Joe decided he wants to review Streets of Rage 3 so Carl will have to read his stupid giant article explaining why Streets of Rage 3 is better than Streets of Rage 2 (NOPE, not for the next 5-10 minutes) and then completely ignore the actual game itself. Here’s why Streets of Rage 2 is the best beat-em-up out of nearly 30 years of releases.
Streets of Rage 2 was released in December of 1992 and took everything fans loved about the original and expanded upon it. Improved controls, large assortment of movesets, 4 playable characters, and Yuzo Koshiro’s soundtrack (which pushed the limits of what could be done in 16-bit audio). Streets of Rage 2 wasn’t just an incremental patch job – it perfected the formula.
What Made Streets of Rage 2 Special?
The original Streets of Rage was a solid, but limited game. Streets of Rage only had 3 playable characters, with very minor variations between the three; level design was very similar; enemy difficulty arbitrarily spiked. Streets of Rage 2 addressed each of these problems while adding layers onto its gameplay that people are still discovering new tactics from years later.
Axel, Blaze, Max, and Skate each introduced new styles to play the same levels. Axel was your middle-of-the-pack brawler with powerful special moves. Blaze excelled at sprinting around the screen and chaining kicks together. Max was your heavy-sluggish fighter with big damage and throws. Skate introduced mobility with his hit-and-run tactics. Each character changed how you played levels, giving the game actual replayability.
Adding an arsenal of moves onto simple brawling created opportunities for strategic fighting. Whether you grabbed your opponent from behind or in front changed the animation of your throw. Running gave you mobility while swinging your arms. Blitz attacks risked getting you hit but did massive damage. Moves that cleared rooms dealt damage to your enemy but sacrificed some of your health made you manage your resources.
Level design knew how to keep you on your toes. Streets of Rage 2 started you off easy with simple enemies and generic stage layouts. By stage 5 you’re running across tight walkways with aggressive enemy placement and platforms. The Baseball stadium level had character that felt like more than a generic beat-em-up backdrop.
The Combat System That Holds Up Today
While Streets of Rage 2 appeared to be a simple button masher at the onset, the combat was deep. Enemy patterns were consistent enough that you could learn and understand them, but there was still enough variation that it didn’t feel too easy. Karate fighters had a slightly different timing than the fat men with baseball bats. Women in leather underwear (yes, they’re in the game.) grappled with each other in unique ways.
Friendly hit transitions gave cooperative gameplay something to think about. If you threw your partner you could still damage them with a throw or special move, so you had to be mindful of where your partner was standing. Cooperative play wasn’t just both players mashing on buttons, you had to plan out crowd control, who takes on which enemies, and try not to throw your partner off platforms.
Incorporating items and weapons into your combat opened up tactical opportunities without overcomplicating the base gameplay. Pipes let you hit enemies from afar while dishing out good damage. Knives swung fast but could only be used for a couple hits before breaking. Swords allowed you to deal massive damage up close. Knowing when to pick up a weapon versus punching your enemies was what separated casual players from veterans.
The grab system allowed players to set up juggles they likely took weeks to discover. Many times player One would throw their enemy to player Two so they could deal consistent damage to the poor dude. It required precise execution but felt amazing when you landed it. Sam has since mastered these techniques and now will not shut up about frame data.
Legendary Soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro
The music in Streets of Rage 2 went far beyond what was needed for a game’s soundtrack and went into memorable territory. Koshiro blended house, techno, and electronic music styles to craft songs that fit each stage’s vibe, but were good enough to stand on their own as great music.
Go Straight (stage 1) hit you with the video game’s style immediately – uptempo beats, punchy synths, music that let you know you were about to spend your time wisely. While playing through the game for the dozens of hours it’ll take could’ve made the music feel repetitive, lesser composers, the catchiness of each individual song kept the repetition from ever becoming an issue.
Dreamer (character select theme) is recognizable enough that you could hear it today and know what game it’s from. Combining a piano melody with electronic music created an emotional connection rarely seen in beat-em-up games. It was heartfelt yet optimistic and fit the story they told better than either Sega or IRCG imagined at the time.
Bosses had a theme (Under Logic) that captured what it felt like battling one of the game’s largest adversaries. The fast-paced aggressive music with terrible synths stressed you out. Even the credits song gave you a sense of finality that simple “you win” music doesn’t.
Accessibility and Difficulty Balancing
Playing Streets of Rage 2 on Normal difficulty feels like it was designed for two moderately skilled players. Single-player mode forces you to master enemy patterns and play efficiently to survive. High difficulty levels (Hard, Hardest, Mania) turned the game into a serious test of your overall game knowledge.
Streets of Rage 2 rewarded players with continues that didn’t remove the pain of dying. Losing all your continues meant you lost all your progress and would need to start over, which created stakes that actually meant something. But players could earn extra lives and continues by fulfilling certain tasks.
Each boss fight challenged everything you had learned so far. Barbon was aggressive and dealt large damage. The two martial artists made you watch their patterns and attack at the right moment. Mr. X took everything you learned about his attack patterns and combined them, forcing you to adapt. Each boss had tells, weaknesses, but you had to watch and learn to find them.
Stage 5 introduced branching paths that added value when playing through the game a second, or tenth time. You had the option to kill or spare the Commissioner, resulting in completely different stage 6’s with unique bosses to fight. It was a simple implement, but gave players true new content to enjoy rather than just trying to make the game harder.
Graphics That Looked Amazing for The Time
Characters in Streets of Rage 2 looked amazing because the artists knew what they could do with the Sega Genesis. Each characters animation flowed smoothly. Enemies were uniquely designed. Backgrounds didn’t just serve the purpose of being backgrounds, they added tons of personality to each stage. Street of Rage 2’s pixel art stood the test of time because the artists knew their limitations and worked within them artistically.
Backgrounds used parallax scrolling to create a 3D sense of space without needing Mode 7. Streets of Rage 2’s bridge levels had so many layers to the background they created a convincing 3D illusion. Background details – fans cheering at you in the baseball stadium, rain during later stages – this high-level attention to detail represented something more than what gamers expected from a low-budget game.
Special move animations were over-the-top and used to their advantage. When Axel performs his Dragon Uppercut, the screen flashes and enemies are blasted backward. It sells you on how strong this move is. Max’s Flying Tackle animation covers most of the screen and throws enemies far away. Special move visual effects made you feel how powerful Sega wanted the moves to feel.
Streets of Rage 2 used the colour pallet to its advantage and gave the Sega Genesis more personality. The Genesis had a habit of producing more harsher colours than its competitor the SNES. Dark alleys lit up by neon skyscrapers and dull brown industrial places fit perfectly with the game’s vibe. Later levels implemented brighter colours showing off the Sega Genesis could portray more than grimy city streets.
Why Streets of Rage 2 Is The Best
We will never see eye-to-eye on which Streets of Rage game is better – 2 or 3. Joe thinks 3 has more complexity and added more paths. I feel 2 is better because of its perfect balance of accessibility and depth that created new ways to play Streets of Rage 2 besides increasing the difficulty. Both arguments are valid, but when you look at overall impact and accessibility…
Streets of Rage 2 understood that beat-em-ups had to immediately grab your attention at the start, but had secrets players could dig through later. You could button mash your way through Normal with a friend and have a blast. Or you could dive into mastering combos, learn enemy behaviors, and try to 1-hit stun bosses on Mania by yourself. Both ways of playing the game were valid and fun.
Co-op gameplay left memories that last decades. Running through the entire game with your friend, fighting over who got the extra continues, competing against each other for highest score while cooperating against the computer – all of these experiences is what local multiplayer was.
Online play has taken away a lot of these uniquely-crafted experiences.
Playable Versions
Streets of Rage 2 has been in every major Sega compile over the last 20 years. If you own a modern gaming system there’s a good chance Sega Genesis Classics has Streets of Rage 2 on it with online co-op functionality. Streets of Rage 2 on Sega Ages for Switch added QOL features. Even the recently released Streets of Rage 4 reminded players why the series is important and proven the base gameplay is still fun today.
The Mr. X Nightmare DLC for Streets of Rage 4 included Streets of Rage 2’s soundtrack as a bonus. Recognising how legendary Koshiro’s soundtrack was.
Communities Dedicated to Speedrunning and Self-Imposing Challenges
Players are still figuring out ways to make Streets of Rage 2 more fun. One life runs, no-special-move runs, solo Mania runs – Streets of Rage 2 has enough depth for players to create and explore their own self-imposed restrictions. There are tons of YouTube channels dedicated to superplaying Streets of Rage 2 and showing off techniques most people will never know exists.
Conclusion
Streets of Rage 2 is the best beat-em-up game of all time. It gave players enough to enjoy casually, deep enough to offer aspiring professionals years of game knowledge to understand, looked amazing enough that it hasn’t aged too badly, and sounded incredible enough to be remembered as one of the best soundtracks of all time. Each individual aspect of Streets of Rage 2 combines to define a genre at its highest.
Are there better sounding Streets of Rage games? Can Final Fight lay claim to better arcade heritage? Is there more modern takes on the formula? Of course there is. But for Streets of Rage 2 perfected.
You show someone Streets of Rage 2 to teach them why 16-bit beat-em-ups were important. This is the game that justified you and your friends gathering around a TV to play a video game with local co-op. Sega showed the world what they were capable of with Streets of Rage 2.
And Joe, I know you think the third game is better than 2.
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