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.

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.

This was and still is a great game, a very underrated classic. Limited in variety but still playable nonetheless. Good old times playing the good guys against the army of evil bad guys. Even today I play this game and with great joy as it brings back great memories of the young days. too bad it wasn't a film, had a lot of potential to be a better film than street fighter, maybe even Mortal Combat.

The cast wouldn't have been hard to find and i am sure there are many good directors out there who could have pulled off a good production from a set story.

a definite classic!

Streets of Rage is one of the most exciting video games! The characters, the action, the fighting, and the sure thrill of excitement makes this game a fun non-stop playing time! Below is a brief look how I think the game is!

Game Play: The game play is very good. There is really basic controls here and is easy to perform. Novice gamers should have a good time here!

Graphics: The graphics are wonderful especially for the Sega Genesis! The backgrounds are really beautiful!

Difficulty: The game is easy but as it goes on you find out that it will become more difficult!

Music: The music is great! Just fantastic catchy tunes through out the game! In My opinion its some of the best music ever in a video game!

Sound: The sound is great. Nuff said!

Overall: I have always loved Streets of Rage! If you like fighting and action adventure games then I strongly recommend you play this game!

To purchase this video game check out Amazon.com!