Bare Knuckle

Saturday, November 27th 1993. I had become bored of Last Battle and Shadow of the Beast. They were poorly-chosen Xmas presents a few months earlier and I wanted to swap them for something more worthy. I only owned said games for 12 weeks but it felt like eternity back then, but something more worthy was about to come.

I traded the games at a trading barrow in Falkirk shopping mall. The games I got in return were Golden Axe and Streets of Rage. Upon returning home and jammed in SoR and my mind was blown, first by the funky soundtrack and second by action. Here was a beat-em-up worthy of the arcade that was finally available on home consoles. As a kid, I loved this game. I played it a zillion times during Spring 1993 with my friend Andrew. I used to play Axel or Blaze and he would be Adam and no matter how often we played it we never seemed to get bored. Then Streets of Rage 2 came out, and we quickly forgot that this one even existed.

You play as ex-cops Axel Stone, Adam or Blaze Fielding, who have quit the force in order to take on the bad guys in their own way. There are 8 levels to work through in a run-down and corrupt city led by the evil Mr X. Beating up all the bad guys and the end-of-level boss is much fun, and the screen progression gives the game panel-to-panel comic book vibe.

Level 4 (The Bridge) was my fave because you could chuck baddies down the holes into oblivion. You even have the chance to become Mr. X's right hand man at the end of the game (at a price). This leads to the 'bad ending' in which you become the the boss of the syndicate. Exactly how this is possible is a mystery since you destroy the syndicate on your way to Mr. X, but never mind.

Streets of Rage also has truly fantastic music. The composer Yuzo Koshiro did absolute miracles with the limited technology of the time. The main theme, Level One, Level 4 and Final Boss are standout tunes. Hell, they are ALL standout tunes and classics in their own right.

I am a proud owner of SoR, but when you also own Sor2 it does sort of render this one obsolete. The graphics are a little choppy too, but it is still one of the finer side-scrolling beat-em-ups ever made.

Pros:

Average graphics but nice backgrounds represented in a comic-book like panel progression that fits the tone of the game.

Great tunes.

Easy to get into and hard to put down.

Cons:

Vastly inferior to the infinitely more complex Streets of Rage 2.

Poor enemy AI. Baddies often walk away from you instead of engaging in combat. This is especially infuriating with the Level 5 boss.

Lack of combo moves.

Lack of decent weapons.

Bad guy models are repeated far too often.

The "Street of Rage" franchise is my favorite beat em up franchise of all time. This game is also one of those adolescent gems as I played it when I was about 14 or 15 since I got this game later in life. I played this game after the second game believe it or not, and I had fun with is. The first game I'll admit by its nature was kind of a "Final Fight" clone at the time, but I never have a problem with clone games if their fun and there are a few things that do make this first entry slightly unique.

The plot of the game is good, it's true there's not a lot of story, your just cops that must clean up the streets of crime from an evil organization, that's pretty much it in a nutshell. But most to all beat me ups are never known much for story anyway were here for the action, you just press start, beat up anyone that comes within you path and don't die.

The graphical presentation and animation are solid, from the characters down to the backgrounds that are distinguished well as they all are dark and gritty. Each of the levels look different and are straightforward, from the street, beach, ship, alley, just any other place that is polluted with crime.

The gameplay is solid, the control is responsive and balanced as usual. You get to pick out three different characters each with their strengths and weaknesses and each have different distinctive fighting styles. I always like to pick out Axel as he's more balanced, but I also like picking out Blaze as she is quick.

I like how each of them do possess a counterattack move when done right and at the right time, like for Axel when a thug grabs him from behind, he can flip backward and execute a German suplex move against the opponent. I thought that was cool that was always my favorite move in wrestling.

But also they all have that emergency button when things get harry, your character can call back up and a car comes and shoots a rocket in the air that comes down and wipes out everyone on screen, however you have only a limited number of these so be careful.

The boss battles are good, each of them is unique and I like how each of them are total pushovers as each have unique abilities, like one that has Freddy Kruger gloves or even two evil Blaze clones whom I'll admit are a little tricky to beat. Though their all are easy to beat once you find and can exploit the weakness.

But to me the true highlight of this game is the music, the music in this game is just awesome this has some of the most memorable tracks in video game. Most of the tracks in this game I could just listen to on my iPod or even play at a party as some of them just make you want to dance. The tracks just fit the game like a glove as each fit the settings and just sing out action. My favorite track of all is the first level track, it's just awesome as it just has that sound of dark grittiness and as that track is playing while your playing the game it just makes you feel like a bad ass.

Overall, it's this game was a solid start to the series, I'll admit I don't like it as much as the sequels, the sequels I felt had more going on for them. But all the same it's a fun game and if you're into the series or even into vintage video game beat me ups, this game is worth having in your collection.

Rating: 3 stars

This without a shadow of a doubt was one of the best games of all time, and one of the ones that stuck out in the memory of consumers. It had two sequels, which just add to its greatness. The fun factor on this is through the roof its always a good time when your playing Streets of Rage, especially with two players. This game will go down as one of the classics on Mega Drive. If you still got that Mega Drive and don't have this game by all means you should think deeply about getting it.

Played through this beat em up game, among several others on an emulator and have to say it was pretty enjoyable. However, not really all that special as it did not stand out to me among the games I have played. Same types of scenery, same types of enemies to fight and despite this never being an arcade game, same cheap boss fights...

The story, the city is suffering through a massive crime wave and there is no end in sight. However, three cops decide to do something about it. They are pretty tough too as they do not use guns, but mainly their fists and rage! Will they stop Mr. Big or will you run out of continues before that happens?

The game play is rather standard. Though, this one only has one attack button, there are still quite a few varying maneuvers to perform. You also have a special attack which basically hits every enemy on the screen. I am sure it differs with the three characters, but with Blaze, whom I won the game with, it is a bazooka blast from a fellow officer. I always like to use the girls in these games cause I favor speed! Like all mainstream beat em up games you find health and weapons in cans and such, like I said nothing really all that special, but I have heard the second one is the best game in the series.

So, pretty fun, though the difficulty is a bit high considering I had this thing on easy and still struggled to get through to the end. I absolutely hated the boss which was basically just two of your character if you are playing by yourself. I imagine that if there was another player it would be a clone of each. I also imagine this thing would be easier with another player and a bit more fun. As it was it was a nice time beating down criminal scum!

I remember when I first played this game on my brother in-law's Genesis console back 1996. Me and my brother in-law played together for about an hour. When he left, I played alone where I reached the fifth of the eight stages. My playing of the game was also the first time I played a Genesis. Prior to that, the only console I played was a Famicom.

Of all the video games I played, Streets of Rage has the scariest boss music I've ever heard. What makes it scary is that once you reach the boss of a level, the music for that level fades into silence. Then about 4 or 5 seconds afterward, the boss music starts out with a sudden eerie boom. The boom is then followed by things that sound like sirens, and beats that sound like screams. I remember times where I mute the TV before I reach the boss. If there's a scarier boss music, I don't know.

As for other aspects of the game, the control is decent, and the visuals are okay.