Streets of Rage 2, I love you so much.
First of all, Happy New Year everyone! I'm back and ready to make the best of 2016.
Now back to business. I make no secret of being a Nintendo fan. Nintendo made up the bulk of my childhood and is the reason I'm a full fledged gamer today, but I ventured off into Sega Land more than a few times. One of the games that I absolutely adored on the Sega Genesis is Streets of Rage 2. I could talk about Sonic all day and I will, but there's something special about Streets of Rage 2. Streets of Rage and Streets of Rage 3 were good, but I hold a special place in my heart for the second game of the series. I'll detail that love below. Deep in my heart, I'm a beat 'em up fan. Nothing better than punching everything on the screen and advancing to the right. Follow me...
Now back to business. I make no secret of being a Nintendo fan. Nintendo made up the bulk of my childhood and is the reason I'm a full fledged gamer today, but I ventured off into Sega Land more than a few times. One of the games that I absolutely adored on the Sega Genesis is Streets of Rage 2. I could talk about Sonic all day and I will, but there's something special about Streets of Rage 2. Streets of Rage and Streets of Rage 3 were good, but I hold a special place in my heart for the second game of the series. I'll detail that love below. Deep in my heart, I'm a beat 'em up fan. Nothing better than punching everything on the screen and advancing to the right. Follow me...
If this doesn't get you hyped to play, then you don't have a pulse.
Okay, I'll give a little background on Streets of Rage and the events that led to Streets of Rage 2. Streets of Rage is side scrolling beat 'em up that was released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis. The game featured three playable characters: Adam Hunter (an accomplished boxer), Axel Stone (a skilled martial artist), and Blaze Fielding (a judo expert and my favorite character). Their once peaceful city was overrun by a crime syndicate led by Mr. X who is conveniently featured in the video above. Our three heroes are ex-cops that left the force in order to battle the syndicate.
After punching and kicking their way through eight rounds and six bosses, they get to do battle with Mr. X himself. Depending on whether the game is played as one-player or a two-player co-op, and whether the player accepts Mr. X's invitation to whoop good guy butt with him and join his crime syndicate, a possible ending can unlock where the player assumes control of the new crime syndicate. Otherwise, evil is defeated and the good guys win (I am massively simplifying this).
Enter Streets of Rage 2.
Streets of Rage 2 takes place one year after the events of Streets of Rage. Our three heroes hang out and celebrate their win over Mr. X. Axel and Blaze move out of the city, and Adam re-joins the police force and lives with his younger brother. All is well until Axel receives a phone call from Eddie "Skate" Hunter, Adam's younger brother. He tells Axel that Adam was kidnapped by none other than Mr. X. So what's a little brother to do? Kick some butt, of course.
Our heroes
After punching and kicking their way through eight rounds and six bosses, they get to do battle with Mr. X himself. Depending on whether the game is played as one-player or a two-player co-op, and whether the player accepts Mr. X's invitation to whoop good guy butt with him and join his crime syndicate, a possible ending can unlock where the player assumes control of the new crime syndicate. Otherwise, evil is defeated and the good guys win (I am massively simplifying this).
Enter Streets of Rage 2.
Streets of Rage 2 takes place one year after the events of Streets of Rage. Our three heroes hang out and celebrate their win over Mr. X. Axel and Blaze move out of the city, and Adam re-joins the police force and lives with his younger brother. All is well until Axel receives a phone call from Eddie "Skate" Hunter, Adam's younger brother. He tells Axel that Adam was kidnapped by none other than Mr. X. So what's a little brother to do? Kick some butt, of course.
Hooray for new characters!
In Streets of Rage 2, Axel and Blaze are joined by two new characters. One is the aforementioned Skate and the other is Max Thunder, a professional wrestler.
Crime has begun to overtake the city once again. Axel and Skate realize they will need some crime butt kicker help, so they inform Blaze of the situation and bring her back into the fold. Together, the quartet set out on a search and rescue mission for Adam. Our heroes punch, kick, and throw their way through 8 levels that lead to a confrontation with Mr. X and his bodyguard Shiva. Unlike Streets of Rage 2, there is only one ending. This is the "good" ending where Mr. X is defeated, Adam is rescued, and our 5 heroes celebrate the defeat of evil. They probably toasted their victory over Mr. X once again with cocktails, I don't know. If so, Skate had a virgin drink, of course. All was well until the events of Streets of Rage 3 (which I am not going to detail).
The game itself has a simple plot, but the magic lies in the details. The music, the sound effects, the difficulty being just right, and the simple controls all make for a satisfying gaming experience.
Streets of Rage 2 was released on December 20, 1992 (yay for Christmas) for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It was critically acclaimed upon release and has been considered one of the greatest games of all time.
The soundtrack of Streets of Rage 2 was composed by Yuzo Koshiro and featured contributions from Motohiro Kawashima. It was composed using NEC PC-8801 hardware and an original programming language developed by Koshiro. The soundtrack was heavily influenced by electronic dance music, specifically house, techno, hardcore techno, and breakbeat. This led to a soundtrack widely praised for being ahead of its time. My favorite track is Go Straight. Check it out.
The soundtrack of Streets of Rage 2 was composed by Yuzo Koshiro and featured contributions from Motohiro Kawashima. It was composed using NEC PC-8801 hardware and an original programming language developed by Koshiro. The soundtrack was heavily influenced by electronic dance music, specifically house, techno, hardcore techno, and breakbeat. This led to a soundtrack widely praised for being ahead of its time. My favorite track is Go Straight. Check it out.
Ten minute version for your listening pleasure
Talk about an epic song to begin a gameplay! Even now, this song still gets me hyped.
As I stated previously, this game went on to receive critical acclaim. It received scores above 90% from most video game magazines at the time. It has, in my opinion, survived the test of time. So if you've never played this one, please do so. It's a worthwhile addition to your "Played It" video game list and your collection.
To prevent myself from rambling on about this game, I think I'll end it here. Cheers to the beat 'em up goodness of Streets of Rage 2.
Let's share the love.
Game on, my friends.
Let's share the love.
Game on, my friends.
