Streets of Rage

The Good
Ahhh the game that started a direct rivalry between the snes and genesis beat em up genre. When Capcom brought Final Fight "a inferior port" to the super nintendo, the genesis stood up and produced Streets of Rage for their system though in the beginning a rather poor man's final fight. Lets talk about the good

The graphics for the time were decent. Though smallish compared to Final Fight they were able to support FAR more characters on screen to pummel compared to Final Fight. This game could support over TEN characters on screen to beat you to oblivion.

You get three characters to choose from. Axel, Blaze or Adam.

You get a special attack which is very useful in the game.

The Levels are quite varied and very diverse. Always a plus when playing a game where beating up people is the main focus.

The music! This game is the first game from Yuzo Koshiro. The Music in the Streets of Rage series has constantly outperformed the Final Fight series. In my opinion anyways. Some of the great themes in this game are the intro telling the storyline and the character selection screen. Most of the beats in the game are fairly memorable. The game beats Final Fight in the music respect hands down.

The Bad
Now for the downside of the first Streets of Rage game

Though more characters can be on the screen at once compared to Final Fight, the first streets of rage is inferior to final fight in the graphics department. Smaller characters compared to Final Fight.

The enemies are almost as cheap as Final Fight. They crowd you and beat the hell out of you and never let you up.

No Special moves like the first Final Fight. No character specials make this game more simplistic then Final Fight. Thankfully Streets of Rage 2 takes over soon.

Bosses can be EXTREMELY CHEAP. How cheap? Some of them can't even get a hit in with some characters due to their long ranged highly effective attacks that cause massive damage.

Cheap hits A PLENTY. FOR YOU!!!

The Bottom Line
This game is a great starting foundation for Streets of Rage for the inevitable SUPERIOR sequels which eventually overtake Final Fight in innovation and beatdown. A good game but not a classic like the sequel. Overall a good solid seven out of ten. Though if you have Streets of Rage 2 or 3 then this game pales in stark contrast to them or even the first Final Fight.

This game is dirt cheap and fairly easy to find. If you want some cheap good beatdown fun and can't find Streets of Rage 2 or 3 then get this.