Streets of Rage II

"Bloody knuckles"

There are few games I've as much history with as Streets of Rage 2. A fan since its release twelve years ago, I've beaten the game what must be hundreds of times over throughout these years. With old friends, new friends, cousins, my father, my sister (whom I'd drag out of her bed (usually literally) every Saturday morning just so I'd have someone to fight alongside with) and, of course, on my own. I've punched, dropkicked and headbutted my way through these brutal stages so many times that, no matter how much time has passed since I last played it, I still know where every secret 1-up is hidden, exactly when every enemy will appear and which strategy is best used to dispatch them. Streets of Rage 2 will just never become dull for me.

Even if its story is. Adam, the righteous black dude from the first game, has been kidnapped by the wonderfully named Mr. X, the last boss also from the first game. His partners, the bad-ass and blonde Axel (Stone-wash jeans and bandana? You can't **** with that), and the mini-skirt babe Blaze, set out to dish justice. Unfortunately, they let a slower than hell ex-wrestler named Max and Adam's little skating brother, naturally named Skate, tag along. These two characters are simply not cool: Max is far too fat and slow, making him easily struck - not to mention an eyesore with those stretch pants he's rocking - and Skate, while a decent if underpowered choice, is a kid. And kids suck.

Thus, you opt for either Axel or Blaze, and then begin the slaughter with the usual assortment of attacks found in the genre: punch combo, air attacks, throw, a special attack, as well as a bevy of weapons littered throughout these raging streets for you to crack skulls and slice flesh with. (And it's all about the manly pipe.) Streets of Rage 2 didn't exactly break new ground here, but Sega did add a few extra attacks to beef up the gameplay. You can grab an enemy and beat them, toss them over your shoulder, or jump over them and slam them into the pavement. Hitting forward twice then attack or holding the attack button and letting go will dish out a cool knock-down move (like Blaze flipping through the air and striking on the way down, or Axel giving a powerful one-two kick). Tapping attack and jump at the same time will clobber whoever's standing right behind you. Or, holding forward then hitting the special attack button will unleash a new devastating move (Axel lashes out with a flurry of punches and caps them off with a rising uppercut, for example), but will tax you a bit of your health whether you connect or not. These additions may not seem like very much on their own, but altogether they brought great variety to a genre that at the time had next to none.

And you'll need all of this in order to survive. Across a baseball field, amusement park, ship, and even a factory, you must beat the **** out of enemy after enemy until they're all laying on the ground bleeding. (Or, y'know, flash then disappear.) Fighting a skinny, oddly-shuffling punk-rocker like Y. Signal or a one-combo-and-I'm-out goon like Galsia ain't no thang, but fighting a group of these bastards - sometimes up to seven - will keep you on your toes. And that's where SoR2's brilliance reveals itself to you; this is in no way a mindless beat-'em-up. You must quickly work out a strategy to best take the opposition down, or you'll find yourself surrounded and promptly gang-banged. Even by the second stage - an awesome trip across a construction site high set above the city, that pits you against a nerd in a rocket-pack at its end - bikers will zip across the screen trying to run you over or blow you up with the grenades they toss. And as you progress, you'll slug it out with tall kickboxers that can block your attacks, totally sweet ninjas that pack swords and shurikens, and chuckling fatties that'll charge at you breathing fire or use their great arm length to just female dog-slap you senseless.

The bosses can be just as tricky, but are more about timing than quickly dispatching. And while their methods are pretty simple, they can still give you trouble. Take Abodede for example, the mighty Ultimate Warrior clone: you can't combo him because he'll just erupt midway through, in quite the manly fashion, and knock you back, but jumpkicking works quite well - assuming he doesn't run at you and land a devastating uppercut (that gets cheers from the crowd, no less) first. And though he isn't the most challenge character in the game, my favorite boss, Zamza, an obvious nod to Street Fighter 2's Blanka, can be found in the third stage. He'll hop around the screen, slide and airspin toward you with his claws slashing through the air along the way. And all of this takes place in an Alien-themed funhouse, too, replete with giant eggs to smash and thugs emerging from underneath a blanket of fog.

The only snag in the game comes in the sixth stage, a kind of awkward trek across a beach and jungle. It just feels a bit thrown together at the last minute, and this isn't helped any by the final fight: instead of a new, hulking bruiser to do battle with, you just get two older ones thrown together. This stage certainly isn't a bore to go through, but it does easily stick out as the worst of the eight stages. Still, at least it looks gorgeous. In fact, everything in SoR2 looks stunning. The characters are huge - a major improvement of the first game's stick-figures - and animate smoothly, while the stages are beautifully detailed and nicely varied.

The rad style is what really gives the visuals their pop, though. In what can best be described as an '80s hangover, characters sport all sorts of asinine gear such as tight jeans, punk-rock clothing, mullets, spandex and a good number even Travis Bickle it with mohawks. This might all sound bad and, well, it is. But it's the hilarious kind of bad I can't help but love. It's just cool, despite, and because of, its constant pop culture and video game references.

But perhaps where Streets of Rage 2 shines brightest is in the audio department. While the Genesis sound chip was never known for great clarity (or anything associated with the word great, actually), the frenetic techno Yuzo Koshiro was able to create with it is above and beyond what most of today's games even have to offer. Raging beat after squealing synth, the soundtrack almost never lets up, only occasionally dipping into jazzy hip-hop, but never dipping in top-shelf quality. Likewise, the sound effects are explosive. Smash someone's head in with a pipe and you're rewarded with near-deafening crack; slash 'em with a knife or sword instead and you'll hear a nasty tear. Even after laying waste to an enemy, they'll let loose a manly "YAAAH!" or "UWOAH!"

And "UWOAH!" perfectly sums up the manliness that is Streets of Rage 2, really. Imagine, if you will, cold-****ing your way through the gritty streets, fighting knife-wielding punk-rockers, and strutting through a seedy bar where you'll smash heads against tables and bodies through chairs, then finally out into the back where you battle the bar's unbelievably cool bartender, Barbon, while rain is pouring down on the both of you, with all of this is backed with a head-bobbin' techno beat. This is Streets of Rage 2 - and this is just its first stage.

No matter how many times I fight my way through these bruising stages, I'm always impressed. Its gameplay has great depth, its characters are large and flashy with stellar level design, and its face-rocking soundtrack is so damn brilliant and fully fleshed-out, you'd never believe it came from a 16-bit system, much less the Genesis.

Forever a classic.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/04, Updated 06/03/04