Streets of Rage (Otherwise known as Bare Knuckles) is a 2D side scrolling beat 'em up game for the Sega Genesis that was released to North America on September 18th, 1991, and spanned a trilogy exclusively on the Sega Genesis console. It stars Adam, Axel, and Blaze, three ex police officers who quit the force to battle against the criminal syndicate that has taken over the city. Choose your character and travel through eight rounds to take back your city. Let's dive in to Streets of Rage!
Go ahead, punk! Make my day!
In Streets of Rage you mainly go left to a different part of the stage and face enemies who can appear on the left and right sides of the screen to challenge your character to battle. At any time during one player mode a second player can join the fight provided you have a second video game controller, and can aid you in completing the game.
The only life bar you can see in the game is your own, not the enemies. So you never know when the enemy is going down on health until they vanish from the screen entirely. The only enemies that has life bars are the bosses, but there are no names on these bars. There is a boss battle on each stage with the exception of the seventh stage.
It's been no pleasure cruise!
Enemies are varied in type and gender. The women enemies tend to carry whips, but you can't knock them out of the enemy's hand and pick them up yourself. You can pick up other weapons in each stage like a knife, a bottle, or a drainpipe.
You can punch, kick, and throw enemies across the screen with the different controls of the game in addition to knocking them out with weapons. Weapons can deal more damage, but are some times few and far between. Some times it's better to just stick with your fists.
Since when did the police have that kind of firepower?
Your special attack consist of a police officer in a police cruiser as seen above firing a rocket that attack all enemies on the stage. This mainly come in handy during boss battles as it can really drain their health than just your normal attacks. You're only given one special attack per life or per level and you can find power ups shaped like police cars to supply another. I would suggest saving them for a boss fight, or when you're surrounded and overwhelmed and you can't handle it on your own.
Axel and Blaze are going for the Tag Team Championship!
Multiplayer is a bit easier since you have a helper assisting you in the various battles throughout each stage, and it's fun to have a second player on your journey with you. This was before online gaming, so the second player was someone who actually came to your house and played the game with you. Ah, the good old days.
Now it's possible to get a different ending on the game depending if you play single player or multiplayer, and whether or not you accept Mr X's offer to join his henchmen. Because of this it's possible to get a good and bad ending depending on the way you play.
Fatality! Oops, wrong game.
The graphics are still pretty good for 16 bit gaming graphics back in the day. The hit detection is well done and there is enough variety in the sound effects when punches are hit that makes you feel the impact. The soundtrack is also very well done and puts you in the mood to play. This was back in the day where Sega could do no wrong, and they really did what Nintendon't!
You have failed this city!
At the end of the day it's no wonder why Streets of Rage was a popular video game series from Sega in the early 1990s and still stands the test of time today as one of the best beat 'em up titles easily surpassing Double Dragon and Battletoads on Nintendork systems. I can say nothing further except...
Get it!
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