Let’s face it, in the pecking order of gaming it is Japan at the top then the North American region then Europe and finally South America bringing up the rear.  This is evident in the way games are censored in each region as they go through that list.  In Japan, generally they are uncensored but then we see the first round of changes prior to them hitting North America.  One such censoring happened with Streets of Rage 2 on the Sega Genesis.  A lot of little things were removed, many that make you wonder if you really are playing a Sega game or did Nintendo secretly buy out Sega and just not tell anyone?  Now, fans have fixed one of Sega’s biggest Genesis releases.  Finally.

Names being changed has been a problem for me ever since I learned about M. Bison and Balrog in Street Fighter II being swapped for the North American release.  The change was stupid.  The name changes in Streets of Rage 2 are just as ludicrous, actually more so since these were obviously in no danger of pissing off a retired boxer.  Now, fans can enjoy Streets of Rage 2 by fixing the translation problems that Sega presented gamers with.  Galsia becomes Garcia, Galuda to Garuda and Mosquite becomes Mosquito like intended.

When you reach Mr. X you will notice that his cigar is now restored- for some reason smoking was not allowed in a Sega Genesis game, you know on a console that is aimed at the mature gamer.  Sure, Sega still skewed quite a bit lower in the age range than probably required to safely not censor this one but still.  You have to look hard to notice the cigar.

Another improvement is that Blaze’s original flying kick sprite has been restored.  What does this mean?  You can see her underwear.  Yea, Sega removed that from the original release, again, on a console that skews older than 3^rd graders- who would still have plastered it all over the playground had Sega left it alone.

There are a few more improvements.  Head over to ROMHacking.net to find out what they are.  We cannot link to the game file as that would be illegal but ROMHacking.net has the patch file ready for download.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams