Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis/Mega Drive)

The original Streets of Rage is an enjoyable beat ’em up, but it’s a bit basic in a few crucial ways. Your attacks options are pretty straightforward, meaning even when new enemies hit the scene, you’re throwing around the same simple combo or trying to work in some jump kicks and grabs. Streets of Rage 2 realized something that had helped rival brawler Final Fight be stronger out of the gate though, and that is that the genre’s punchy action can be all the more thrilling when you’re bringing as much heat as the foes you face.

Streets of Rage 2 takes place after the first game’s events. Axel, Blaze, and Adam had successfully taken down Mr. X and his criminal syndicate’s stranglehold over the city was ended, but a year later, Mr. X is somehow back and stronger than ever. Managing to capture Adam and prevent any law enforcement from interfering in their work this time, the newly rebuilt Syndicate looks fit to have an even tighter and cruel hold on the city when Axel and Blaze step up to save it once more. However, this time they have help from two new faces, Adam’s younger brother Skate coming into battle on a pair of roller skates while the hulking wrestler Max is here to aid his buddy Axel. This gives the player four fighters to pick from, the game allowing two player cooperative play as well so you can work together to topple Mr. X’s expanded forces.

All four of the protagonists in Streets of Rage 2 play quite differently from each other. Max for example is incredibly slow, the beefy brawler the toughest but not as mobile in a game where you do sometimes have to run in a hurry to avoid specific dangerous attacks like the electric whip of Electra or Big Ben’s fire breath. Skate on the other hand can zip around the battlefield much faster, but he’ll need to work more to put down a foe as a result. When you get up close to one of the Syndicate’s thugs, no matter who you are you’ll still likely rely mostly on a simple combo by mashing the attack button, but you have far more options besides that and ones that can change quite a bit between characters. Axel for example has his Grand Upper, a flaming uppercut that comes out quickly and is a nice combo ender to boot, while Blaze’s Vertical Slash is a powerful flip that will move her around a bit when using it but is also good at knocking foes away. In fact, these powerful moves can sometimes trivialize basic baddies or wear down some bosses surprisingly quickly, but while the game is at first fine with you having such a power trip, it does start building counters into its opposition. A boss like the wrestler Abadede has specific counters to people who rely on spamming those powerful attacks, relying on them in crowds can leave your back exposed, and even some regular enemies like the kickboxers named for various birds can start blocking so throwing out attacks blindly won’t get around their defenses.

You have many more moves than just those strong Blitzes though. A special attack that drains a bit of your health to use can be used to more reliably deal heavy damage or break through guards, but you also can vary up your special move for things like Max’s incredibly strong charging tackle that’s great for clearing through a cluster of pesky foes. The cost makes these appropriately weighty despite their power, but then you have a good deal of standard attacks to mix in to suit the situation so you’re not always leaning on heavy hitting options. Back attacks, a few different aerials, grabs, directional throws, and charged blows are all fairly easy to execute and situationally useful, most either requiring a simple combination of two buttons, a bit of a delay in executing an attack, or a straightforward directional input on top of the attack. When you find the foes that can better resist your simpler means of handling enemies, the extra attack options give you effective tools so you’re not high and dry when you find a specific approach countered. The brawling bartender Barbon for example likes to punish anyone attempting a throw by throwing you around with ease, the claw-bearing Zamza isn’t going to be easy to hit with slow moves as he springs around wildly, and sometimes finding the break in a boss’s attacks is better exploited with a long or involved combo rather than wasting that opening on a strong but singular blow.

You will have limited lives and continues to tackle the adventure with so figuring out the best way to fight certain foes is key to making it to the end of the game’s eight levels, and those eight levels aren’t short either. Most are made up of a few sections that can change quite a bit in terms of what you’re facing. The Amusement Park for example normally throws a lot of the same street thugs you saw elsewhere at you when between sections, but head for the pirate area and you’ll oddly enough fight ninjas and in the Alien House it can almost feel like you’ve stepped into a different game with the shift in visuals. Areas will at least always have breakable objects that can contain points items to help you work towards extra lifes or health refills, and weapons you can pick up like knives, pipes, and even katanas can let you easily deal heavy damage to foes for as long as the tool lasts. However, then there are area specific concerns to add new dangers to the action. Conveyor belts that make it hard to line up with the foes you want to hit, bikers who ride in on their motorbikes as swift and hard to hit interruptions, and the occasional untouchable baddie in the background tossing in grenades to harass you spice up fights without being overbearing. The focus will be on the increasingly more advanced and difficult foes you face, Streets of Rage 2 balancing out these tougher fights with some easily defeated if often repeated basic foes like Galsia and Y. Signal. They can still be potent if they come rushing at you with a knife and you can even see these standard goons whip out a new attack or two in their later appearances, but their main role seems to be a nice way to decompress, keep your skills fresh, and earn some points between the more demanding encounters.

Streets of Rage 2 also comes bearing one of the best soundtracks on the Sega Genesis courtesy of Yuzo Koshiro. Sometimes a techno beat can be there to set the mood, walking through a classy bar being the focus over the bare knuckle action. Moving through the streets in the first level already hits you with a good mix of a track that sounds like it could be dance track but also suits the fighting that’s about to begin, pumping you up as you go in to get in your first licks. The music in the final level has an interesting tone to it. Even as you’re rematching bosses and facing the hardest fights in the game, the music is calm but with a sort of gravitas. You can feel yourself building up towards that encounter with Mr. X, this moment too important to underscore with the upbeat punchy sounds that better fit your excursions through stranger locations. It’s little surprise the final boss battles have their own themes to underscore their importance while most boss fights rely instead on an energetic if sometimes nervous sounding track to underscore that more typical rise in stakes. A good amount of the music fits its situation or the tone of a moment yet works well as something to listen to on its own, not leaning too hard on the Genesis hardware so the sound is smooth and clear.

Streets of Rage 2 also offers a Duel mode if you want some quicker action by taking on a friend in a quick competitive fight. Playing as any of the four characters you normally can, you now turn against each other for a fight to be the victor. The main game already has the risk of accidentally hurting your ally enabled, but in Duel you can try to turn those varied moves on each other in a small but enjoyable little sideshow. It can sometimes boil down to approaching each other, trying to get off a hit combo, and you both stand in place swinging futilely as your attacks were actually a bit off and not connecting, Streets of Rage 2 sometimes hitting on the slightly common beat ’em up issue of the freedom of movement also coming with moments where it feels like you’re lined up properly but actually a little too high or low to hit a foe. Humans can do a bit better of a job exploiting this compared to the game-controlled opposition, but it’s not really that damaging and it can at least rein in the power of certain moves and give you some clearer opening for a counter in Duel mode.

THE VERDICT: Smooth tunes, stylish backgrounds, and hard-hitting bare knuckle action make Streets of Rage 2 an excellent and challenging brawler. You have your hard-hitting moves to breeze through the easier parts, but then tougher foes and bosses start to counter them and encourage you to dig deeper into your character’s move set and unique perks. You’ll see a few familiar thugs quite a bit, but the rise and fall in the action gives Streets of Rage 2 a steady yet challenging flow as you get to recover between those tougher fights.

And so, I give Streets of Rage 2 for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive…

A GREAT rating. Moves like Grand Upper can skew the difficulty a bit too strongly in your favor at times and a few more unique enemies to flesh out the rabble would definitely help Streets of Rage 2 shine more, but it also sits very highly in the world of brawlers. This beat ’em up gives you a range of attack options, some that are surprisingly strong but still satisfying to use and others with more depth to help you in those moments a foe doesn’t fold to the usual tricks. The new enemies gradually introduced start getting unique concerns to account for, the player having to respect the threat they pose unless they want those lives to run dry before the game’s end. The area variety can send you to some unexpected places, the music standing out in many situations as it contributes to the energy of the affair or puts you in the right mood for where you are in the adventure. There is definitely room to continue to build and balance the fighting structure found here, but not hitting a perfect score isn’t a bad thing. Streets of Rage 2 is more widely approachable than its rougher and simpler predecessor but not as demanding as a game with more complex combos would be. That makes it an excellent choice for co-op, not as much skill parity needed to carry you far although some characters like Max do seem to require some deeper understanding to use to his proper potential. Some of the potential balancing ideas that could have helped Streets of Rage 2 actually appear in Streets of Rage 4 with its satisfying enemy juggling and different approach to the strength of special moves, but Streets of Rage 2 doesn’t feel old or clunky even after swapping between the two.

Streets of Rage 2 definitely sits in the upper echelons of beat ’em up games because it can bring the heat but also let you feel powerful, the aesthetic touches giving the game an interesting mood while it also pursues some stranger edges of its imagination for specific foes or settings. It’s clear why it’s revered even though other brawlers since have added more engaging depth to their design, but there are strong core design choices here that keep this game exciting even after seeing future games that fashion themselves as more expansive follow-ups. It’s not a basic brawler, it’s not a fighter built for brainiacs, it’s a beat ’em up in that genre specific sweet spot where you want to go smashing your way through a whole city but still want to be hitting some foes that fight back in neat and dangerous ways. Add in musical flair and style and you have a game where it’s easy to understand why it stuck with fans as an exemplar of what brawlers can be when pushed beyond run of the mill attack button mashers.