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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 25, 2008 21:00:48 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/streetsofrage/streetsofrage.htmYeah! All of this Sega beat-em-up love makes me want to tackle Golden Axe. But yeah, Streets of Rage totally destroys Final Fight despite being a pretty blatant ripoff. Except Final Fight 3, which is probably better than all of them. But only barely!
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Post by steven on Mar 25, 2008 21:20:19 GMT -5
The original has always been one of my top faves for the Genesis. Wickedly atmospheric and loads of fun. Fond memories of playing through it with my old best friend. For my money, I'd rather play 1 over 2, although most folks liked 2 better, I have always liked the original that much more.
Nice work, ZZZ.
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Post by vnisanian2001 on Mar 25, 2008 21:33:12 GMT -5
I always thought the first game in the series had the best music of the 3 original games.
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Post by Atma on Mar 25, 2008 21:35:51 GMT -5
My mom hated this game so much when we first got a Genesis. I think I played it more just to spite her than to enjoy it. I should try it again.
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Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 25, 2008 21:39:47 GMT -5
Can I do Golden Axe if I have Rastan Saga completed by the thirtieth? Awesome article, minor nitpicks: The iteration of Streets of Rage used on the 5 in One and Arcade Classics Sega CD releases has re-sampled voices that are much better than any other version. Game Gear Streets of Rage 1, in addition to other cuts, only has six levels instead of eight. The SMS version has all eight levels, and also is NOT ported from the GG version, it's on a different engine and has the different feels to show. Also if I remember right SMS Streets of Rage 1 has a boss in level six that is unique to the SMS version of the game. Streets of Rage 1 is very repetitive, but actually had a substantial move set compared to any other beat'em up that existed at the time except for the arcade version of P.O.W. Streets of Rage 2 greatly expands the move sets but SoR1's variety was definitely a contributing factor to its success. I was always under the impression that whatever minor planning and design was done for the XBox "Streets of Rage 4" became Spikeout: Battle Street. The first person bit was something that was actually considered for the Dreamcast Streets of Rage. The idea being that you could switch from first to third person on the fly. There are a few test videos of this floating around on the internet. youtube.com/watch?v=j4hs0omE4zgyoutube.com/watch?v=yuSPeFzNrO4Anyways, great stuff. I love Streets of Rage. I like the atmosphere of the first game the most as well Steven. I kind of like the soundtrack the most as well. SoR2's music quality blows it away but I like the arrangements in the original more.
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Post by zzz on Mar 25, 2008 22:10:14 GMT -5
Cool. Nice to see this up. Streets of Rage 1 is very repetitive, but actually had a substantial move set compared to any other beat'em up that existed at the time except for the arcade version of P.O.W. And every Technos beat-em-up. Really, even though they had like one more move than Final Fight (the backward attack) this was pretty standard fare at the time. I talked to a few people recently who were really into the game back in the day, and hadn't played it in ages (to judge if my perspective of the history of the series was accurate), and most of them had no idea you could attack backward. Those that did all agreed that everybody thought that the move was worthless back in the day, and that everbody would tend to neglect it.
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Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 25, 2008 22:23:15 GMT -5
I know about that move but that wasn't even what I was referring to. I was thinking more along the lines of the grappling, which was handled very originally in SoR1. And while it doesn't have the variety of animations of, say, a Technos game, the controls are much more responsive than what you get in almost any other beat'em up made before it given what you're allowed to do. This opens up the field for more combos than what's possible in Final Fight also (since you can basically break out of a grapple when you want to instead of having to jump out of it and risk getting punched in the ankles like in Final Fight). This aspect is why I enjoy the SoR games more than a lot of the Technos beat'em ups (though those are of course godly as well). In the Technos beat'em ups everything's based on starting up a combo and then having a finisher ensue based on elements the player doesn't have total control over given the hit detection in many of Technos' older games (this is especially true in the NES ports). For its time, Streets of Rage had the best compromise of pre-canned combos and still having the freedom to toss people around however you want. Also everyone loves grabbing someone from behind so someone else can sucker punch the person. This level of brutality in those games is highly therapeutic. I love how the sound effect for hitting someone with a lead pipe in SoR2 is a sample lesser games would use for an explosion or for huge metal things crashing into each other.
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Post by TheGunheart on Mar 25, 2008 22:27:33 GMT -5
Major typo alert: Streets of Rage 3 is listed in the header as Streets of Rage 2.
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Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 25, 2008 22:28:57 GMT -5
More like wishful thinking.
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Post by zzz on Mar 25, 2008 22:37:11 GMT -5
My point was just that I, and everybody else that I talked to about the series while I was writing this, all agree on my comments being totally accurate. Anyway, to get back to the games, it seems to be the general opinion that SoR 3 has a disappointing cast compared to the second installment, and I couldn't argue. Dr. Zan is kinda crap and Skate was always so-so, but Max was freaking awesome. It would have been great to have a faster version of him in SoR 3/BK III with the ability to dash and everything.
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Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 25, 2008 22:47:09 GMT -5
I also wish they brought Adam back for SoR3. The world could have done without Dr. Zan and the SoR folk battling Mr. X's plan for world domination (I love the cutscene that involves "town hall" that was so clearly the Capitol in the Japanese version).
Come to think of it, Final Fight 3 had a slow electric addition to the roster as well, though Dean is significantly more fun to play as.
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Post by TheGunheart on Mar 25, 2008 22:49:58 GMT -5
More like wishful thinking. I'm looking at it right now, and it says: Streets of Rage 2 / Bare Knuckle II: Shitou no Chinkon Uta - Genesis / Sega Master System / Game Gear (1992) Right above the boxshots of SoR3.
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Post by zzz on Mar 25, 2008 22:51:26 GMT -5
Yeah, Adam, Blaze, Axel, and Max would have been the best four character cast for SoR 3.
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Post by Neo Rasa on Mar 25, 2008 22:52:31 GMT -5
Also while he was fun to fight in the original and see return in the sequel, Mr. X wouldn't have been missed either. I wonder what made them take the series in such a crazy direction anyway. SoR2 has guys with jet packs and robots but the story of SoR3 puts the cast a little out of their league. Speaking of which, that's the final thing that needed to return, some form of being able to send out a signal that makes people firebomb your general surroundings. More like wishful thinking. I'm looking at it right now, and it says: Streets of Rage 2 / Bare Knuckle II: Shitou no Chinkon Uta - Genesis / Sega Master System / Game Gear (1992) Right above the boxshots of SoR3. My post was a comment on SoR3's quality compared to SoR2.
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Post by vysethebold on Mar 25, 2008 22:54:45 GMT -5
Just wanted to remind you that the Bare Knuckle games were included in the Japanese version of Sonic Gems Collection for the Gamecube.
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