Streets of Rage (video game)
| Streets of Rage | |
|---|---|
| centered | |
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Platform(s) | Mega Drive/Genesis |
| Release | 1991 (Japan) 1991 (North America) |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
Streets of Rage is a side-scrolling beat'em up video game released by Sega in 1991. It is the first part of the Streets of Rage series, a trilogy of three games released for the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in America).
The game was released when Nintendo's SNES was imminent, and Sega needed exclusive games to rival the SNES. They needed a game similar to Capcom's Final Fight, a successful and popular arcade game. As such, Streets of Rage is very similar to Final Fight.
Storyline
The story resembles a typical 1980s street cop movie. The unnamed city is under the control of a crime syndicate, run by the series' main villain Mr. X. With the local government and police force under his control, crime runs rampant. Having had their request for a special unit to combat the trouble turned down by their corrupt superiors, three young police officers (Blaze Fielding, Axel Stone and Adam Hunter) resign from the police force and fight the syndicate on their own.
Gameplay
Gameplay is simple, almost identical to Final Fight, and remains the same throughout all three games: 'B' is used to attack and pick up items, 'C' to jump, and 'A' is a special attack. In Streets of Rage the special attack is 'assistance' from a police car which will pull up at the level's beginning and fire rockets. The explosions will take health from all enemies, but not the players. You are given one Special Attack per life or per level, but power-ups shaped like little police cars can be found giving another. Though the game does not automatically scroll forwards like DJ Boy, players cannot go backwards similar to Super Mario Bros.. Similar to the game Golden Axe, enemies walk onto the screen from both sides as well as occasionally appearing from other locations (less so than in the games sequels). With the exception of round 7, there is a boss battle at the end of every round with a dispropotionally large enemy; unlike it's sequels, none of the enemies are named and only the bosses have health bars (that appear below yours during the boss battle).
Levels
- Round 1: City Street
- Round 2: Inner City
- Round 3: Beachfront
- Round 4: Bridge
- Round 5: Aboard Ship
- Round 6: Factory
- Round 7: Freight Elevator
- Round 8: Syndicate Headquaters
All rounds take place at night. The only level without a boss is Round 7; however, all of the previous 6 bosses appear in Round 8, as well as the final boss for that level, Mr. X.
Endings
The game has two endings. Players can either destroy Mr.X or take his place as boss of the crime syndicate. To achieve the latter, a second player is needed. Before the final battle, Mr. X asks both players whether they would like to join him as his right hand man. One player must agree and the other refuse. At this point the players will be forced to fight each other. Whoever wins, Mr. X will ask that player once again if he would like to become his assistant. If the winning player then refuses, Mr. X calls the survivor a traitor, and they fight for control of the syndicate. If the player wins, they are shown sitting in the boss' chair and laughing as the new crime overlord of the city.
If players agreed to become Mr. X's right hand man in single player mode, or if both players agreed in two player, Mr. X would press a lever with his foot and drop the players back to the sixth level to play to the last scene again. Template:Endspoiler
Ports and Versions
In Japan, the game and whole franchise are known as Bare Knuckle. Bare Knuckle and Streets of Rage are exactly the same, barring the title screen.
8-Bit Versions a version of Streets of Rage for both the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear were made. The Master System version suffers from the poorer colour pallette and gameplay of the two. The Game Gear version omits Adam from the game and does not have the sprite animation for kneeing enemies.
Arcade Versions Sega ported Streets of Rage to arcade cabinets using both their Mega Tech and Mega Play arcade boards, the difference being that in the Mega Tech version you pay for time, not credits. Killer List of Videogames [1] has a listing for a Streets of Rage arcade game apparetnly released in 1989, implying that Streets Of Rage is an arcade port, like many of Sega's other successful Mega Drive games of the time (Golden Axe, Altered Beast, Outrun etc). However, there has never been any other indication of this that can be found.
Collections A signature title and franchise for Sega during the Mega Drive era the title was collected often: firstly Mega Games II (with Golden Axe and Revenge Of Shinobi) that was later bundled with the Sega Mega Dive, Sega Classics Arcade Collection (a Mega CD compilation with the two previously mentioned titles, plus Super Monaco GP and Columns). The voice effects for the characters in this version of the game were all redone with most fans agreeing they sound worse [citation needed], 6 Pak (composed of Streets of Rage, Sonic the Hedgehog, Columns, Revenge of Shinobi, Golden Axe and Super Hang-On); and Mega 6 (composed of Streets of Rage, World Cup Italia '90, Columns, Super Monaco GP, Revenge of Shinobi and Sonic the Hedgehog).
Trivia
- Blaze Fielding is very similar in design to the main character in the 1985 Sega game Flashgal. The game is a side-scrolling beat-em-up also (though you are automatically moved forward, similar to DJ Boy).
- It was one of the games to be bundled with the Genesis.
- The policecar used in special attacks is from E-SWAT: Cyber Police, a Sega Arcade game that was also ported to the Mega Drive.
- Round 5's bosses, a pair of 'twins', are simply Blaze Fielding's sprite re-coloured so their outfits are green.
- It is rumoured that Streets Of Rage uses a tweaked engine from Sega's arcade hit Golden Axe.
- The driver of the policecar used in the special attacks is never named, though he is meeted and greeted warmly by Axel in the game's good ending. In Sonic The Comic's adaptation he was named 'Murphy'.
- Sonic The Comic, the official British Sega comic, featured an adaptation of Streets Of Rage in issues 7-12 titled 'Streets Of Rage', but it is in fact based more on Streets Of Rage 2, with Max Thunder replacing Adam.
- The Pal/NSTC box art does not feature Adam, but does feature the Empire State Building. The Colouring for Axel and Blaze is incorrect, but oddly, it is the same colour schemes that the sprites for Streets of Rage 3 would be changed to by Sega of America.
- Yuzo Koshiro, the man who composed the music for Streets of Rage also composed the scores for The Revenge of Shinobi, Shenmue and Actraiser for the Snes.
- Many of Team Shinobi, the team behind the successful Revenge Of Shinobi were part of the Streets of Rage development team, and many in-game sounds and the main font ware taken directly from that game((fact)).
- In the Master System (not Game Gear) version of Streets of Rage, the level 6 boss is replaced with a dwarf that uses a rocket instead of the boss from level 2.
External links
- Streets Of Rage Online, in-depth fansite for all three games.
- Streets of Rage review from Mean Machines Archive
- NTSC-uk's Streets of Rage Retrospective