Streets of Rage

Streets of Rage (known in Japan as Bare Knuckle) was a popular beat 'em up series developed by Sega. The three games in the series were released between 1991 and 1994. Although it was one of the most popular franchises on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, no new Streets of Rage games have appeared on subsequent consoles. After porting Die Hard Arcade, a 3D beat 'em up from the arcades to the Saturn, Sega was reportedly interested in Eidos' Fighting Force (1997). Sega Japan even produced a demo of a beat 'em up that was rejected by Sega of America, ignoring the popularity of the series in the early 90s. Barring the rumored and unconfirmed inclusion of all three existing titles in Sonic Gems Collection [1] (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/626/626243p1.html?fromint=1), it is very unlikely it will return with a new commercial title.

Contents

1 Characters 2 Streets of Rage 3 Streets of Rage II 4 Streets of Rage III 5 Streets of Rage IV? 6 Other media 6.1 Comics 6.2 Soundtracks 7 External links

Characters

• Axel Stone

Playable character from 1 to 3, Axel is the front man of the series. Turns slowly from an all-around to a bruiser in the end of the series

• Adam Hunter

Playable character in 1, kidnapped in 2, appears in the end of 3 to rescue the team twice.

• Blaze Fielding

Like Axel, Blaze is a playable character in all the games. As with many female videogame characters, she's not as powerful as the males but compensates by being faster.

• Max Thunder

Only playable in 2, Max, a wrestler, is by far the slowest character in the series, but also the hardest hitting. Max is a friend of Axel.

• Eddie (Sammy) "Skate" Hunter

Playable character in 2 and 3, the kid brother of Adam. Known as "Sammy Hunter" in Bare Knuckle and "Eddie 'Skate' Hunter" in the western versions, "Skate" being his nickname, as he is always on rollerblades. Fast, but the weakest of all characters. Also, in Streets of Rage 2, he was the only character who could dash.

• Roo

Roo is a mini-boss in Streets of Rage 3. If you defeat his cruel trainer, Bruce, before defeating Roo, he becomes playable when you use a continue. A distinction of this character, besides being the only non-human playable charecter, is that he cannot use weapons.

• Dr. Zan Gilbert

A former syndicate henchman, Zan tells Blaze about the robot conspiracy in 3. Zan is himself part robot, a cyborg.

• Ash

A minion of Mr.X and the first mini-boss you face in Bare knuckle 3. His charecter is a very stereotypical homosexual, having the female 'Death scream', a very feminine run, even a stupid little 'Laugh' taunt (which can still be heard in Streets of Rage 3 in the sound test) and tons of female mannerisms. Because of this, he was removed from Streets of Rage 3. Normally he'd appear after the waves of punks come by boat on stage 1-2. Like Shiva, he is also a secret playable charecter, unlocked in a very similar manner.

• Mr.X

The Syndicate head, Mr. X survived two encounters with the SoR team, but in three is nothing more than a brain. Armed with a Tommy gun, he is the final boss in all three games.

• Shiva

The boss you fight before Mr. X in Streets of Rage 2 and twice in Streets of Rage 3. He is Mr.X's right-hand man and a very skilled fighter, his repertoire of moves matching the regular playable characters. He is also a secret playable charecter in Streets of Rage 3, who can be unlocked right after defeating him at the end of stage 1.

Streets of Rage

Released in 1991 when Sega's 16 bit console needed a increase of sales against the SNES, which boasted most of Capcom's arcade ports such as Final Fight. The story resembled a typical '80s street cop movie: an evil crime syndicate has taken control of a nameless city and three young police officers (Axel, Blaze and Adam) decide to turn on the badge, and take it on by themselves, walking the streets and fighting criminals, until they face Mr. X, the mastermind himself.

Gameplay controls were simple, attack and jump, but effective enough to keep movement smooth. The third button was a "call for help" which would cause the screen to whip back to the beginning of the level, from which a police car would arrive and a launch a rocket at the player's current location. The resulting explosions would affect all the enemies on screen but leave the player intact. Each character has a weaker point in three abilities: Axel can't jump high, Adam walks slowly and Blaze doesn't hit hard.

A port for Sega's Game Gear handheld appeared on 1992, and on the Master System in 1993. It was also released in two official Sega game packs. Considering the popularity of the title, it comes of no surprise it was bundled in several packs, including Mega Games II (with Golden Axe and Revenge Of Shinobi), Sega Classics Arcade Collection (a Mega CD compilation with the two previously mentioned titles, plus Super Monaco GP and Columns), the 6 Pak (composed of Streets of Rage, Sonic the Hedgehog, Columns, Revenge of Shinobi, Golden Axe and Super Hang-On); and Mega 6 (composed of Streets of Rage, World Cup Italia '90, Columns, Super Monaco GP, Revenge of Shinobi and Sonic the Hedgehog).

Streets of Rage II

A year after, Sega refined the successful original title. Better music (still by Yuzo Koshiro, inspired by early '90s club music), more defined graphics and new moves.Two new characters, Skate Hunter and Max Thunder replaced Adam. The "rocket" screen-clearing attack was replaced by a special attack that could be used several times in a level and to release from enemy holds, but wasted players' energy, and now all enemy characters also had their own life bars. A two-player versus arena mode was also added, and although it did not provide match for other dedicated versus fighting games for the same platform such as Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, it was considered a nice addition. Overall, Streets of Rage 2 is regarded the best game on the series, and one of the best beat'em ups of the 16-bit era.

In the story, Adam is kidnapped by Mr. X one year after the trio were believed to have destroyed the syndicate. Then, with help from Max, a wrestler, and Adam's kid brother Skate they go on defeating Mr. X on his island hideout.

Streets of Rage III

1994 was the year the series saw its end. Streets of Rage 3, packed in a 24 meg cartridge, was an enhanced version of the previous title that had several enhancements such as a more complex plot, multiple endings, lenghtier levels, better scenarios (with interactive levels and the return of traps like pits) and faster gameplay (with dash and make dodge moves). Weapons could now only be used for a few times before breaking (in the previous titles an object would only disappear when it was dropped for the third time), some bosses could be played after being defeated and a few cutscenes were added to give the story depth. Max gave place to Zan, a cyborg, who was important for plot reasons.

While translating this game from Japanese to American and European audiences, Sega of America altered it significantly. The most notable changes were that the playable miniboss Ash was removed because he was clearly homosexual, the costume colors were changed, and the plot was rewritten, leaving many gaps in the narrative. In the original Bare Knuckle 3 the story was dealt with a new explosive substance called Rakushin, discovered by a Dr. Gilbert (who later turns out to be "Zan"), and the disappearance of a military general. In the American and European versions of Streets of Rage 3, all references to Rakushin was removed, and the general was replaced by the chief of police, and a scheme to switch city officials with robot clones was invented. Also, Bare Knuckle 3, even in the highest difficulty setting, was significantly easier than Streets of Rage 3 on default difficulty.

Streets of Rage IV?

While the title is only tentative, early in the Sega Dreamcast production cycle, demos were made to bring the Streets of Rage series to the 128-bit platform. However, for many possible reasons (most attribute Sega execs at the time for not knowing their roots), it was never followed up with. Those demo clips can be viewed on Tokyopia's World-Exclusive Video Demos of Streets of Rage for Dreamcast (http://tokyopia.com/tk/archives/000108.php). Any fan of the series can clearly recognize that the main character on the screen is Axel, and some interesting new team attacks were being developed.

Other media

Comics

Three comic strip series based upon the games appeared in Sonic the Comic in the early 1990s (along with several other adaptations of popular Sega franchises). The first of these was written by Mark Millar, who has since become popular writing The Authority for Wildstorm and Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates for Marvel.

Soundtracks

The games' soundtracks were composed by Yuzo Koshiro, and two CDs containing the music were released, but they are very hard to find today.

• Streets of Rage 1 soundtrack

• Streets of Rage 2 Soundtrack

This is the easiest Streets of Rage soundtrack to find. Composed and played by Yuzo Koshiro, this is said to be one of the greatest soundtracks by him, and it shows the power of the Sega Genesis soundchip. The music is described by Yuzo as "hard-core techno. The CD contains 20 tracks. The track list is as follows:

1. Go Straight
2. In The Bar
3. Never Return Alive
4. Spin On The Bridge
5. Ready Funk
6. Dreamer
7. Alien Power
8. Under Logic
9. Too Deep
10. Slow Moon
11. Wave 131
12. Jungle Base
13. Back To The Industry
14. Expander
15. S.O.R. Super Mix
16. Max Man
17. Revenge Of Mr.X
18. Good End
19. Walking Bottom
20. Little Money Avenue

External links

• Streets of Rage Online (http://www.classicgaming.com/soronline/)
• Yuzo Koshiro's Official Site - In Japanese (http://www.ancient.co.jp/)