Streets of Rage 3

aka: Bare Knuckle 3, SoR 3
Moby ID: 11193
Genesis Specs
Buy on Genesis
$159.99 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
$0.99 new on Steam
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Description official description

In part three of the Streets of Rage series, Mr. X is back and this time his plan involves replacing public officials with his own robots. Only Axel, Blaze, Skate, and new-comer Dr. Zan can stop him. Streets of Rage 3 features all of the beat 'em up action you would expect from a Streets of Rage game. One new feature is the special move power bar, where it only costs energy to do a special move if the bar isn't full. Also new is the ability to do special maneuvers with different weapons, depending on the character. For example, Skate has no special move with the pipe, but does have one with the knife. The opposite is true for Axel. Any weapon Dr. Zan picks up is turned into energy balls which he can throw at the enemies. Secret characters and multiple endings add replay value.

Spellings

  • ベア・ナックルⅢ - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Genesis version)

78 People (63 developers, 15 thanks) · View all

Producers
Director
  • Yui
Product Manager
Main Planner
Assistant Planner
Concept Designer
Animation Designer
  • Ryuryu
Character Designers
Background Designers
Lead Programmer
Character Programmers
  • Takosuke (as Takosuke)
  • Chata
  • Nagisa
  • Mr. Nobody
Background Programmer
Music Producer
Music Composition
Music Programmer
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 30 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 68 ratings with 6 reviews)

1994.. The coming of Playstation, The end of Genesis.

The Good
Have you ever sat down and thought.. OK I feel like achieving the near impossible? Yes?! Then try and find a copy of this game and completing it all in the same day!! This game is very hard to find, especially in the U.K! You can find it on the net for about $40+! I have seen it retail for £83!!!! And thats alot for a game! If you aren't wanting to achieve the impossible and are almost maybe getting a copy of your own.. then you have to think to yourself 'do I REALLY want this game?' If you are a Streets of Rage fan the OF COURSE YOU WANT IT!!! It was 8 years before I could play this game after hearing about it. Streets of Rage 2 is an ultimate classic (definitely on the Mega-drive/Genesis top ten!) and I wanted more of the same - THE ULTIMATE SCROLLING BEAT 'EM UP!

Pressing the start button on the title screen gives me the same options and player set up as usual for the series, except one thing... THE most important thing.. THE MUSIC HAD CHANGED!!!!!!!!! What did they do?! I thought ' its ok, maybe the in-game music is like the other games'' I was wrong.. but not disappointed at all! The music (which is one of the main driving points of the series) is a combination Arcade style sounds mixed with Techno,Electro and Eclectic dance. Which basically means that it mixes you along with the rest of the game nicely!

The Bad
Um.. What happened to this being one of the last great games on the Genesis? The game which could define Sega's console for what it achieved?! Well, this game isn't anything special, no big differences. No Adam! You get to play as a kangaroo and not the guy from the very first game?! That wasn't a good idea really (I mean, COME ON! IT'S THE LAST STREETS OF RAGE!!) Well, they DID make the game really hard! OK, maybe thats not such a good thing.. People moaned about the second game being too easy, and now, too hard doesn't work!! What could they of done? I would of liked to see some classic bosses here, a long fight towards the end where you face every boss in the game one by one (like in the first and second game) Some more music would of been great! Adam back in it! A more imaginative fighting system (maybe chose whether to hit with feet first or hands first..)

The Bottom Line
ITS STREETS OF RAGE 3!!! If you loved the second game, then this is a fresh new look on the series, just don' expect much else to be different (Axel's jeans are black now..) All what is different is the kangaroo, Dr Zan robot man, the music, Axel's jeans have gone black and his face is weird, no Max from the second game, no 3-4 player option.. Delete all those, and you got one cracking fighting game! If you haven't played ANY of the series, then you're going to like this ALOT! Even though it's a bit hard.

I think all Streets of Rage fans should write to Sega and beg for another (with classic gameplay and no silly plot or C.G cut-scenes!!) And also, unlock-able Streets of Rage 1, 2+3 for those who can't get a copy! Write to them! If they make it, then the cause was just. :)

Genesis · by MrBee (28) · 2004

Arcade action.

The Good
The fabulously-detailed graphics, the new villains, the two different final levels, the secret characters like Shiva and Roo, the characters' new moves (some of which involves two-player co-operation), the new ideas such as the train level, and having to fight your way through concrete walls whilst keeping a bulldozer at bay. Also, Level 6 features you having to find and destroy computers in order to unlock previously unreachable areas of the enemy HQ.

The Bad
The over-reliance on enemies from Streets of Rage 2, the often watered-down action, and the fact the whole thing soon becomes repetitive. It's not helped by uninspiring, tuneless pieces of music. There are some good end-of-level boss tunes, and a few others, but mostly you'll be turning the sound down. And quite often there seem to be no sound effects to relieve the monotony. Removing Ash from the Western version was a bad idea.

The Bottom Line
Fight your way through seven levels of horizontally scrolling 2D/3D beat-em-up action and save the city from Mr X and his army of thugs and robots. Not as good as Streets of Rage 2, but still recommended to those who are fans of these kinds of games.

Genesis · by Gary Smith (57) · 2004

Excellent game but beginning to show signs of fatigue

The Good
Everything about the core action, this game gets generally right. Punching a goon feels good, knocking down enemies feels good, the movement feels good, and just about every aspect of the game feels solid. You can tell the pedigree that this game came from has paid off in terms of control schemes, pacing, and handling of the game itself.

The designs are also visually more interesting, at least to me. The previous game felt like it was a tribute to the greatest 80s action movie ever. This one, however, dials it back and takes on a more somber tone in terms of its palette, which is actually quite fitting given the darker theme and narrative.

The Bad
On the flip side, while the action feels better, the game design feels less thought through compared to it's predecessors.

While the first game was a pioneer in it's overall design, it really was the second game that brought it all together and managed to make sure there was literally no extraneous parts to the game design. The second game felt like the designers really took the time to think through every mechanic, every piece of content, and every extra piece of option they delivered to the players.

Streets of Rage 3, on the other hand, felt like someone built the entire game, and then after the game was completed, decided to add more stuff onto it just because. No where is this more apparent than with the star system. If you ask me, the star system felt completely extraneous to the experience, as anyone who could really benefit from the star moves the most would have the hardest time holding onto it anyways, and anyone who could hold onto their stars probably didn't need the star moves anyway. There are a couple of instances where the lower level star moves are strictly speaking, more useful than the upgraded versions. All of it just made it feel like the star moves were actually not part of the original game design. (In fact, I challenge anyone to play the game as is without using their star moves. You will probably find it to be a far tighter experience)

This goes double for the a lot of the secret stuff. i.e. were Shiva, Ash and Roo REALLY necessary for the game? Shiva was particularly egregious as he has a single move in his arsenal that can basically allow you to lockstun any enemy to death. A lot of these little things crop up with these extra characters and extra content that it honestly felt like someone at Sega saw the finished product and said, "we need Shiva to be playable, and kids like Street Fighter 2, right? So let's put some of THAT stuff in there" and there it was.

Keep in mind, this is not to say the game is BAD by any stretch. It just feels SLIGHTLY on the bloated side of things.

The Bottom Line
In the 90s, a lot of games went through a strange of cycle of innovation > refinement > bloat between sequels. Golden Axe went through it, street fighter went through it, JRPGs went through, and Streets of Rage was not immune.

To be fair though, it made it out far better than other franchises as it still produced a HIGHLY competent side scrolling beat 'em up. Might not the genre re-defining classic that was Streets of Rage 2, but still an immensely well executed brawler set in that magical time that is the 90s where it feels like gang violence had to be colorful, ridiculous, and full of metal punks.

Genesis · by Elliott Wu (40) · 2016

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Bosses

At the end of the third stage you will have to fight against... yourself (depending on which character you've chosen to play with)!

Cover

When the UK magazine Mean Machines Sega reviewed the game in 1994, they had their art editor draw a cover picture with Zan and Blaze standing in front of the building. Sega Europe bought the rights to the artwork to use it for the cover of the UK/Europe release.

Cut content

According to several pre-release screenshots, there was originally a section where the players got to ride the motorcycles they are so often attacked by. This section was obviously removed for the final version.

Hidden characters

In the Japanese version of the game (Bare Knuckle 3), along with the other hidden characters, you can also unlock and play as an 'effeminite' male character named Ash, after beating him in Round 1. He cannot wield weapons and has very few attacks, though he's ridiculously quick and is far too strong to use in a normal game. Ash can also be unlocked in the US version by using the Game Genie.

References

The character Blaze is very reminiscent of the female character in SEGA's 1985 coin-op Flashgal.

PAL and US version

There are a number of changes in the US and PAL releases: * A part of the intro and a picture in the bad ending were cut. * All characters but Zan have slightly different clothes. * The female enemies have more clothes. * The police chief (in the original a general) has no beard anymore. * The boss Ash was replaced with Sheeva (a character from the predecessor) and the boss Break was renamed to Axel. * In level one of the original, there is a hole in a wall in one place. The wall part was completely removed.

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

Patch

There is an unofficial translation patch available for the original Bare Knuckles 3 Megadrive release, which effectively allows to play the game in English without the content changes that happened when the game was officially localized.

Information also contributed by CaptainCanuck, Mad Griffith and Matt Keller

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Identifiers +

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by RKL.

Windows, iPhone added by Sciere. Macintosh, Linux added by Foxhack. Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: Sciere, j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Trypticon, Patrick Bregger.

Game added November 30, 2003. Last modified March 25, 2024.