Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage
Streets of Rage (known in Japan as Bare Knuckle) was a popular side-scrolling beat'em up video game series made by SEGA, composed of three games, spawning from 1991 to 1994. Although it was one of the most popular series for the Mega Drive/Genesis, it was neither updated to the Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast, or any other console SEGA worked after quitting making home hardware in 2001. Altough they ported Die Hard Arcade to the Saturn, were reportedly interested in Eidos' Fighting Force, and SEGA Japan even produced a demo of a side-scrolling beat'em up that was rejected by SEGA of America, ignoring the popularity of the series in the early 90s, 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 Soundtracks
6 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 from the exploding island.
Blaze Fielding
Like Axel, is a playable character on all games. As the female in the group, she's not as powerful as Axel but compensates by being faster (one of the most common formulas in this kind of videogames).
Max
Only playable in 2, Max is by far the slowest character in the series, but also the hardest hitting.
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.
Dr. Zan
A former syndicate henchman, Zan tells Blaze about the robot conspiracy in 3. Zan is himself part robot, a cyborg.
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.
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 begining 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 stronger point: Axel and Adam are both hitters (with almost no differences) and Blaze is the fastest of them.
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.
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 moves, plus two new characters. 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 power 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 side-scrolling 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, with 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 for 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.
Soundtracks
There were 2 soundtracks, both composed by Yuzo Koshiro, but they are very hard to find today. I have not been able to find any evidence of a Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack. I suggest you use the internet to do a
search for the other two, as you most likely won't find them for sale at record stores.
Streets of Rage 1 soundtrack
This is original soundtrack, and not much is know about it. All I was able to find was a photo of the front cover.
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 decribed by Yuzo as "hard-core techno. The CD contains 20 tracks. The track list is as follows:
Go Straight
In The Bar
Never Return Alive
Spin On The Bridge
Ready Funk
Dreamer
Alien Power
Under Logic
Too Deep
Slow Moon
Wave 131
Jungle Base
Back To The Industry
Expander
S.O.R. Super Mix
Max Man
Revenge Of Mr.X
Good End
Walking Bottom
Little Money Avenue
Streets of Rage 3 Soundtrack
I only managed to find a little bit of info about the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack, in the form of a quote. Yuzo said that "The music was developed using an "Automated Composing System" which created "fast-beat techno like jungle"."
External links
Streets of Rage Online (http://www.classicgaming.com/soronline/) Yuzo Koshiro's Official Site - In Japanese (http://www.ancient.co.jp/)
11:10 PM
Streets of Rage (known in Japan as Bare Knuckle) was a popular side-scrolling beat'em up video game series made by SEGA, composed of three games, spawning from 1991 to 1994. Although it was one of the most popular series for the Mega Drive/Genesis, it was neither updated to the Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast, or any other console SEGA worked after quitting making home hardware in 2001. Altough they ported Die Hard Arcade to the Saturn, were reportedly interested in Eidos' Fighting Force, and SEGA Japan even produced a demo of a side-scrolling beat'em up that was rejected by SEGA of America, ignoring the popularity of the series in the early 90s, 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 Soundtracks
6 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 from the exploding island.
Blaze Fielding
Like Axel, is a playable character on all games. As the female in the group, she's not as powerful as Axel but compensates by being faster (one of the most common formulas in this kind of videogames).
Max
Only playable in 2, Max is by far the slowest character in the series, but also the hardest hitting.
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.
Dr. Zan
A former syndicate henchman, Zan tells Blaze about the robot conspiracy in 3. Zan is himself part robot, a cyborg.
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.
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 begining 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 stronger point: Axel and Adam are both hitters (with almost no differences) and Blaze is the fastest of them.
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.
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 moves, plus two new characters. 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 power 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 side-scrolling 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, with 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 for 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.
Soundtracks
There were 2 soundtracks, both composed by Yuzo Koshiro, but they are very hard to find today. I have not been able to find any evidence of a Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack. I suggest you use the internet to do a
search for the other two, as you most likely won't find them for sale at record stores.
Streets of Rage 1 soundtrack
This is original soundtrack, and not much is know about it. All I was able to find was a photo of the front cover.
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 decribed by Yuzo as "hard-core techno. The CD contains 20 tracks. The track list is as follows:
Go Straight
In The Bar
Never Return Alive
Spin On The Bridge
Ready Funk
Dreamer
Alien Power
Under Logic
Too Deep
Slow Moon
Wave 131
Jungle Base
Back To The Industry
Expander
S.O.R. Super Mix
Max Man
Revenge Of Mr.X
Good End
Walking Bottom
Little Money Avenue
Streets of Rage 3 Soundtrack
I only managed to find a little bit of info about the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack, in the form of a quote. Yuzo said that "The music was developed using an "Automated Composing System" which created "fast-beat techno like jungle"."
External links
Streets of Rage Online (http://www.classicgaming.com/soronline/) Yuzo Koshiro's Official Site - In Japanese (http://www.ancient.co.jp/)
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