Streets of Rage 2
From Sega Retro
| Streets of Rage 2 | |||||
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| System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Mega Play, Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, iOS, PlayStation Network, Steam | |||||
| Publisher: Sega | |||||
| Developer: Sega AM7, Ancient, H.I.C., Shout! Designworks | |||||
Peripherals supported:  | |||||
| Genre: Action | |||||
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CERO
Missing Parameter! |
Streets of Rage 2, known as Bare Knuckle II: Shitou e no Requiem (ベア・ナックルII 死闘への鎮魂歌 lit. Bare Knuckle II: Requiem to the Deadly Struggle) in Japan, is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up for the Sega Mega Drive, released in 1993 as a sequel to Streets of Rage. It received 8-bit ports for the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear, as well as being included on numerous compilations of Mega Drive games. More recently, it was made available on the Virtual Console and Xbox Live Arcade download services.
Contents
Storyline
The game's storyline is set one year after the events of its prequel Streets of Rage. That game's protagonists Adam Hunter, Axel Stone, and Blaze Fielding go to a nightspot and reminisce over their defeat of Mr. X. The following day Axel gets a call from Eddie "Skate" Hunter, Adam's younger brother, telling him that he returned to the brothers' house to find it in shambles, with a picture of Adam chained to a wall next to Mr. X left behind. Axel, Blaze, Skate and their friend Max embark on a mission to rescue their friend and hopefully break up Mr. X's criminal gang once again.
Characters
Axel Stone is the most popular character, and the best choice for beginners due to his all-round stats. His blitz attack is the Grand Upper, which is arguably the most useful and effective move of the game due to its high damage but relatively fast execution, which make it effective against bosses and enemies with a "breakout" special move. He has average movement speed and agility.
Blaze Fielding is another well rounded and popular character. Her speed rating on the character select screen matches that of Axel, although she appears to be faster. (this is because the Star system isn't tied to the actual programmed stats, therefore, she actually is faster, her skill stars just don't show it.) She also deals less damage with some of her moves.
Eddie "Skate" Hunter (Sammy Hunter in Japan) is the lightest and most agile character, the weakest in terms of combo damage, but the second strongest in terms of grappling. Skate is the only character capable of sprinting, thanks to the rollerskates after which he is named, which can allow him to escape many attacks which the other characters would not be able to avoid.
Max Thunder is the 'powerhouse' of the game, possessing great strength. This is offset by his very slow speed, which puts him at a disadvantage with speedier enemies.
Gameplay
Controls are identical to Streets of Rage's, except the special move is no longer the police car coming in to kill all on-screen enemies. Instead, in Streets of Rage 2, each character is given their own unique blitz attack, which allows the player to deal great damage with a single hit. They also have 'breakout' moves that allow them to break out of holds, and can damage enemies both in front of and behind them. The amount of times that blitz and breakout attacks can be used is limited, as each decreases the player's life gauge (the latter only if the move connects, the former always). In addition, each character has a unique move (e.g. Axel's Grand Upper, noted above) that causes substantial damage without depleting their energy.
Soundtrack
Streets of Rage 2's soundtrack was composed by Yuzo Koshiro (known for his work on the first Streets of Rage and The Revenge of Shinobi) and Motohiro Kawashima. This soundtrack is considered by some to be the best of the series, and the printed album is by far the easiest of the series' printed releases to find since there was a US release as well as a Japanese one.
There are a few unused/beta tracks. One of these, "Walking Bottom", exists in the Bare Knuckle II beta ROM. Two appear in the final game's sound test: "Go Straight" and "Little Money Avenue". The former is featured in the game, albeit in a different mix. There is also a slow version of "In the Bar" in the game's Sound Test that goes unused as well.
Bare Knuckle II beta
A beta ROM of Bare Knuckle II is available. The dump is very different from the final, and only Round 1 is playable. The game lacks sound effects, and the scrapped music track "Walking Bottom" is played throughout. The player cannot pick up weapons, even if they are within range. Max has a different sprite set, and can vault enemies, which means he cannot perform his Atomic power throw.
Regional differences
The Japanese version is of the game is the original unaltered one, and therefore has no censorship. The US version was edited to remove the cigar smoked by Mr. X in round 8, as well as removing the ability to see up Blaze's skirt when she performs certain moves. The European version has the upskirt animations, but no cigar.
In the Japanese version, Eddie "Skate" Hunter is called Sammy Hunter, in reference to the company Sammy's DJ Boy, another side-scrolling beat-'em'up, whose titular character also wears rollerskates. Both names can be found in the ROM of the final version of the game, and are chosen between depending on the region of the Mega Drive (or emulator being used).
The European and Japanese versions of the game are interchangeable between European and Japan region settings. Therefore, the Japanese version of the game could be played on a PAL console (at the correct speed, as the PAL version runs in unoptimised 50Hz) and vice versa. The US version is region locked to only work on NTSC US/Canadian consoles. Despite this locking, the tiles for the Bare Knuckle II title screen and data for the name "Sammy" are still present in the US ROM. Streets of Rage 2 was one of the very first Mega Drive games to be region locked.
Manuals
Production Credits
Mega Drive Version
- Game Design
Main Planning: Cadmix
Planning: Talk Uchimura (Shout! Ow), Ayano Koshiro (Ancient), Mikito Ichikawa (MNM)
System Design: Talk Uchimura (Shout! Ow)
- Programming
Main Program: Akitoshi Kawano (Shout! Ow)
Main Enemy Program: Yukio Takahashi (Ancient)
Enemy and Demo Program: Tatsuya Sato (HIC), Djinni (HIC), Noritaka Yakita (HIC)
- Music
Music Composition: Yuzo Koshiro, Motohiro Kawashima
Sound Effect: Yuzo Koshiro
Sound Driver: Takeshi Maruyama (MNM)
- Management
Project Management: Wanta
- Design
Obj Design: Ayano Koshiro (Ancient), Hitoshi Ariga, Tomoharu Saitoh, Anything, Pochi
Main Design: Ayano Koshiro (Ancient)
B.G. Design: Koji Utsunomiya (Shout! Ow), Tsurugi Oda (Shout! Ow), Akishi Imai (Shout! Ow), Kouhei Ichikawa, Satoshi Nakai, Koichiro Kobayashi, Seishi Atsumiya, Ayano Koshiro (Ancient)
- Special Thanks
Team Streets of Rage, Zozo, Todo, Y.K.K, Hassy, Kyoten
Game Gear Version
- Game Design
Planning: Monty, Show, Mud
- Programming
Main Programming: Mud
Demo Programming: Kozo
- Music
Music Composition: Yuzo Koshiro
Sound Effects: Yuzo Koshiro
Sound Driver: Mikito Ichikawa
- Design
Obj Design: Python
BG Design: Show, Wozl
- Special Thanks to
Ancient, Team S.O.R., B.T.R., C.O.M., Abadede Jr.
Physical scans
Mega Drive version
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86 |
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| Based on 50 reviews | |
| Mega Drive, US |
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| Mega Drive, US (Not for resale) |
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| Mega Drive, EU |
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| Mega Drive, JP |
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| Mega Drive, BR |
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| Mega Drive, South Korea |
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Game Gear version
| Sega Retro Average | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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78 |
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| Based on 21 reviews | |
| Game Gear, US |
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| Game Gear, EU |
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| Game Gear, |
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Master System version
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68 |
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| Based on 13 reviews | |
| Master System, EU |
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| Master System, BR |
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External Links
- Sega of Japan Virtual Console page (Japanese)
- Streets of Rage 2 on Apple.com: GB, US
- Streets of Rage 2 on Xbox.com: GB, US
- Streets of Rage 2 on PlayStation.com: US
- Streets of Rage 2 on Steam
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