There is no denying that the Streets of Rage series is one of Sega’s most popular outside of Sonic. It is a tragedy of gaming that they have not kept SoR updated on newer platforms like they have Sonic. Streets of Rage 2 continued the beating up of multiple enemies that started with the original SoR. Just more stuff, better animations and better graphics this time around and fans returned in droves to support it. Fans are still supporting it with new characters being added regularly via hacks.

The gameplay is not complex

The idea of SoR 2 is pretty simple. Walk to the right and beat the hell out of anyone that comes on the screen. Collect weapons and health as needed/available and progress to the boss. Oh the bosses. Sega was quite edgier back in the day. The Streets of Rage series was proof of that. There are dominatrix’s and in SoR 3 when you meet Ash, well, your reaction will probably say a lot about your subconscious point of views.

Streets of Rage 2 is a brawler

Streets of Rage 2 belongs in a genre that retro fans will remember as “brawler” or “scrolling fighting” or something similar. Final Fight and TMNT: Turtles in Time are other popular games in this genre. Why Sega dropped SoR when they transitioned from 16-Bit to 32-Bit is beyond me.

Mods have expanded the character base

There are many mods for Streets of Rage 2. These are mostly character additions that add Cody (from Final Fight), Batman and Superman, Scott Pilgrim and even Donkey Kong. Other mods change the basics of the game to become a boss rush battle where you fight one boss after the other in survival mode. Then there are the mods that fix the censorship that we saw in North America thanks to Sega thinking SoR 2 went “just a little too far” for USA based gamers. Finally we have color correction mods that only change the colors to be more realistic and less cartoon looking.

Thank you Sega for at least understanding your audience in the 16-Bit days. We still remember you from then too.

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Carl Williams

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