Streets of Rage (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Developer:

Sega

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Release Date:

1991

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Systems:

Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing Streets of Rage on the Sega Mega Drive. Seems weird that it's taken me this long to get around to it, but I was putting it off until I figured out how to screenshot a soundtrack. Turns out that it's all on YouTube though, so you can listen to it there while you read: a link to that thing I just told you about.

But why am I playing this right after playing the very similar Golden Axe? Well, I had this great idea, where I was going to play all three of the games on my Mega Games 2 compilation cartridge. I figured they were so basic I'd get like eight screenshots out of each, but I could put them together to get a full article out of them. Then I saw how long how the Golden Axe section was becoming on its own and realised that my clever scheme wasn't going to work... but whatever, I'm all set up here to play some Streets of Rage so I'm writing about it anyway.

They're both side scrolling beat 'em ups developed by Sega, but Streets of Rage isn't a coin-op conversion like Golden Axe; it was a Mega Drive game from the start. Though it was ported across to the Master System and Game Gear so I suppose I have to check out those versions as well. Here's another exciting fact about it: the fighters shouldn't have amputated legs on the title screen, that seems to be a quirk of the PAL version I'm playing.

That guy's hair is made of spaghetti in all regions though. Also all three of them always wear gloves that cover their knuckles, despite the fact that the game's called Bare Knuckle in Japan.

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First thing you get when you put the cartridge in (after the Sega logo) is some scrolling text to set up the story. I wonder if they found a way to drop the title like that in the Japanese version. "A group of determined young police officers have sworn to clean up the city, with their... BARE KNUCKLE(s)".

There's something up about this city by the way, and I don't just mean the way it's only ever called "The City". The camera continually pans across the skyline during the intro and yet you never see any new buildings.

The City was once a happy peaceful place, until crime moved in and took over the government. They also took over the police, which is why these three are now all ex-cops despite being barely old enough to buy a drink. Assuming they're American that is. I suppose there's no reason The City can't be in Canada or somewhere with a lower drinking age.

Anyway, now I have to choose which of these three heroes is going to go save the city by punching everyone in it. Well I don't have to choose right now, this is still just the intro (the game's title hasn't even come on yet), but at this point I'm leaning towards playing as Axel Stone. I feel like a bandana is a good look for 80s movie urban violence, and we share a hobby.

It's not letting me change the amount of continues I start with, but I can change the difficulty at least. Can, but won't; I always play games on 'normal' when I'm writing about them, so I can properly judge how difficult they are (and because I'm a wimp).

The default controls are getting changed immediately though. I have to put them the way I had them in Golden Axe or else I'm going to I'm going to be jumping around like an idiot whenever I try to punch someone.

Oh, I forgot that Axel wears jeans. I was going to play as him but I'm not sure it's a good idea to try kicking people in denim. Though on the other hand, it has to be better than fighting in a miniskirt and I like how generic he looks. Doesn't seem like there's any wrong choices here though really, seeing as they all have two A's and a B'.

ROUND 1 START

Man the music in this game is so good. This isn't just a good tune playing right now, it sounds good too, showing off what the Mega Drive's FM-synth hardware can do if you play to its strengths. The graphics are less exceptional, but they're still pretty decent I think; I like the reflections on everything. Though I probably shouldn't hang around to admire them because I've just noticed I've got a time limit.

I'm not sure what Axel's plan is exactly, as it seems a bit like he's just strolling around the city centre looking for someone to punch, but clearly it's absolutely critical that he does something in the next 39 seconds or else all hope is lost. I know, I'll try walking to the right.

Oh no, 90s video game street punks! We've entered the denim jacket and fluorescent hair zone.

I tried double tapping a direction to run and fling myself at enemies like I did in Golden Axe, but it didn't work. But my regular jumping attack works just as well, so I'm happy. It's nice to have an aerial attack with a bit of horizontal momentum to it.

I can also walk up to thugs and tap the punch button, which sends Axel into a four hit combo that knocks his enemies flying... and kills them. They just slam into the pavement and flicker out of existence; it's a bit of a change from Golden Axe where the gits took a little more time and effort to put down.

It's possible that he can do other moves in addition to punching and flying into enemies knee first, but those are the only ones he's doing for me so far. It'd probably help if I read the manual, but I won't.

Hey, I've discovered another way to attack enemies! I found this large metal pipe lying around and thought "I bet I could get some real distance with this club," and sure enough it really sends them flying. It's also good against telephone boxes.

I'm not sure why an ex-cop on a mission to beat up all crime is vandalising phone booths (it's possibly just because it's me controlling him), but as long as I keep getting free apples out of them I'm going to keep doing it. Apples barely restore any health, but 'any' is better than 'none'. Plus they come on a tiny little plate so they don't get dirty and I love that.

Well I knew in my heart that the pipe wasn't going to last forever, but I'm still a little sad. Someone knocked it out of my hand and it flickered out of existence. It's fine though, as I'm going to beat this guy up and nick his knife. Just as soon as I catch him.

One of the problems I had with Golden Axe is that whenever I tried beating someone up, their friends would sneak up behind me and interrupt my violence with their own violence. In this however they actually keep their distance a lot of the time. In fact I often have to chase them to hit them, which means I'm putting even more of a gap between my back and the enemy planning to put a knife in it, giving me more time to finish my sick combos.

If I hadn't just played Golden Axe I might have found their cowardly behaviour annoying, but right now I'm mostly just appreciating having a bit of space to operate.

I knew something was up when the music changed to something more sinister, but I was still caught unaware by the boot coming in from the side of the screen. I'd just gotten my full health back as well, the jerk!

There's two things about this boss I don't appreciate: I don't like how he keeps throwing a boomerang at me from across the screen, and I don't like how he's standing behind that sign so I can't get a good screenshot of him.

I'm going to see if my super move can knock him off balance and give me a chance to get into punching range.

Man it's lucky I was wearing my fire-proof vest, because my buddy just delivered a 'wipe out everything on the screen' sized fireball that was so impressive that all the enemies froze on the spot to watch the pretty effect. It didn't kill him, but it did knock him on his ass so I was able to walk over to him as planned.

Then he booted me in the face again, so I kneed him in the stomach and when he picked himself up I dropped him with a combo. And that was it. Funny how the boss fights in this are over quicker than the regular fights in Golden Axe.

Also, before I leave this stage I have to ask: is there more than one café on this street called Pine Pot or have I been walking round in circles?

The game showed me my bonus points and then went straight into Round 2.

There hasn't been any hint of a story since that introduction before the title screen. No cutscenes, not even a line of text saying where we're going next or why. I didn't even get a phone box smashing minigame to break up the action!

ROUND 2 START

So here I am, walking to the right again in front of a different background this time. The enemies all look very similar, but now I'm punching barrels instead of phone boxes, and this one had a bag of reverse dollars in it!

What else have I noticed about the gameplay? Uh... I think hitting an enemy stuns them for a moment, so if I'm attacked from behind I can redirect my violence to them without leaving myself open to a counter attack from my previous target.

I've also noticed that this juggler has a wall of flaming torches in between my knee and his face and it's preventing me from doing my civic duty. There's a knife on the floor and I really wish I could use it to stab him, but it's a little too close to the side of the screen for me to pick up.

Maybe if I keep him distracted player two can sneak up on him and hit him from behind. Oh right, I'm playing on my own. Fuck it then, I'll use a special move to bomb him.

Master System

The jugglers are a bit less impressive in the Master System port, though there are two of them this time. In fact there are always two of everyone in this version, every time that enemies are on screen. Well, except for me that is, as this port is single player only.

Otherwise the Master System version has actually been pretty close to the Mega Drive game so far, just... reduced. All the moves seem to be there, all the same enemies have shown up, the music's the same. I even found an apple, though they didn't provide me with a plate this time. It's Streets of Rage, except on an 8-bit system, which is good but kind of redundant.

I've also been finding it a lot easier. Maybe because the punks only attack in pairs, maybe because they keep walking into my fists. You'd think with just two buttons that I'd be at a massive disadvantage, as there's no button to use the special power, but they thought of a clever way around that: to use the special attack you press a button while it's paused!

Though using my special attack on the juggler means I have to take this guy down all by myself. Which is easier said than done, seeing as he has a bladed glove on each hand like a double Freddy Krueger and every time I try my favourite flying knee attack he starts darting around like an agent from The Matrix.

The worst thing though, is that regular bloke hanging around as his sidekick. If I focus on the boss he comes over and hits me, if I try to get him, the boss gets me instead.

I did nearly take this boss down with my very last hitpoint, I was one attack away from finishing it, but he was just a little quicker. In fact I lost two lives on him in the end. But on the bright side, getting killed resets the timer so I never ran out of time.

ROUND 3 START

He's grabbed me! I think I can use this from my benefit though, by using him to support my weight as I kick the guys in front with both legs. And if I ever manage to actually pull it off I'll take a screenshot for you.

There's two weapons on the ground right now, though I'm kind of reluctant to pick them up because they'll be covered in wet sand. Also you don't want to be picking up weapons when an enemy's next to you, because they'll just punch you while you're defenceless. It's even more of a problem when there's two weapons, because the 'punch' button is also the 'pick up' button, so he'll be swapping his pipe for a knife and his knife for a pipe while you're trying to unleash a flurry of wet and sandy kicks.

Man I really hope that the next stack of tires has an apple or some full heal meat in it as I'm really low on health here.

There was a cooked meal inside! It's a miracle. Praise the tires.

I can't pick up the can next to it though, that's just actual trash.

But right after getting my health back I was immediately set upon by way too many enemies.

There are a lot of palette swapped thugs around, but there are a fair number of different enemy types as well. These guys in the gis like to leap around a bit, while the women in the military fetish costumes prefer to whip me from a distance. It means I have to be mindful of who I'm against and adjust my tactics, but I'm not complaining as it breaks up the repetition slightly. Plus they could've all just brought guns and shot me, and I appreciate that they didn't.

Hey I just noticed that when I've finished assaulting people and GO! flashes up on screen I get some of my time back. I suppose Axel's not actually in a hurry to get anywhere, he just knows that saving the city requires a certain amount of punks knocked out or killed per minute, and if he falls short of that quota he might as well give up.

Hey, aren't you that famous wrestler? Uh... the Ultimate Warrior maybe?

Whoever he is he just cost me a continue. Which is exactly the same as losing a life as far as the gameplay's concerned, as a replacement Axel falls from the sky and knocks everyone over for a moment. I don't have to replay the whole round from the start or anything.

Though it did make me enter my name, into an awkward little box that kept flashing the letters and only seemed to recognise my button presses half of the time. There may be a way to switch character before respawning as well, but they haven't made it obvious, so I'm still Axel.

ROUND 4 START

You think you've got enough enemies there? Man they must sell a lot of pink hair dye in this city.

They haven't given me much room to dodge on this bridge, and blocking is against Axel's philosophy, but that's fine as dodging is more the enemy's thing anyway. I'm not going to complain about not having room to move when it's given me a chance to take three of them out with one kick. Enemies can deal a lot of damage to you very quickly, but if you get them first then they're out of the game in just a few quick hits.

I'm doing better than I thought actually, as I've gotten an extra life somehow. Might have been a free gift for reaching 50,000 points. It'd explain what the weird sound effect I heard was.

Game Gear

I've been doing less well in the Game Gear version. At first it seemed like it might be a better port than the Master System as it was bringing three enemies on the screen at once. It can even do two player co-op with a second Game Gear and a link cable. But then I noticed they'd taken out my knee attack!

In the Mega Drive version I either inflict a flurry of punches and kicks, or a flurry of knees to the gut, depending on whether I accidentally get close enough to automatically grab someone. But in this when I get close to an enemy all I can do is throw them, so I've been doing a lot of throwing. It's actually really irritating, so I'm thinking I'm going to stop playing this port here.

Plus if I'd known the Game Gear version only had two playable characters I would've picked Adam in the Master System game to give all three of them a try. Also it skipped stages two and three! No beach! Not good.

Crap. These bloody boss fights man... they go down surprisingly fast, but when they take off half my health in a single hit I'm always the one getting knocked out first.

There goes another continue. And that bloody name entry thing made me put my name in as RAX this time because I didn't realise I had the wrong letter selected due to them flashing.

ROUND 5 START

You think you got enough enemies there? Wait, I said that already.

I like how the screen bobs up and down on this boat level, though it's probably not great for players that get sea sick. On there Master System version there was no bobbing and about five less people hitting me here.

It's also not great that the metal bat flying out of my hands is going to suffer a complete existence failure, but I wasn't really relying on it. At first it seemed like all I could do in the game was either punch or jump into enemies knee first, but I've stumbled upon some other moves by accident.

Like I can walk into enemies to grab them, then hold 'attack' and tap 'jump' to flip over them and slam them headfirst into the deck in what I've been told is called a 'German suplex'. They don't like this.

I've also learned that I can hold 'attack' and tap 'jump' when I'm not grabbing someone to punch the person behind me, which is something I'm going to have to practice until it's second nature because when I'm surrounded like that I'm usually just thinking "oh crap, oh crap".

Playing Golden Axe had me thinking "I just don't know how to play these kinds of games," as I was leaking continues constantly. But now that I'm making steady progress in this I'm thinking "They just didn't know how to make these kinds of games." Or maybe it's just that Golden Axe is an arcade game and you're not supposed to do well in them.

Either way I'm sure I've got room for improvement in both games, as I'm onto my last continue now.

A screen full of jugglers? Well I'm fucked.

Hey look, there's a tiny free car on the floor! That means that this is the first time in the game that I've ever had more than one special move available.

By the way, the reason the special move pick-up has a car icon is because when I activate it my buddy drives up in a car to give me some support. Though that's obviously not going to work while I'm on a boat.

It worked on a boat!

I like how the camera scrolls back through the level to show the car driving up. Though if he's always around to help out then maybe we could just drive to where we're going instead of walking the Streets of Rage™ on foot the whole way.

That's a nice looking future police car by the way. The design was apparently borrowed from the Mega Drive version of ESWAT, which makes sense I suppose as Streets of Rage took some of the game's designers. In fact Streets of Rage had a working title of 'D-SWAT' (with the 'D' standing for 'Dragon').

The last boss of stage 5 is a pair of Blaze clones!

I'm getting my ass handed to me here, as you'd expect seeing as I'm basically fighting two player characters at once, but the jokes on them because every time I lose a life I get another special attack to launch at them. They're only hastening their own inevitable downfall!

Or maybe not.

There he is, Rax Hardgrit, my arch nemesis.

There are apparently eight stages, so I've seen about two thirds of the game on my first try, which isn't bad I reckon. Well, my first try in years I mean.

I have actually beaten the game before, playing it co-op with my sister, though that was so long ago that I can't remember what difficulty we had it set to. I can't even remember if we decided to fight each other so that one of us could become the new evil leader of the evil syndicate at the end.


CONCLUSION

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Basically Streets of Rage is about walking to the right and thumping people.

I'm glad I played Golden Axe right before it though, as the two games are so similar that it's made it easier for me to see how Streets of Rage has improved on the formula... and the ways in which it's a huge step backwards. I mean they really screwed up by not including a single rideable dragon in the entire game! What the hell, Sega? Golden Axe by comparison has three different types of dragons, with two different varieties of fire breath!

Another difference I noticed between the games is that in Golden Axe, the enemies are keen to crowd around you, barge into you from across the screen, and continually interrupt your attacks while you're trying to finish kicking their mate to death. You're still in danger of getting surrounded in Streets of Rage, but the enemies tend to back away when you go to hit them, which gives you a bit more time to finish your attack combo on one before their buddies catch up to you. Plus I wasn't encouraged to double-tap the d-pad to run all the time, because you can't do that in this, and that was a relief.

Another advantage Streets of Rage has it that it was designed for the Mega Drive instead of being ported to it, so it isn't a slightly compromised version of something better (plus it doesn't constantly hunger for your money). But if you want to play something clearly inferior to the original, you can always try the Master System and Game Gear ports. They're the same thing, except worse!

Though despite its console origins, Streets of Rage still has the length of an arcade game, not that I noticed while I was playing. It's got that combination of constant challenge and dull repetition that makes time slow to a crawl. Some games you look at the clock afterwards and realise hours have gone by, but this you can play for hours and then realise that actually just minutes have passed. It relies on you becoming addicted to the simple gameplay loop, as each new round is pretty much the same as the last, without any risk of interesting level design or something new happening. The groups of enemies change, the background's different, but you're mostly just fighting palette-swapped variations of the same punks you've been beating up on every other level.

It's not the worst thing for a game to be a competent but unspectacular example of its genre though. In fact this would've probably been a decent game to put on while listening to a podcast, except you'd have to turn the music off first and that's just not right. Visually Streets of Rage is pretty solid for a Mega Drive title, but Yuzo Koshiro's soundtrack is so perfectly suited to the FM-synth chip's strengths that it's hard to imagine it sounding better on an Amiga or a SNES, and that's pretty damn rare. I'm not dissing the Mega Drive's sound hardware, I'm just saying you have to be an alchemist to get this kind of gold out of it.

The first Streets of Rage has never been one of my favourite games but I still have the same kind of fondness for it as I do for Golden Axe and I wouldn't talk anyone out of giving it a try if you haven't already. In fact I'm going to give it a Not Crap badge for it to share with Golden Axe, seeing I'm starting to think I was a bit harsh on the game last week.

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Super Adventures continues next week with another mystery game. I've left a clue for you if you want to guess what it is, though I might have made it a bit too obvious this time.

Even if you don't want to guess the next game you should still leave a comment. Comments are great.