Streets of Rage Turns Thirty


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_qyzvyXsEo

Retrospective and Review


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W45KZsElLw

The Complete History Of


Man I have... Memories of this. I started out with streets of rage 2 because mom got it, complete in the box with the manual, out of a yardsale with a couple other games. It's a game I played alone and with my stepdad to the point we could go through the hidden mania difficulty.


I only recently found out there was a sega CD version of streets of rage 1.


'oh hey the cd version will have-'

a complete remaster cd quality soundtrack? More colors on screen? More levels?

'limited remade sound effects that will sound jarring and not at all fitting.'

b-but...but..... Soundtrack.


Seriously.


Big colorful sprites? Yay, fine awesome. Atmospheric Layered levels that had variety and depth? Alright alright fine whatever. Interesting weapon pickups, specials, and enemy types that have unique attack patterns? Yeeep. Keep it coming.


The soundtrack was memorable. Granted the game being amazing otherwise allowed that soundtrack to shine, but the soundtrack was something memorable and amazing.


https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMx9nl9VYhtPdpjEVOeCxsl26_pK367Mm

Have a listen.


Now hold on. That's streets of rage remake. Sega put a Cease and Desist on it conveniently after it had spread around a bit. The CnD made some ports not happen, and disallowed work on some bug fixing or feature requests, but either intentionally or not, that delay between version 5 and sega legal popping up allowed it to get out there. I consider it the definitive way to play the original trilogy as it includes every level, every enemy, boss, music track, branching paths, and while I could never get it to work there is a level editor.


You'll have to do some hunting but it is absolutely worth playing if you can find it. A real shame Sega didn't reach out to bomber games and go 'Hey if you add some features to V6 so we can put it on steam we'd all make tons of money.' Pity really.


As for streets of rage 4. I'm kinda mixed on it. The biker ladies are annoying, the bunch of the throwables that leave a hazard area are basically not worth using since it limits your mobility too much, the combo system feels like it disincentivizes grappling.


Yet at the same time? The soundtrack is amazing, the characters all have unique playstyles, the stages are memorable. The DLC gives more characters and a survival mode. Over lI actually like it.


https://www.streets4rage.com/

official website


https://streetsofrage.fandom.com/wiki/Streets_of_Rage_Wiki

Streets of Rage fan wiki.


Feels weird that a franchise I played through middle and highschool is thirty years old. Then again I'm a forty year old overweight white guy so I should start getting used to that. Probably more surprising there hasn't been some shitty live action series on amazon or netflix.


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