PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Blaze - Part 4 of 4

After all the crazy stuff I did in this game, the game drags me back to down to earth. Whatever; it's still better than the Axel playthrough.

If you've always wanted to jump people on an elevator, the next level is your big chance!

Round 7

Ah, the elevator level. My favorite.

The music is good, and the laughable deaths are plentiful. Jumping off the top of the wall at the right side of the elevator and kicking anyone nearby, throwing people off the elevator, suplexing people through the elevator so they fall through the floor (yes, you can do that)...yeah, this level's pretty good.

The elevator makes five stops before you make your way into the enemy stronghold. The enemies get tougher and more plentiful as you make your way up - kind of like a boss rush for normal enemies, if you will.

If you make it to the last stop with your special still available, use it. It'll push the inevitable ahead, plus it looks really cool to see the whole level again when you use it.

If you finish the level with a weapon in your hand, the game won't let you carry it over into the next one. You've probably learned that in Round 6 if you've played the game before, but it's easier to find this out here. Just saying.

And in case it isn't obvious yet, there's also no boss here. Relax...go nuts!

Round 8

Well...here we are.

The first noticeable difference here is that you move the left the entire time. The second one is that you won't be able to use your special for the rest of the game. You also cannot activate the second player if you've played on single player mode all the way here.

Once again, the enemies get stronger and take more hits as the battle wears on. You'll also fight the bosses again, in order of appearance throughout the game. Yes, that's right...a boss rush.

By the way, I like the palette swaps for the bosses here. Just saying.

The items are in dining carts for the last stage. The ones that are just standing there have them; the ones that roll your way don't. If you can't sidestep away from the latter in time, hit it with a jump kick.

New enemies that only show up here come out to play when you beat Abadede again. The martial artists in black take more damage than the orange ones. When they fight in groups, they're pretty annoying. Fight them like you would the orange ones. The other ones are light green variations of the dominatrix and the juggler. They show up just before you fight the evil Blaze Fielding twins again, and if you're playing on Easy, neither of them will show up. The green juggler fights like the red ones. Also, these two enemies follow the same color scheme as the almost-as-scarce green Signals.

I forgot to mention how nicely the night transitions to day through the windows in this level. It's a very nice touch.

The final boss here is Mr. X. If you accept his offer in 1-Player Mode or if both of you accept it in 2-Player Mode, you'll be sent back to Round 6. If one of you accepts and the other rejects in 2-Player Mode, you'll both have to fight each other. If the one that accepts wins, he'll become the new syndicate leader and you'll get the bad ending. If you reject his offer in 1-Player Mode, or if both of you reject it in 2-Player Mode, he'll send some red Galsias after you. Fight them off, and you'll fight the man himself.

He'll hit you with the butt of his gun, similar to Abadede's clothesline, except he stops a little more quickly. He'll also try to shoot you down, too. Jump kicks work best against his charge attacks. When he's shooting, throw the red Galsias at him, and keep your distance. He'll look at you, the player, before he shoots, which gives him away every time.

Just like Abadede's clothesline, you can sidestep it and do grab damage on Mr. X if you're quick enough, which is actually pretty nice. Throwing the red Galsias at him does more damage to him than anything else, though, so keep that in mind.

When you beat Mr. X, you'll send him flying, with machine gun clips flying around before he gets back up only to fall over like he's suffering from a heart attack. 

Enjoy your ending, as well as your new high score!