Game:

Streets of Rage 2 (1992)

Duration: 14:44

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Streets of Rage 2 is not only a childhood favorite Beat 'em up, it's also one of my favorite games of all time. In 1994, my brother and I rented this game from Stars and Stripes video, a local store in the small town we lived in. I remember because I had also picked up a new toy at the store, the Kromium Terminator toy, and that was a weekend of playing with my new toy, and beating Streets of Rage 2 multiple times. We spent those three days, for three dollars to rent, playing the crap out of this.

A very short time after we returned the game to the video store, my brother came home from a local pawn shop, and for a mere $25 of hard earned money, he bought us a copy of this game. In the decades since that day, I have played through this game thousands of times, on all difficulties, and mostly with a second player. Streets of Rage 2 wasn't just a fantastic game for my brother and I but even my sisters, who by this time never played games, would team up together and play thought this game back-to-back as well. They may never have played Sonic. They never played Hyperstone Heist, Altered Beast, or any other game we owned or rented up to this point, but my sisters would play a mean game of Streets of Rage 2.

Streets of Rage 2 starts out one year after the events of the first game. The day after meeting up with Adam and Blaze to celebrate the one-year anniversary of saving the city from Mister X the leader of a sinister group known simply as The Syndicate, Axel receives a frantic call from Eddie “Skate” Hunter, Adam's little brother. His house has been trashed, and Adam is nowhere to be found. They find a Polaroid of Adam in Chains, laying at the feet of Mister X. With No friends left on the police force to help them, Axel, Skate, and Blaze are Joined by Axel's friend and Pro Wrestler, Max to rescue Adam, and take down The Syndicate once again.

The Streets of Rage series is Sega's take on Final Fight, it even borrows enemy types. The difference is, Streets of Rage, specifically, Streets of Rage 2, will always play better than Final Fight,That's right, I said it. Streets of Rage is Better than Final Fight. Final Fight is still awesome though, just not the Snes port. And, technically, Double Dragon is the inspiration for both when it comes down to it. Either way, Streets of Rage 2 is still the best in my book. Perhaps I'm biased due to the many years of great memories this game has provided, but an overwhelming portion of my 16-bit gaming days were spent renting and playing the best, and worst beat 'em ups of that entire generation of gaming, so I did play enough beat 'em ups to make fair assessment.

Streets of Rage 2 upgrades the original with new moves, larger sprites, and some of the best music, not just on the Genesis (Genesis Can't do sound, eh?), but some of the best gaming music of all time.

Playing by myself, I find normal difficulty to be the most enjoyable, only getting hard near the end of the game, however, this is a game that needs to be played with two players for the best experience. With two players, I always find the best strategy is one person stays up top, and the other at bottom so you don't hit each other. Working as a team, you alternate who picks up which items as needed. Or, if your teammate steals everything, and screws you over, you can just fight them in the duel mode to settle the score. This game is great by yourself, but lifetime memories can be made when playing it with friends and family.

The gameplay is fast, and the fighting system is actually really deep for a simple beat 'em up, having multiple techniques in your basic attacks, and throw maneuvers. As a beat 'em up, it's easy to pick up and play, and has a deep enough fighting system that you won't figure all the moves out on your first couple of playthroughs. The game doesn't last very long, maybe an hour tops, but for me, for one hour at a time, this game has produced over two decades, almost three of memories and is easily in my top five of all time, specifically because of the memories, but nostalgia aside, this is one of the best beat 'em up of all time.

Great 2-D graphics, responsive controls, deep enough fighting system, oh, and that music. If you're not a beat 'em up fan, find them repetitive an too simplistic, this game won't change your mind on the genre, but if you are a fan, and haven't played this yet, you need to. If you have played this game before, smash this thing into your Genesis Cartridge slot, grab a Genesis compilation, and give it another playthrough, Fantastic game that I have so many hours of memories playing. Even without the nostalgia attachment, it still hold up as a fantastic beat 'em to this day.
#streetsofrage2 #genesis #PS3 #megadrive