| Streets of Rage 2 |
European boxart |
| Developer(s) | Sega AM7
Ancient
H.I.C.
Shout! Designworks[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Composer(s) | Yūzō Koshiro
Motohiro Kawashima |
| Platform(s) | Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, MegaPlay, Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade |
| Release date(s) | December 20, 1992 (NA)
January 13, 1993 (JPN)
March 1993 (EU) |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | CERO: A (Sonic Gems Collection)
B (VC)
ESRB: E
PEGI: 7+ |
| Media | 16-megabit cartridge |
| Input methods | Genesis controller, Wii Remote, Classic Controller, GameCube controller |
Streets of Rage 2, known in Japan as Bare Knuckle II: Shitō he no Chinkonka (ベア・ナックルII 死闘への鎮魂歌, lit. "Bare Knuckle II: The Apprentice's Written Requiem"?), and in Europe as Streets of Rage II with a Roman numeral, is a side-scrolling beat 'em up released by Sega in 1992 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It is the second game in the Streets of Rage series, a sequel to Streets of Rage and followed by Streets of Rage 3. Its soundtrack is again done by Yūzō Koshiro.
The game introduced two new characters: Max Thunder (known as Max Hatchett in Europe) and Eddie "Skate" Hunter (known as Sammy Hunter in Japan), brother of Adam Hunter from the original game.
The game was later ported to the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear. It was released for the Wii's Virtual Console on May 21, 2007 for the USA and June 1, 2007 for Europe as well as Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) on August 29, 2007. It also appeared in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the Japanese version of Sonic Gems Collection for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube.
[edit] Gameplay
Though Streets of Rage 2 plays very similar to its predecessor it improves and refines much of the gameplay. The biggest change is the replacement of the original special attack, which was calling a police car to damage all on-screen enemies, with individual special attacks performed by each character, that depletes some of their health. Each character's move list has been expanded and edited to make them very individual to play instead of similar with different handicaps.
Enemies are also improved; all are given life gauges (previously only Bosses used them) and names, and like the selectable characters, given bigger and more individual movesets. There are many new enemies, including Bikers, which speed across the screen in certain levels, running over the Player, tossing grenades and/or leaping off their bikes to attack; new Ninjas, which are excessively quick and sometimes deadly to fight due to their avoidance tactics, ranged weapons and special moves; Kickboxers and Robots.
There are also changes to the weapons that can be picked up. The pepper shaker and the Bottle from the original game have been removed. The knife has been tweaked, so the Player can choose to throw the knife when he or she pleases, whereas in the first game the knife could be thrown seemingly by accident by the player, with all the hazards it implies. As a trade-off, the knife does much less damage when thrown in Streets of Rage 2. A kunai has also been added, with the same functionality as the knife. The baseball bat from Streets of Rage is replaced by a katana, which is the most deadly weapon in the entire game.
Aside from the differences in weapons and enemies, the characters themselves are given some special abilities and handicaps. In addition to their traits and individual moves, the characters now have a "semi-special move": a powerful, non-energy-draining attack, performed by double tapping a direction and pressing punch. Also, Skate had the ability to dash when a direction is double tapped, a feature carried over to all characters in Streets of Rage 3.
[edit] Synopsis
A year has passed since the events of Streets of Rage. To celebrate the defeat of the mysterious "Mr. X" and his syndicate from the prior year, Adam Hunter, Axel Stone, and Blaze Fielding met at their favorite nightspot in the city and spent their time reminiscing about their vigilante crusade against "Mr. X" and his organization. Both Axel and Blaze had moved out of the city after the adventure from last year. Axel has begun working as a part-time bodyguard and Blaze teaches dance classes. Adam has since rejoined the police force and lives in a small house with his kid brother.
The next morning, Axel received a phone call from Eddie 'Skate' Hunter, Adam's younger brother. Skate had arrived at home from school and was shocked to find his house in ruin and his older brother missing. Attached to the front door was a picture of Adam chained to a wall at the feet of Mr. X. The criminals began to retake the streets once more. Beatings and lootings took place regularly and in broad daylight. Chaos reigned in the city, far worse than before.
Realizing that "Mr. X" and his syndicate has returned for revenge against him, Blaze, Adam and Axel waste no time in telling Blaze about the unexpected situation and Blaze herself is determined to help Axel out in defeating "Mr. X" and rescuing Adam. Accompanied by Adam's young brother Skate and Axel's friend, a professional wrestler named Max Thunder, Axel and Blaze set forth on a rescue mission, which will take them from the city all the way to "Mr. X"'s hideout on a desolate island.
[edit] Endings
Unlike the other two games in the series, this game had only one ending. It is achieved when a player or two players (using any character/s) completed the final stage.
[edit] Rounds
Streets of Rage 2 featured much longer levels, each with multiple settings. It also added weather effects, like rain and mist. For the sake of explanation, the term "you" will be used to describe the player.
- Round 1: Downtown - You start your search in the streets. Trailing them into Barbon's bar, you'll eventually meet Barbon in a back alley, behind the bar.
Mini-Boss: (Scene 1) Jack, a psychotic, punk-like bandit with a big fondness for his stainless steel knives; (Scene 2) Electra, a stereotypical bar singer turned into a whip-handling femme fatale.
Boss: Barbon, the bartender directly involved with Adam's kidnap by the Syndicate. - Round 2: Bridge Under Construction - Moving across a bridge full of thugs and bikers, you continue your search inside and after a huge loading truck.
Mini-Boss: Hakuyo, a strongman-looking martial artist.
Boss: Jet, an enemy equipped with a jetpack who has a few nasty moves up his sleeve. - Round 3: Amusement Park - Strolling through the park grounds, arcades and the Alien House, where the props explode, and real danger lurks in the fake fog.
Mini-Boss: Vehelits, an alien-looking mechatronic head chained to a wall through a long steel "neck".
Boss: Zamza, a beastly-behaving enemy with long hair, clad in combat armor and armed with huge claws, whose fighting style resembles a savage animal - comparable to Blanka from Street Fighter series. - Round 4: Baseball Stadium - You make your way into the baseball stadium, where you find a secret elevator hidden on the baseball pitch which then takes you to an underground clandestine fighting cage.
Mini-Boss: Big-Ben, a Chinese-American fat, fire-breathing enemy.
Boss: Abadede, a ruthless wrestler similar to The Ultimate Warrior. - Round 5: The Ship - Mr. X seems to have got himself a private island this time, so you have to take a ship out to it. You fight your way through some cargo decks before emerging on deck to deal with the bikers.
Mini-Boss: none.
Boss: R. Bear, a very obese boxer with an Italian-looking moustache and old-fashioned boxing clothes. - Round 6: Mr. X's Private Island - You've landed on Mr. X's island, so you now have to make your way across a beach and then through a jungle with nasty surprises waiting for you that's lurking through the darkness along the way.
Mini-Boss: none.
Boss: Souther and Stealth, Zamza and Jet clones respectively. - Round 7: Munitions Plant - You make your way across the factory floor, contending with conveyor belts. You then arrive at an elevator, where you make your way up to the roof.
Mini-Boss: none.
Boss: Guardian robots Molecule and Particle. - Round 8: Syndicate Stronghold - As in Streets of Rage, you face all the bosses in the game here. You begin downstairs, then grab an elevator up to Mr. X and then begin the final battle against him.
Mini-Boss: Clones of all previous stage bosses except Jet.
Boss: Shiva, introduced as Mr. X's personal bodyguard, after killing him you will battle Mr. X himself.
[edit] Release versions and ports
In Japan, and in Europe, Streets of Rage 2 uses Roman numerals (Bare Knuckle II, Streets of Rage II) and Blaze's up-skirt jump kick sprites are intact. Bare Knuckle II also shows Mr. X smoking a cigar, which was edited out of the EU/US version. Bare Knuckle II gives Skate's first name as Sammy, but in Streets Of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage II, his name is Eddie. Streets of Rage II (the European version) gives Max's second name as Hatchett, both Streets of Rage 2 and Bare Knuckle II give it as Thunder.
- Beta Version via ROM Emulation, a beta version of the game's first level is playable. It is semi-complete with moves, areas, rain effect and all sound effects missing. The bar area is much shorter and without breakable tables and chairs, and the Electra mini-boss is missing, replaced by a Donovan sprite named Singer. Barbon, the level's boss is scrambled when performing certain moves and constantly respawns upon defeat. Max Thunder uses a completely different sprite set, giving him a more gorilla-like appearance. Axel's special moves were also changed for the final, in this beta he uses two attacks similar to Sagat's Tiger Uppercut and Ryu and Ken's Hurricane Kick from Street Fighter II. It also features a different Background Music, more similar to the tunes found within Streets of Rage.
- 8-bit Versions the Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear versions of Streets of Rage 2 are quite different from the Mega Drive original, and to each other, similar to the Master System/Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog, they are, in truth, different games. As well different levels and the inferior graphics, Max Thunder is omitted from both. The Game Gear version does not show enemy names (because of size constraints).
- Arcade Version An arcade version of Streets of Rage 2 was released onto Sega's Genesis/Mega Drive based Mega Play hardware. It uses a regular credit system. In this version, all 1-ups have been replaced by money bags, there is no in-game timer (though a 10 seconds timer for selecting a character appears) and the difficulty levels are one step above the Mega Drive version. Scoring is kept by number of KOs, instead of damage inflicted.
- Collections Streets of Rage 2 was collected in the Sega Smash Pack for Sega's final home console the Dreamcast; the port is not of good quality. There is also a port of the game as well as the first and third games on the Japanese version of Sonic Gems Collection for the PS2 and Nintendo GameCube. The ports on Sonic Gems Collection are Genesis perfect and are the Japanese versions of the games (they are also available on GameTap). The game appears in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
- Virtual Console On May 15, 2007, the game was released for Japan's Virtual Console, and then released on North America's Virtual Console on May 21, 2007. On June 1, 2007, it was released on Europe's Virtual Console.
- Xbox Live Arcade On August 29, 2007, Streets of Rage 2 was released on Xbox Live Arcade for the Microsoft Xbox 360 console. This version features filtered graphics and online co-operative play.[2]
[edit] Streets of Rage Remake
The independent program team Bombergames[1] has been working continuously on a Remake of Streets of Rage 2 for play on Windows XP based PCs since early 2003. It is packed with additional features not seen in the commercial release of the game, including firearms, multiple path choices, completely redrawn sprites, smoother gameplay, enhanced graphics and a completely reworked soundtrack. Although the game is based mostly on Streets of Rage 2, it also contains several elements, enemies and environments from the original Streets of Rage, as well as Streets of Rage 3. There are also unlockable bonus features, joypad support and a full options menu to customize the playing style of the game. Currently the game is available in a 4.01a format, with a 5.0 version still being produced. This version will feature realistic parallax scrolling, gore and body dismemberment, and several new environments to complete and harmonize the play experience akin to the original Streets of Rage 2.
[edit] Cultural references
- Some levels of the game have references to the Japanese name of the series. In the second half of Round 3-1, there are arcade machines that say "Bare Knuckle", posters featuring "BK2", and adverts in Round 4 that say "Bare 2".
- At the stadium entrance beginning Stage 4, some side adverts read "It's Like Boo!", possibly refering to the fat enemies' physical appearance resembling Dragon Ball series villain Majin Buu. It has also been said that the background music for the stadium scenes (officially named "Under Logic") bears a resemblance to The Shamen's 1991 hit "Move Any Mountain".[3]
- The first of the three fat enemies in Stage 5 is named "Heart", as a reference to the popular manga Fist of the North Star, which featured an extremely overweight martial artist called Heart.
- The character Skate resembles the eponymous playable character from the game DJ Boy, another side-scrolling beat 'em up. This arcade game, developed by Kaneko, was later published by Sega on the Mega Drive. In fact, Sega changed the in-game name of the character from "Sammy" in Bare Knuckle 2 (Japanese release) to "Skate" in Streets of Rage 2 (U.S. release); American Sammy licensed the arcade game for U.S. distribution. Skate is the character's nickname in both incarnations; his first name in the non-Japanese versions is given as Eddie.
- The official box art of the game depicts the four main characters drawn in a totally incorrect way: Max has a shaven head, contrasting with his in-game solid black hair; Blaze wears blue jeans with black leather boots, mismatching her traditional all-red outfit; Axel has greenish-black hair (looking like black hair with some green-dyed areas) instead of his default blonde; and Skate's clothing doesn't completely match the one of his in-game sprites. These differences in the drawing were possibly prior to the definite conception of the game.
[edit] Staff reference
- Two bonus thugs in the game are called Talk and Wanter. They are named after Talk Uchimura (Planning & System design) and Wanta (Project management).
[edit] References
