throw or Max's inability to pole vault over enemies) That is you learn the controls for one character, you pretty much know the controls to another character.

What this means is that the entry barrier to learning a new character is actually fairly low. But this doesn't mean the characters don't PLAY differently. Oh no sir. That cannot be more different from the truth.

In fact, considering the control scheme is so uniformed, the characters play like night and day in terms of tactics and strengths.

What's even crazier is that despite this massive differences in gameplay, ALL of the characters are viable even at the highest difficulty.

Which leads to me to my next point: the difficulty.

I have never seen any game able to ramp up the difficulty so smoothly with such drastic differences. Try playing the game on hardest and then on Mania (the highest difficulty). The difference is HUGE. And yet, the game does an excellent job prepping you for it so that the skip in difficulty is not one that will just overrun you and make you throw down your controller.

Often times, you will get a situation where the added difficulty is just giving the players more numerical disadvantages and the enemies more numerical advantages. This game? The enemies will actually behave differently depending on the difficulty level. Higher level enemies will be far more efficient in their movements and attacks, and will try their best to surround you ASAP.

Which leads me to my next point, the AI.

For a game with this fairly simple attributes (simple by today's standards), the game AI is incredibly well put together at pushing the limits on those attributes.

The AIs all react to situations differently, and you can tell they have wildly different personalities, which combined with their existing movesets, make those differences even more stark.

Combining all of these attributes together, and you have a brawler that has rock solid tight gameplay, with incredible polish. This is one of those games that deserves to played again and again, not because each time you play you see new content, but because each permutation you make (i.e. character and difficulty) creates a whole new experience on the game.

For a game that only uses 3 buttons, it is incredibly deep because it is apparent that the devs have really made sure every move they put in there is accounted for in the game play experience.

In a lot of games, people will just add more content just to add more. But this game is a textbook example on how to use what you have and make it all count.

Designers now a days can learn a thing or two from games like this.

The Bad
one minor nitpick: the attributes you see in the character picking screen is more or less useless beyond the speed and stamina attribute. (The rest are highly dependent on the move you're using and the fashion you play) Imagine playing Street Fighter, and seeing a "strength" ranking on ryu's profile. Sure, you can certainly do that, but chances are it will mostly be irrelevant and meaningless. It's not even useful as a barometer for beginners because it doesn't even tell you that much. i.e. what does having a high "technique" score mean?

The Bottom Line
This game is the textbook example of milking every bit of game play out of a relatively small set of attributes. A lot of games out there will add more for the sake of more, not realizing it doesn't always add to the game play experience. This game is different.

Chances are, you will never find a better brawler with this streamlined of a system.

The Good
I liked choosing from 4 characters whose abilities were very different, and useful. The enemies were each unique. There was the regular kind of grunt guy that would only throw a sucker punch, then there were the kick boxers and the huge bosses.

Co-op was the best way to play the game. The sounds were great as was the music. A friend and I played through this game on all 5 difficulty settings many, many times.

The Bad
There is nothing that I can think of...

The Bottom Line
One of the best fighting games for the Genesis.

The Good
So, who do you feel like playing as? Max, Axel, Blaze, or Skate? The choice has it's temptations, and I'm sure each fan of this game has their favourite. And that is understandable as they all have their offerings. Max is a Samson-esque figure with devastating power; Axel is the all-American hero-type; Blaze is the beautiful female player with a penchant for kicking; Skate is your inline enthusiast with agility and attitude. I've simplified these characterizations a little unfairly, but this is only a fraction of what the game offers. It doesn't matter who you select, "Streets of Rage 2" is a balanced and fun side-scrolling "beat-em-up" set in a gritty, urban environment - the "Streets of Rage" themselves I imagine.

The first thing I really enjoyed about this game was the soundtrack. Yuzo Koshiro takes us through these concrete jungle and back-alleys with his catchy and moody early House 'tracks. Although this style of music is pretty well obsolete, there is a great synergy between your character, what you are doing and where you are doing it. The music, which varies respectfully throughout the levels, adds an almost dreamy and catatonic impulsiveness, and, seeing as the entire game is set at night (am I right in saying this?) the music holds another level of believability. It adds an impression of a sub-culture of drugs, violence, and an after-dark underworld. The enemy appear almost like a disease as they continuously appear in your way.

The game-play itself, although deeply repetitive, is really well done. The "beat-em-up" has pretty much disappeared from modern games, and so "Streets of Rage 2" offers a great insight into this forgotten or superseded genre. Although there are no "Dead or Alive"/"Tekken" style button combinations to memorise and perfect, this game has it's modest share of violent combos. Remember that it 1992, there was no audience for insanely intricate customisation or player/character identification; rather, "Streets of Rage 2" gave players a feeling that their punches and kicks were landing square and true. This is the first game I remember playing that instilled a feeling of Power (capital "P"!) when you let fly on one of these punks or thugs. Not to mention the satisfaction of a two-player brawl where anything and anyone goes (flying).

Graphically, "Streets of Rage 2" shows the Megadrive at it's peak. Although fairly comic book in it's art design, the environments, characters and limited animations are top-notch. It's surprising that a game with quite simple animation conveys such potent feelings of connection between fist and head. On that note, it must be said that the collision-detection is spot-on; this can be painfully true when cornered by some of the giant-like shirt-less Karate experts!

The Bad
The main problem that I have with this title would be in the repetitive nature of it's game-play. It must be said that the level designers probably put as much effort in as anyone else out there at the time did, but by todays standards you find yourself repeating scene after scene of ultra-violence. (But, again, this has a strange hypnotic and exhaustive feel to it also!) You visit many different environments it must be said, but when all you do is walk left-to-right within them, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference if you're in a nightclub or a maniacs mansion - it's just a different backdrop.

The Bottom Line
For an action game, this has got to be one of the best 16-bit titles out there. I can't think of any other games that surpass "Streets of Rage 2's" all-roundedness. Some may look better, some may play better, but none combine the elements as successfully as this New York-based brawl-fest. (Why do I say New York? Well, the Twin Towers are visible in one of the levels). So, pick your man and hit the streets - Mr. X is at it again...

The Good
Streets of Rage 2 was almost faultless. It took the elementary layout of SOR1 and gave it a fuel injection. Better character play, more moves, great backdrops & excellent music made this an extremely playable game. I have not stopped playing it for 10 years.

If only the games industry had kept the standard of games this high.

The Bad
It's a very basic plot, but this does not impede your enjoyment.

The Bottom Line
If you have never played a scrolling beat-em-up this is where to start. You will not look back.

The Good
I'm not really the one for fighting games and very few have ever managed to impress me. However, this did. Sega have real gem with this game here and it's fantastic. The idea is that you are on a street with a character, (4 to choose.) and you fight different people, with different health and moves. The game boasts 3 different difficulty levels and it's AI is ahead of it's time. Different moves are good against different people and the enemies counter your moves, and have some have their own items. Speaking of items, there are many you can pick up and use against your enemy. The enviorments are interesting and you can smash up chairs and bins with your weapons. Each character has unique moves too. With multiplayer co-op and fighting avaliable, who wouldn't love this game?

The Bad
Nothing I can recall.

The Bottom Line
If you're looking for a fun, classic and strong beat 'em up. Get this game, for cheap. It rivals new games and has aged well.