Streets of Rage 2

aka: 3D Streets of Rage 2, Bare Knuckle II, SoR 2, Streets of Rage II
Moby ID: 6633
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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
Planning
System Design
Main Program
Main Enemy Program
Enemy and Demo Program
Music Composers
Sound Effects
Sound Driver
Project Management
Object Design
Main Design
Background Design
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 83% (based on 50 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 180 ratings with 11 reviews)

Grand Upper

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.

Genesis · by Liam Dowds (39) · 2003

Best fighting game ever.

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

Best of the bunch

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.

Genesis · by Luis Silva (13444) · 2006

[ View all 11 player reviews ]

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

  • EGM
    • 1993 Buyer's Guide - Hottest Video Game Babe (Blaze)
    * Retro Gamer + September 2004 (Issue #8) – #64 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote) Information also contributed by [Luis Silva](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,61998/), [MasterMegid](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,44055/) and [Sciere](http://www.mobygames.com/user/sheet/userSheetId,30979/)
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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.