Streets of Rage

• Gameplay
• Plot
• Tips
• Reception and legacy
• Images

Gameplay

Streets of Rage has eight stages, each representing a location in the city, culminating in the crime syndicate's center of power. The three selectable characters are the classic combination of a strong and slow character, a fast and fragile character, and a balanced character. Adam is the strongest, and makes his only playable appearance in the Mega Drive trilogy in this game. Axel is one of the protagonists of the series, being the middleman. Blaze has better flying and jumping skills, but is the most fragile.

Enemies appear from both sides, on foot, occasionally using weapons such as clubs, knives or firearms. Items can be collected, such as weapons, food (meat and apples) and money. The controls consist of an attack button (punches and kicks), a jump button and a special button: to call for backup from a police officer who, from a patrol car, uses a weapon with high damage power against all enemies on the screen.

Unlike later versions, enemies, with the exception of stage bosses, do not have an energy bar. Bosses repeat themselves in advanced stages and in the last stage, they all reappear before the final boss.

Reception and legacy

Streets of Rage was released for Game Gear, Master System and Sega-CD. In 2007, it was released for the Virtual Console (Wii) in the US and Europe, and in 2009 for iOS via the App Store. It was also made available as part of the Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. In 2011, it was released for Steam in the Mega Drive Classics Pack 4 collection.

As one of the flagship games for the Mega Drive, it was part of several collections, such as Mega Games II (with Golden Axe and The Revenge of Shinobi), Sega Classics Arcade Collection (for Sega-CD, with Super Monaco GP and Columns), Sega Genesis 6-PAK, among others.

A success since its release, SoR received favorable reviews in most magazines of the time and on retrogame websites. MegaTech magazine gave it a score of 92%, highlighting "excellent sprites, brilliant backgrounds and music". Mega magazine placed Streets of Rage in sixth place among the Greatest Mega Drive Games.

Other ratings from magazines and websites: Joypad 95/100, Computer and Video Games 93/100, Consoles Plus 91/100, The Video Game Critic A, 1UP! 91/100, Gamespot 6.7/10 (evaluating the Nintendo Wii version), AllGame 7/10, Metacritic 84/100 (Xbox 360 version).

Other magazine and website ratings: Joypad 95 / 100, Computer and Video Games 93 / 100, Consoles Plus 91 / 100, The Video Game Critic - A-, 1UP!91 / 100, Gamespot 6.7 / 10 (Wii), AllGame 7/10, Metacritic 84/100 (XBox 360).

Plot

Plot shown in the game's introductory sequence:

This city was once a happy, peaceful place... Until the day a powerful secret criminal organization took over everything. This evil syndicate soon began to control the government and even the police. The city became a center of violence and crime, where no one is safe.

Amidst this turmoil, a group of determined young police officers have sworn to clean up the city. Among them are Adam Hunter, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding. They will risk everything... even their lives... in the "Streets of Rage"!

Since the police are corrupt, the trio decides to step away from official activities and go into combat on their own. Without weapons, they must use their fists - and whatever they can get along the way.

Streets of Rage has two possible endings.

Tips

Soundtrack

The soundtrack composed by Yuzo Koshiro was acclaimed and considered one of the best for the Mega Drive and for games in general. Using a then outdated PC88 with custom software, Koshiro was influenced by electronic music, dance and hip hop. According to him, his ideal was to reproduce the timbres and percussion of Roland drum machines.

The influences came from artists such as Black Box, Soul II Soul, Caron Wheeler, Enigma and Maxi Priest. According to Koshiro (in the liner notes of the CD with the soundtrack), the opening track was particularly inspired by the “dance rhythm” that characterizes breakbeats, especially the beats of “Keep On Movin” by Black Box and “Sadeness Part I” by Enigma.

It was the first time that styles such as R&B, rap and dance were used as the basis for video games with notoriety. The CD with the soundtrack was released in the Japanese market by Alfa Records, on September 21, 1991.

1. The Street of Rage The Street of Rage • Yuzo Koshiro
2. Player Select • Yuzo Koshiro
3. Fighting in the Street • Yuzo Koshiro
4. Attack of the Barbarian • Yuzo Koshiro
5. Round Clear • Yuzo Koshiro
6. Dilapidated Town • Yuzo Koshiro
7. Moon Beach • Yuzo Koshiro
8. Keep the Groovin' • Yuzo Koshiro
9. Beatnik on the Ship • Yuzo Koshiro
10. Stealthy Steps • Yuzo Koshiro
11. Violent Breathing • Yuzo Koshiro
12. The Last Soul • Yuzo Koshiro
13. Big Boss • Yuzo Koshiro
14. My Little Baby (Good Ending) • Yuzo Koshiro
15. You Became the Bad Guy! • Yuzo Koshiro
16. Up & Up • Yuzo Koshiro
17. The Super Three • Yuzo Koshiro
18. Name Entry • Yuzo Koshiro
19. Game Over • Yuzo Koshiro
20. The Street of Rage (Arrange version) • Yuzo Koshiro
21. Fighting in the Street (Arrange version) • Yuzo Koshiro
22. The Last Soul (Arrange version) • Yuzo Koshiro
23. Keep the Groovin' (Arrange version) • Yuzo Koshiro
24. You Became the Bad Guy! (Arrange version) • Yuzo Koshiro

Stages

The final stage in the Syndicate’s secret base. Several groups of all previous enemies cross the player’s path until the final boss, Mr. X.

In the elevator, the player faces several waves with groups of varied enemies, including previous bosses. There is no final boss in the stage.

In the factory, groups of enemies add to the dangers of the scenario. Big Ben reappears during the stage, but the final boss is Zamza, now in double dose.

Fase toda dentro de um navio, com inimigos em bandos cada vez maiores. As chefes finais são as gêmeas Mona & Lisa.

Among the new enemies, new colors of the previous ones appear and a Jack who throws torches. The final boss is the heavy Big Ben.

New variations on the beach, such as the green Garcia and gray Shiva, some armed with clubs. The final boss is Abadede.

Variations of the previous enemies begin to appear, but still in small groups. The final boss is Zamza.

The first stage is simple, with basic enemies like the Garcias and the first Electras. At the end, the player faces the boss Boomer.

Images

X-ray

Development

Sega

Direction

Hiroaki Chino, Noriyoshi Ohba

Players

2 (single-player, co-op, multi-player)

Genre

Beat 'em up

Characters

Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, Adam Hunter, Mr. X

Releases

Mega Drive

See deals on eBay

See releases for Mega Drive

Art	Title	Region	Date	Class.	UPC/EAN
	Bare Knuckle		2nd Aug, 1991	-	4974365540500
	Streets of Rage		12th Sep, 1991	-	10086010189
	Streets of Rage		1991	-	4974365610198
	Streets of Rage1		2nd Sep, 1991	-	7891196042355
1 Publisher: Tectoy.

Wii

See releases for Wii

Art	Title	Region	Date	Class.	UPC/EAN
	Streets of Rage1		19th Feb, 2007		-
1 for the Wii Virtual Console

iOS

See releases for iOS

Art	Title	Region	Date	Class.	UPC/EAN
	Streets of Rage		19th Jul, 2009		-

Android

See releases for Android

Art	Title	Region	Date	Class.	UPC/EAN
	Streets of Rage		7th Dec, 2017		-

Windows

See releases for Windows

Art	Title	Region	Date	Class.	UPC/EAN
	Streets of Rage		26th Jan, 2011		-

Nintendo 3DS

See releases for Nintendo 3DS

Developer of this version: M2

Art	Title	Region	Date	Class.	UPC/EAN
	Bare Knuckle		21st Aug, 2012		-
	Streets of Rage		19th Dec, 2014	-	-
	Streets of Rage		19th Dec, 2013	-	-

Sega CD

See deals on eBay

See releases for Sega CD

Art	Title	Region	Date	Class.	UPC/EAN
	Bare Knuckle1		23rd Apr, 1993	-	-
	Streets of Rage		1993	-	-
1 parte da coletânea Sega Classics Arcade Collection 4 in 1; o disco já havia sido distribuído a partir de novembro de 1992 como brinde na compra do Mega CD