A Brief History of Streets of Rage

Prepare for the Streets

Streets of Rage is a beloved series from the Mega Drive/Genesis era. A side scrolling brawler that felt like the perfection of its genre in the 90’s, at least that was my opinion. While many other games gave the formula a go, Streets of Rage was the series my brother and I would always go back to again and again. The music, composed by Yuzo Koshiro, was one of the most memorable scores across all three games. Easily one of the most memorable sounds overall from the Mega Drive/Genesis console. The chicken dinners in the dustbin to heal your health were great fun. Since the good folks at Lizardcube are soon to release the long awaited 4^th official entry in the series it seemed as good a time as any to revisit the series and share some memories.

Where It All Began

Streets of Rage , or Bare Knuckle as it was known in Japan, released in 1991. What stood out most to me was the striking art work on the box. Quite a hallmark of 90’s culture, and an ideal poster for most people’s bedrooms. Sadly I was unable to get a poster, but I did get to rent the game and my brother and I were instantly drawn into the co-op play. A simple story, save the city from Mr X, take out all the bad guys on the way. Basically this was the plot for all 3 games. Select one of three characters: Adam, Axel or Blaze. There is one thing I loved about the first game that was never brought back in sequels: if you left the title screen alone for a short period the game would cut to bio descriptions of the characters. I was immediately drawn to Axel because he liked martial arts and video games.

My brother often opted to play as Adam since he was the stronger character. Gameplay was very simple: walk about and punch all the bad guys. Streets of Rage was a little slower paced than brawlers in the arcades. Making it much better suited to a console game. Other features that really stood out was the plethora of weapons you could pick up and bash over peoples heads. You could also grapple enemies and perform cool moves. Lets also not forget when things got too tough you could summon a police car for back up which would take out most of the enemies on screen giving you a short breather. Then there’s the boss fights: the music changes, and it becomes more dramatic before they suddenly appear. The boss characters were giant and quite challenging to begin with. After years of playing I began to learn the patterns though.

Mr X, the final boss was a memorable encounter as he would let the player decide to join his game gang or not. If you did you were sent back to a earlier level and would have to go through the game all over again. If you played co-op and you both made different decisions you fought each other. Kinda like Double Dragon. Of course we mostly refused and Mr X rudely pulled out a gun to fight with which seemed a little unfair. I always liked in these games how when you lost a life you fell from the heavens and all the enemies fell over to give you a short breather. Another fun memory was how if you tried to throw a large boss character it would fall on your character due to its weight. Making for some amusing co-op moments.

Today Streets of Rage is a little rough around the edges with most fans returning to it out of nostalgia. For the time it was a huge success and a sequel was a certainty.

It wasn’t until I purchased the Mega Drive Collection for Xbox One that I would finally get my Streets of Rage poster. Unfortunately Golden Axe was also on the reverse so it became this horrible decision of which side to display.

The Height of the Series

Streets of Rage 2 came out and it was given as a birthday present to my older brother. This ended up being the most played game on our family’s Mega Drive. But it wasn’t just us. Many people agreed Streets of Rage 2 was the height of the series. It was a sequel with improvements made in all the right ways. Graphics were notably improved, the music was still amazing and the levels were longer and more varied. Two special moves were added to each character instead of police backup. But it would cost you health to use each time. Enemies all had health bars not just boss fights, and they even had individual names above their health bars; something my brother and I would enjoy reading out. ‘Beano’ being one of the most memorable names to me as it was the same as a popular British comic I read at the time. Every corner of this game was an improvement from the original. One of the few negatives being Adam was now dropped. In the story he was kidnapped by Mr X. However, in his place we get Eddie (or ‘Skate’) Adams younger brother and the giant Max.

My brother always played as Max obviously since he was strongest and played kinda like a boss character himself. This time around I first picked Skate since the younger character appealed to me since I was a similar age to him. Also he was very different. Being very fast, rolling around on his skates and he wore his hat backwards like a total 90s kid. Since my brother and I must have played and finished this game over and over again I did play as Axel and Blaze, and I developed quite the appreciation for all the characters. Well all except Max who I only managed to play as when I occasionally played the game single player when my brother wasn’t about. Memorable moments from the game included ‘Jet’ the flying boss who would sometimes pick you up and drop you from the top of the screen. I also loved the fairground level (Stage 3) as you went through so many cool environments like an arcade (with bare knuckle cabinets), a pirate ship and a haunted alien-like house.

Streets of Rage 2 felt like the pinnacle of the series. Its also the game I spent the most time playing with my older brother. Even when we grew older we would still re-visit the game (he would STILL play as MAX). Discovering new techniques like how to take out the Stage 3 boss quickly with Max’s special move. We also discovered you could land safely from an enemy throw by holding UP and C. Even when I got married we managed to sneak in a quick game at the reception. Long story short, I set up a retro pi with old co-op games for folk to play. So it still holds a special place in my heart.

A Hard End to the Trilogy

Streets of Rage 3 is where things got very interesting. By this point things were moving on in gaming. The 3D era was blowing up in popularity and the Mega Drive was slowly but surely loosing popularity. I still cherished the system though. For us Streets of Rage 3 released as a surprise and ended up being a rental. Graphically the game felt similar to the previous title. Only Max was now gone and replaced with Dr Zan which was really disappointing for my brother. He opted mostly to play as Dr Zan but occasionally played as Axel as he was not the strongest character. The main change this time was that the game added a lot more depth to the story. Cutscenes were now added between levels, and there was even alternative endings to the game. You could also run with a double tap of the direction button. Weapons also had health bars so you couldn’t permanently use them. One notable improvement was a bar charged up next to your health bar, once filled it was safe to use your special moves without it costing you health. You could also unlock hidden characters like the Kangaroo (defeat his robot master in stage 2), and the infamous boss Shiva (hold B and START after defeating him).

The trouble with the game was it was hard. Very hard. Everything moved so fast. Enemies had large health bars and the game became a huge grind in later levels. The balance was just off. While you could set it to a easier difficulty the game would abruptly end after a few levels telling you to set it to ‘Normal’ to witness the complete experience. Needless to say my brother and I only successfully completed this game once and only obtained the bad ending. We never toughed the game again until the Mega Drive collection for 360 was released, where we could use save states to work through the harder segments.

Years passed and later I learned the game was actually made harder in the West. While the Japanese version ‘Bare Knuckle 3‘ was significantly easier. Eventually I brought the Streets of Rage collection on Xbox 360 (digital purchase) and was able to switch regions to experience this for myself. True enough the Japanese version was much easier and the game overall was much more entertaining. Had this been the version we got in the West I think Streets of Rage 3 would be fondly remembered. Sadly I’m yet to play this version with my brother but I think he’ll enjoy it too when we one day get the chance.

A 3D Experiment

Then Streets of Rage disappeared. Sega had plans, apparently, but we would not see anything for years and years. Developer Core Designs, known for the original Tomb Raider games, did pitch an idea to Sega for Streets of Rage 4. Sega however, rejected this and Core Designs ended up making the game into Fighting Force for Playstation and N64. This game did however, look very similar to Streets of Rage in terms of design.

Fighting Force was about taking down the evil Dr Dex Zing. It was a full 3D brawler with 4 characters Hawk (looked like Axel), Ben (Looked like Max), Mace, and Alana (Blaze maybe?). Levels were large 3D environments where you simply had to take down all the bad guys in the area in order to progress. The game often let the player choose which area they wanted to visit next. Creating a lot of reason to replay the game and work out all the different routes. It was fun alone but of course much more entertaining in co op.

Once again this was another rental for my brother and me. Fighting Force was just a fun 3D brawler. What stood out most was how you could destroy many things in the environment and use the debris as a weapon. We had tons of fun destroying cars and using the wheels to take down enemies. There was also this famous lift (elevator) level where you could destroy the level in search of weapons. Who knew there was so much you could use in a lift. The game also had guns you could use with limited ammunition. Bit cheap but was kinda fun as you could throw the empty gun at enemies once the ammo ran out.

Unfortunately the music didn’t stand out as much. But Fighting Force did have the right ingredients as a Streets of Rage successor. Sadly, the sequel shifted into single player and less of a brawler and that would be the last we would see of Fighting Force. Shame really since 3D brawlers are even rarer than 2D.

Leave it to the Fans

Since Sega still showed no sighs of a Streets of Rage sequel. Dedicated fans took in upon themselves to create one. Streets of Rage Remake was a fan made project that created quite a lot of buzz on the internet. I never got the chance to play this but footage appears to show a game that takes all the assets from the first three games to create something special. All the characters through the series appeared playable. The game also had new segments where you could ride on a motorcycle.

Unfortunately, Sega would close this project down. Kinda expected since they do own the IP. Hopefully the developers of this project managed to move onto bigger and better things as this appeared a true love letter to the series created by fans for fans.

The Indies Rise

With still no sign of a sequel. It was now up to indie developers to take on the mantle. There are far too many to mention so I thought I would list a few of my favourite indie brawlers that may have had some inspiration from the Streets of Rage Series.

• Castle Crashers (PC, Switch, X Box One, Xbox 360 and PS4) – Cartoon fun for up to 4 players. It includes light RPG elements with a leveling system, as well as loads of weapons and animal buddies to find. If nothing else you’ll probably giggle a few times.

• Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (Sadly no longer available to buy but was on Xbox 360 and PS3) – Absolutely wonderful brawler for up to 4 players. Great retro graphics, fantastic music and so many nods to video games and pop culture. A absolute tragedy this has been removed from the digital ether.

• Foul Play – (PC, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360) – Up to 2 player brawler based around a theater production. One plays a Baron, the other a chimney sweep. Charming original setting and addicting fun for 2. Need I say more.

• Raging Justice (PC, Switch, Xbox One and PS4) – Up to 2 players. Unique pre-rendered graphics. Not only do you deal out justice but you can arrest people as well. Will you be a good cop or a bad cop?

• Fight N Rage (PC, Switch, Xbox One and PS4) – Up to 3 players can take on the baddies in this love letter to the brawler genre. Puts as fantastic spin on the gameplay mechanics incorporating throws into fighting moves. The game also has multiple routes through adding tons of replay value.

Here’s to the Future

Fast forward to today and finally we hear developer Lizardcube has Sega’s blessing and is developing Streets of Rage 4, and it’s due to come out April 30th 2020. If you don’t already know these are the developers that remade Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, a brilliant game well worth visiting. Streets of Rage 4 has a gorgeous new hand drawn art style, new characters and several nods to the the old games. Not only that it has up to 4 players local co-op (a first for the series). As well as up to 2 player co-op online. The end of the month could not come soon enough.