Streets of Rage 2
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Sega Smash Pack: Volume 1
(2001) -
Sonic: Gems Collection
(2005)
Description official descriptions
After Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding and Adam Hunter destroyed the evil Syndicate leader, Mr. X, the city became a peaceful place to live, and each one of them followed their own paths. One year later, after their reunion, Adam's brother Sammy returned from school to find their apartment in a mess, and Adam nowhere to be seen, and after calling his two friends, one of them notices a photo of Adam chained to a wall, next to someone they knew very well - Mr. X, who returned to turn the peaceful city once again into a war zone. Now, Axel, Blaze, Sammy, and Axel's good friend Max, a pro wrestler, must head out to stop Mr. X once again...hopefully for good...
Streets of Rage 2 differs from the previous title in several ways. There are changes in both graphics (characters now are bigger, more detailed and with more animation frames, and scenarios are less grainy) and gameplay (the rocket move was replaced by a special move that doubles in offense and defense along several new moves), along other new features such as life bars (and names) for all enemies and the radically different new characters.
Spellings
- ベアナックルII - Japanese spelling
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Genesis version)
31 People (25 developers, 6 thanks) · View all
| Main Planning |
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| Planning |
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| System Design |
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| Main Program |
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| Main Enemy Program |
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| Enemy and Demo Program |
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| Music Composers | |
| Sound Effects | |
| Sound Driver |
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| Project Management |
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| Object Design |
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| Main Design |
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| Background Design |
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| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 83% (based on 50 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 181 ratings with 11 reviews)
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.
Genesis · by The Holy Moly (19) · 2004
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.
Genesis · by ETJB (428) · 2014
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.
Genesis · by Exeox (38) · 2004
Trivia
Cut fighting moves
In early beta versions of Streets of Rage 2, Axel had two very different (and familiar) attacks: a move VERY similar to a Shotokan Dragon Punch, and...a Shotokan Hurricane Kick?
Looks like Sega axed them for good reason: legal action from Capcom for unauthorized teachings of Shotokan moves to their characters. (Shotokan, by the way, is the fighting technique Ryu, Ken, and Akuma use in Capcom's Street Fighter series).
MC.K
In Stage 1, there is an enemy called MC.K who only appears once in the entire game. He is worth about 10,000 points, much more than any other non-boss character.
Music
Yuzo Koshiro claims to have been influenced by early 90's European club music while producing the soundtrack for SoR 2. This is mostly visible with the music in the first part of level 4, which bears an uncanny resemblance with the dance hit Move Any Mountain by The Shamen, released two years before.
References
- Two fat thugs in the game are called Talk and Wanter. They're named after Talk Uchimura (Planning & System design) and Wanta (Project management).
- Before the Round 4 Stadium, you can see a sign that says "It's like Boo!". This may be a reference to "Fat Boo" from Dragonball Z, which looks an awful lot like the SoR2 character Big Ben.
- The character Skate resembles DJ Boy (from the game DJ Boy, another side-scrolling beat-em-up game). This arcade game developed by Kaneko was later published by Sega on the megadrive. In fact, Sega changed the name of the character from 'Sammy' in Bare Knuckle 2 (Japanese release) into Skate in Streets of Rage 2 (US release) and the US publisher for the Megadrive conversion of DJ Boy was the company "Sammy".
- It's no coincidence that the fat enemies in the game often go by the name of 'Heart'. It's a reference to the popular manga Fist of the North Star (Hokuto No Ken), which featured an extremely overweight martial artist also called Heart.
Version differences
- Sammy "Skate" Hunter was renamed to Eddie "Skate" Hunter in the U.S. and European versions of the game.
- Max Thunder, the hulking pro wrestler, doesn't appear in the 8-bit versions (Game Gear and SMS) of SoR2.
- Only in the Japan version, the final boss smokes a cigar
- In the US version, the jump kick animation of Blaze was changed. Originally her legs are wider apart and reveal her panties.
Awards
- 1993 Buyer's Guide - Hottest Video Game Babe (Blaze)
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Related Sites +
-
Game Map (Game Gear) on SMS Power!
Maps of all the levels of the Game Gear version. -
Game Map (Sega Master System) on SMS Power!
Maps of all the levels of the Master System version. -
OC ReMix Game Profile
Fan remixes of music from Streets of Rage 2. -
Video review of Sega Game Gear and some games
Mike Matai reviews the Sega Game Gear and some games, including Streets of Rage 2 on Game Gear. -
X360A achievement guide
X360A's achievement guide for Streets of Rage 2.
Identifiers +
Contribute
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Satoshi Kunsai.
Windows added by Duduzets. PlayStation 3 added by Lain Crowley. Nintendo 3DS added by Michael Cassidy. iPad added by Rik Hideto. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. SEGA Master System, Game Gear added by RKL. iPhone added by Sciere. Linux, Macintosh added by Foxhack. Arcade added by Kohler 86. Wii added by gamewarrior. Android added by Deleted. Xbox 360 added by Ben K.
Additional contributors: chirinea, Sciere, Alaka, lights out party, LepricahnsGold, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Thomas Thompson, Jo ST, Harmony♡.
Game added June 7, 2002. Last modified March 25, 2024.