Written by Spidey Twitter/X
The beat 'em up genre existed many moons before Streets of Rage (Bare Knuckle in Japan). The likes of Technos Japan's 1987 game Double Dragon pulled in the arcade big bucks, before getting home ports of varying quality (and let's not mention an abysmal Hollywood movie). 1989, however, was more than just a Taylor Swift album; it was quite an integral year for the side- scrolling arcade coin-ops. Sega's Golden Axe and Final Fight from Capcom arguably solidified the genre tropes that would continue going forward – multiple playable characters with varying fighting styles, laying the smackdown on hordes of goons until a final confrontation with the Big Bad.
While likely in development at the same time, Golden Axe released first, with its swords-&-sorcery tale of three warriors armed with weapons & magic, fighting back to save the land from the oppression of Death-Adder. (Bonus points for kicking those thieving bastard elves in between stages). Final Fight, on the other hand, was a more contemporary tale of a mayor's daughter being kidnapped (as you do), forcing said mayor & two of his tough friends into street-fights with gangs in order to rescue her.
“There's streets. There's a decent amount of rage involved. Let's call it Bare Knuckle” - a Sega Japan representative, probably.Streets of Rage arguably follows the same basic formula. The ominously- named Mr X has the city in a constant state of crime. The police can no longer maintain the streets, causing all-out chaos. It's left to Axel, Blaze & Adam to take back control. Unlike Golden Axe & Final Fight, though, Streets was never released as an arcade coin-muncher, instead launching straight into the home on Sega's Mega Drive (or Genesis, if you're American or really enjoy classic British prog-rock). As a purely console designed game, you could say it didn't have many of the artificial difficulty spikes of its arcade brethren, where games are often deliberately made to be bastard hard to encourage that feeling of 'just one more go'. Their entire existence relied on another coin going in the slot, so often they're insanely difficult by their very nature.
That's not to say this game isn't hard – there are certainly some tough moments where you're overwhelmed by bosses, most notably for me the twin female fighters on the boat stage. They're fast and agile. Playing solo, they often took several lives from me, which were quite limited. (I like to think I've improved since I played at 7 years old, but I still reckon they'd give me a hard time). Overall, the game feels much more fair than arcade equivalents. Mostly.
The game was designed by Noriyoshi Ohba. Ohba had previously worked on Mega Drive classic The Revenge of Shinobi, and would later go on to be an executive producer on the Saturn's NiGHTS & Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast. For some reason he also produced Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, so clearly you can't win 'em all.
The controls used the Mega Drive's basic three button pad. Attack & jump are pretty self-explanatory. There's also a Special button, which calls in a police car from off-screen with rocket launchers that utterly decimates any unfortunate goon on screen at the time. These are best saved for bosses or overwhelming amounts of enemies, as they are incredibly limited. Occasionally you can find extra Specials hidden in the environments, but these are very rare.
Each character has their own unique set of moves, with Axel balanced in speed & strength, but with a weaker jump. Blaze is faster and more agile, at the cost of not hitting quite as hard. Adam is slower, yet can punch & jump more than adequately (a bit like my mother, then). Whoever you pick, you're dumped immediately onto the streets, and the music kicks in. Wow. About that music.
If you've never heard Streets' soundtrack, then I suggest you go to YouTube or Spotify and listen to it right now. Go on, I'll wait. For those who are very familiar with those 90's Euro-club dance beats, I'm certain you'll agree this soundtrack is top-tier & unforgettable. Yuzo Koshiro composed an entire game full of memorable bangers that took a lot of inspiration from nightclubs & dance music culture of the time (sometimes I can even sense the aura of Lisa Stansfield in there). It is so memorable, that to me the only game soundtrack that could equal or exceed it in my mind is Streets of Rage II, the sequel also composed by Koshiro. There's a very good reason the UK-based videogame soundtrack vinyl company DataDiscs secured Streets of Rage as their first release on their record label.
Looks like the start of a great night out.The beats compliment the actual beating as the player crusades towards taking down Mr X in his executive high-rise office. They compliment their environments; from the grimy notes on the gritty streets and the jazz- influenced beachside battles, via the more subdued chill of the bridge crossing, to the elevator of the final building, the ascending pounding rhythm on point as you rise ever closer to Mr X. And that boss music? Yeah, you definitely know the big boys (and girls) are coming when you hear that. Sometimes literally.
Sound effects too are quite punchy (pun unintended but welcome). Swinging a baseball bat or lead pipe at some random punk drives its impact with a whoosh, and upon cracking the goon's face lets off a tasty crunch. Punches & kicks connect well; a few visual frames of enemy impact help sell each blow's strength against its target.
The main gameplay loop is rather simple, taken wholesale from the likes of Golden Axe – move to the right & hit anything that moves. (As a very well- earned treat, the final level allows you to head left! Insane!). Your character can move up & down alongside left & right, creating a depth system where you have to line yourself up with enemies on the horizontal plane to hit them. Of course, they too have the same manoeuvrability, so will be scooting around to flank you while you're bashing up another punk. It's satisfying to grab an enemy as they try to scoot past, setting them up for a throw or suplex head- first into the tarmac.
During the fighting its possible to find weapons and health pick-ups hidden in barrels or other destructible obstacles. Knives, bats and pipes are the main weapons you'll find useful in battle. Apples & chunks of meat (chicken leg? Beef? Who knows?) are your main source of sustenance, regaining your precious life bar. The absurd sight of a fully-cooked piece of meat on the bone inside a bin on the street will always stick with me. It is silly, yet immediately recognisable as a health item. Not as iconic as the sequel's bin chicken, but I digress.
The elevator level, in particular, stood out to me as a kid, though at the time I was unaware it was inspired by a similar stage in Final Fight. It confines the player to one small area, tossing enemies in constantly, only going up once the wave was cleared. Much fun was had timing a jumping kick so the incoming enemy from above was knocked back off the lift and into the abyss to his doom. Easy insta-kill. It became quite a popular trope in gaming to have an elevator ride as a tense action set-piece of survival against enemy waves, the clock, or both. Some standouts that borrow the same trope include Sega's Shadow Dancer & Konami's Metal Gear Solid.
It was at this point, Blaze knew she had f*cked up. Her tap-dancing routine left everyone displeased.This was also the first game I played that had a boss rush gauntlet in the final level. In my youth this was always a place I'd tend to lose all lives & get game over (those damn female twins again, grrr!). I found it quite a difficulty spike to take on all the bosses again right before the last one (and then he's a bit of a dick for bringing a machine gun to a fist fight).
Speaking of bosses, there certainly is quite a mix in here. Cheap Freddy Kreuger rip-offs who clearly didn't watch the movies, massively overweight blokes who've had one too many vindaloos, literally the WWF Ultimate Warrior for some reason, and those pesky acrobatic twins. Each one has a good amount of moves to counter your up-close tactics, such as quick attack dashes to throw your rhythm off-guard, or running towards you while breathing fire, preventing a frontal assault.
The game is both playable solo and two-player, allowing two of the three heroes to team up to take down the goons. However, this team dynamic had the potential of turning sour at the end of the game, when confronting Mr X he allows you to betray your co-op partner & join the dark side. This mechanic is incredibly rare even today, forcing a dynamic face-off between players at the end of their arduous journey, its two endings an interesting replayability factor.
The legacy of Streets is evident in publisher DotEmu's recently released Streets of Rage 4 for the PS4, Xbox One & Switch, a generation of consoles so far removed from the 16-bit 'blast processing' of ye olde Mega Drive. Yet it adheres true to the style, form & gameplay of the 1991 original and its sequel, giving those who grew up with the OG a welcome burst of instant nostalgia. Its updated graphics, which are obviously a huge step up from pixel-art, still stay true to the overall aesthetic design of the original. More recently Sega announced a return of some old franchises in its upcoming slate of games, a new Streets included. It will be interesting to see how this develops. The fourth entry left such a high benchmark, it'll be difficult to top.
I don't think you're ready for discount Freddy. Or his strange ginger mate who clearly has never held a knife before.At the end of the day, Streets deserves its high praise, and is worthy of a place in any gamer's heart. If you're yet to experience it, there are many options on modern consoles & even PC. It's on practically every Sega Mega Drive compilation, alongside its superior sequel. It's a fantastic blast of fun in co-op too, with accidental friendly fire and grabs both hilarious & infuriating. Streets of Rage walked so that Streets of Rage II could run. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to punch some trash cans in the hope of finding a tasty bin chicken.
Screenshots from World of Longplays - Mega Drive Longplay [002] Streets of Rage
Written by Spidey Twitter/X