Streets of Rage II (Master System) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
225A playthough of Sega's 1993 beat 'em up for the Sega Master System, Streets of Rage II.
Played through as Axel on the normal difficulty level.
Streets of Rage 2 was ridiculously successful from day one on the Sega Genesis, and in the early 1990s, such success all-but-guaranteed a line-up of adaptations to far weaker platforms.
And though the Game Boy saw many NES and SNES hits smashed down for its hardware over the years, Sega's 8-bit platforms received a seemingly endless stream of stripped-back versions of popular Genesis and Mega Drive games. These titles made sense to produce, even if they were far from cutting-edge: though the US and Japan markets had moved onto 16-bit consoles, much of Europe and South America still loved and actively supported the Master System, and the system remained relevant in those markets through the mid-90s thanks to these efforts. This one was exclusive to Europe and Brazil.
Streets of Rage II for the Master System, however, did not quite live up to the quality of the other stars in Sega's 8-bit line-up. It's a fairly lackluster and unduly frustrating facsimile of a far better game, and in an unexpected twist, it's a solid step down from the Game Gear version. The Master System and Game Gear games are entirely different games, which wasn't something we saw very often given the similarities in hardware.
This 8-bit take on the second Bare Knuckle installment starts out with a similar intro to the Genesis game, and even the character select screen looks similar despite Max's glaring absence. Once the game starts, though, the stark differences between the games come into focus.
The graphics are squat, ugly, and they lack color and detail - they fall well short of the graphics in the first SMS SoR, and of the graphics in the GG SoR2. The sound is also not a highlight. It's impressive that the original game's songs are recognizable here, but they sound awful. I'm not a fan of the SMS sound to begin with, but this was worse than usual - the tracks are so busy that everything tends to become a middle test of beeps. I had to mute it when I was playing. The music was really doing my head in.
Likewise, the gameplay doesn't quite measure up to the original's. Most of the moves are here, and you no longer need to hit the pause button on the console to use them, but the hit detection feels really sketchy, and since you get no temporary state of invulnerability when you're getting up from a fall, the enemies delight in juggling you back and forth until you die. And good luck countering anything - a simple enemy punch can break straight through your jump kick or your Grand Upper, so you'll eat the floor a lot until you discover the endless combo exploit.
Streets of Rage II isn't outrageously poor or unplayable, but it is a shockingly lackluster take on one of Sega's top-tier hits. If you really want to try it out, I'd suggest emulation. The Master System cart in no way justifies the prices it goes for. But then again, you'd be much better off with the Game Gear game, if you must insist on playing SoR2 in 8-bit.
If you'd like to see my video of the Genesis game, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/-fd5wRZ7hP8
And here is the first Streets of Rage for the Master System: https://youtu.be/azQ_963DFB4
And finally, for more Master System playthroughs, check out my playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3gSj_kh1fHs29jFWuxVI30FjoMMdiJVs
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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