PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Adam - Longplay

Enjoy!

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

Well, that's that. That's the game beaten with all three characters. Thanks for watching.

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. I also keep forgetting to mention it, so I'll mention it here: if you use your special when the karate guys leap down from the sky, you'll kill them all when you press the button while they're dropping down.

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!

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Adam - Part 3 of 4

We're getting closer to the end of the game for the third time. It's been fun.

Round 5

Round 5 takes place on a ship.

It's not long after you begin the stage that enemies come after you in groups. Keeping the numbers of enemies down to a minimum as much as possible is key in this stage - you don't want to be ganged up on by as many as seven opponents at once.

In the event that does happen, throw an enemy into others. You just might get an opportunity to use your regular combo, jump kick or rear attack on three guys at once.

The green Galsias with the knives in their hands will home in on you when you're close by. Hit them with jump kicks to back them up, and keep knocking them down with it. Grabbing one of their knives and stabbing another one of them with it does wonders, too.

The black dominatrix girls have a new tactic - get hit, then fall to their knees. If you turn back or wait too long, she'll immediately strike with the whip when they get back up. Avoid this entirely by using grab attacks.

Port holes in the ground hide items, and they're plentiful at the times they show up. One of them even carries a little replica of a police car that gives you another super attack to destroy everything on-screen with when picked up.

After the first piece of meat (which you'll probably need), martial arts fighters will leap out from behind the bottom of the ship. Fight them off as you go; don't continue right when they pop up.

Abadede pops up again, now wearing green. You'll probably have that pipe you just found in your hands, and timing your swings right will definitely keep him away.

You'll soon find the small police car I was talking about...as well as a new form of the juggler. These guys have black pants and light brown hair, and these guys will jump around and throw items that seemingly appeared from out of nowhere at you. Where do these guys keep their stuff? You could use that extra special right away, our you can use jump kicks (and grabs, if you're cunning enough).

The boss here is a pair of Blaze Fielding recolors. Aside from wearing green, they also perform acrobatics.

The best time to grab them (or in Adam's case, punch them once)  is when they come straight down from a jump kick. You'll definitely get some damage on one of them for sure this way. If you're fortunate enough to bring a weapon such as a pipe or a bat to the boss fight, that works too.

Round 6

Round 6 takes place in a factory. Don't ask what kind of factory, the game doesn't even give you hints as to what kind it is. Conveyor belts and crushers make the terrain here a little rocky, and there are still some new things in here.

Items are stored in crates, and the first one you'll break has some gold bars in it. They give you 5000 points, which is more than what the money bags give you.

You'll also see red Galsias with gray hair. Those take even more damage than the green ones, and they're plentiful in this level, so get ready for a fight.

You'll see one of the crushers pretty soon. When you get close enough to it, the bottom light will flash red, telling it to crush whatever's below it with its big steel plates. They can hurt you, but they can also hurt any nearby enemies on their way down as well. When the plates hit the floor, you're free to walk on by.

After this first crusher, you'll come face to face with the big fire-breather again. He's alone this time, so it'll be easier to get close to him and do grab damage without being interrupted. If you can grab him from up front, hit two knees, vault and vault again. Then, grab him again before he repeats the process. If you can keep the pattern up, you'll be able to beat him without him ever attacking you again.

After two more crushers, you'll see two conveyor belts next to each other going in opposite directions. Sidestepping from one to the other as you move from one enemy to the next will make movement in this area easier.

A little further along, you'll see three crates in quick succession. The first two have an extra special attack and a 1-Up respectively; the third has a pipe in case you've lost both baseball bats and you're still itching to hit a home run with someone's head. Trust me, I know the feeling.

Freddy Kreuger makes a return appearance, and this time he brings his own clone. I guess good help is hard to find these days...

Same strategies apply here. Once again, normal enemies won't show up here, so throw one of the bosses into the other for best results.

Streets of Rage - The (Then-)Complete History (by @slopesgameroom)

Before the fourth game was EVER announced...there was this video. At one point, it was the most viewed video on the Slopes Game Room channel before other videos overtook it.

It's been interesting to follow this channel for the last couple of years - Slopes Game Room actually followed me on Twitter seemingly way back when and I decided to get in on this channel on the ground floor back when I had more YouTube subs than him! Now 125K+ subs later...there is a whole slew of Complete Histories, reviews, Kickscammer videos, list videos and more, and I'm now sharing an SGR video here on the gaming blog for the first time in almost two years. And yes, he eventually DID make videos regarding the fourth game when it happened. Enjoy (and keep in mind that the presentation quality has gotten better since this video was made).

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Adam - Part 2 of 4

The third and fourth rounds of this game are the most interesting, I find.

Round 3

Round 3 takes us to the beach, behind a park as well as some billboards. You'll be rained on a couple of times throughout the stage.

There is now a green variant of Galsia in this stage, and they take slightly more damage than their blue counterparts.

Stacks of tires hold useful items in this level, so give them a whack.

After you find the first piece of meat, you'll see a soda can rolling around on the ground. That's pretty nice detail for a Genesis game. You'll also see the martial artists pull a new strategy: grouping up into threes and triple-teaming you. Move up or down to sidestep their attacks, and try to put a hurting on one of them. If one dies, the other two fight like they normally would.

The boss here is Abadede, the professional wrestler who looks a lot like The Ultimate Warrior of WWE fame. He'll line up with you, then try to hit you with a running clothesline and back up before lining up for another one. Throwing enemies into him does a good amount of damage, and if you can sidestep his clothesline and do some grab damage on him, that's great.

Round 4

We're now on a bridge. Of all things...a bridge.

First of all, there are pits throughout the bridge at certain points. Falling into them means instant death not only for you but for the enemies as well. Knock them in if you get the chance; it makes everything easier.

You'll meet a palette swap of the Signals at the beginning. Their suits are purple and their hair is yellow. Yes, they've switched colors. Yes, they take more damage.

Cones, barricades and poles carry power-ups. How you can hide an apple in a narrow pole like that, I'll never know.

You'll also meet black-clad versions of the dominatrix with the whip. They also take as much damage as the green Galsias and the purple Signals.

There are also martial artists in brown and orange that take more damage. These guys attack more frequently, and they also have a long jump kick that the guys in gray don't have. Fight them accordingly, but be on your guard, as their attack movements are fast.

The last regular enemy you'll meet is a green Signal with melon-colored hair, and they take even more damage than the purple ones. They don't pop up too often, but when they do, they're annoying.

The boss here is a bald man as big as he is tall. He'll run at you, breathing fire into your face for impressive damage. He's pretty slow, so lining him up to throw enemies at him works well. He's like a slower version of Abadede, except he runs off-screen.

If you happen to grab him, do not throw him or suplex him. He'll fall on you and cause damage to you solely with his girth. The best strategy is to walk into him and get to the front and knee him twice. I usually wait in the upper-right, keep moving forward, knee him twice, vault twice, grab again, knee again, vault again and so on. It makes this boss a lot easier and you don't have to deal with the fire breath as often.

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Adam - Part 1 of 4

I might as well, right?

This playthrough is on Normal, by the way.

Round 1

Round 1 takes place in the downtown area of the city. This part is basically really easy, even on Hardest.

The orange-haired guys in blue are your standard meat-and-potatoes flunky. A full combo takes them out easily. They're usually known by the name "Galsia." (In Streets of Rage 3, they anglicized it to "Garcia.")

The yellow guys with the purple mohawks have two attacks: a slide and a throw. They're usually known as "Signals." (I'm going by Streets of Rage 2 enemy names, so bear with me.) They can be taken out fairly easily as well. In case they or any enemy throws you, hold Up and press C right before you hit the ground, and you'll land on your feet without taking throw damage.

The Asian martial artists move fairly slow, and all they really have are kick attacks and backflips. They're also easy.

The red dominatrices can hit you with their whips and knock you to the floor with one strike if you mosey around. They fall easily, but they don't have to get really close to hurt you, so watch out!

This is a pretty interesting stage. There are telephone booths to smash up and find items in, neon lights for every store, and for some strange reason everyone drives a late-'80s Jeep Grand Cherokee...unless you're a police officer. Hey, the same one shows up in the foreground every five seconds!

The weapons you'll pick up as you go are your standard street fighting affair. Bottles that break upon meeting an enemy's head (nice!), baseballs bats, metal pipes and knives make up your first tools of destruction. If you drop a weapon three times, though, it disappears.

Apples refill part of your health, while meat refills it completely. You'll usually find meat near the end of a stage in case you're needing extra health for the boss battle.

The boss here is some sort of weird guy with denim outerwear, a striped shirt and a crew cut carrying a boomerang. He'll kick at you before you finish your combo, and throw boomerangs in a desperate attempt to hit you in the back of the head. When he throws them, he's most vulnerable, but you can grab him just about anytime you want and whack away at him.

Round 2

Steel barrels carry items both old and new as you fight your way through the worse-off parts of town.

Money gives you 1000 points. When you get 50,000 points, you receive an extra life. You also get one for every 100,000 points you earn after that.

One of the new things you'll find here is a pepper shaker. It's even more of a one-use-only weapon than the knife (at least you can stab people with the knife before you throw it). If it hits any enemies after you throw it, it stuns them for a brief time. Use that time to beat them up scot-free!

The tiny figurines of Adam, Axel and Blaze clumped together are an extra life. If you find one, grab it!

A new enemy appears later in the level: a street juggler. Sometimes they'll juggle torches, sometimes they juggle axes. They both hurt, so don't try to grab them. Instead, fight them with your standard attack or with your jump kick. They'll also stop to throw objects at you during which you'll have more than enough time to hit them, stun them and then grab them.

The boss here is some Freddy Krueger look-alike without the hat. He'll try to scratch you with his claws. Whatever you do, do not use jump kicks; he will instantly try to dodge it and hit you with a blurry, seemingly fast set of claw swipes.

Enemies (mostly Galsias) will show up, giving you ammunition to fight him from afar with. Line him up and take him out!

You can grab him like you did the first boss. It usually involves walking to him from an angle, just to throw him off. One of the normal enemies that pops up has a knife. Hope your aim is true.

Let's Play Streets of Rage as Blaze - The Longplay

This longplay never got an entry within its own blog series.

That's sad, because this is one of the best Blaze plays I've ever done.

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage for the Sega Master System - The Longplay

Enjoy!

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage for the Sega Master System - Part 4 of 4

It's time for the final two rounds of the Master System version of this game. If you've played this on Genesis or Mega Drive, you know what to expect, but it doesn't get any easier.

Round 7

Just like in the 16-bit version, it's an elevator ride with no boss. Toss guys off to the right side (or knock them to the side with your full standing combo) if you want to get rid of them easily. Sadly, the gameplay screen just fades in and out before teleporting to the bottom if you use your special. Also, when the elevator moves, you can't move. You also can't use the elevator glitch with the special, either. 

Stop 1: 5 Yellow Signals

Stop 2: 5 Red Kung Fu Guys

Stop 3: 6 Red Dominatrixes

Stop 4: 6 Blue Galsias

Stop 5: 6 Blue Kung Fu Guys

Stop 6: 6 Green Signals

Stop 7: 6 Red Galsias

Round 8

Just like in the Genesis/Mega Drive version, you'll be walking down a long hallway, taking everyone down and fighting all the bosses in the order in which they appeared...all six of them. And you still don't have a Super attack.

To beat The Blaze Twins a second time, have them both lined up with you, then jump kick one of them. The jump kick will knock one of the twins into the other, and you can keep doing this until they both die.

When you reach the doors to Mr. X's room, you'll meet a new enemy you'll only meet in this one round: Kung Fu Guys dressed in purple. Yeah, nice way to throw us for a loop just before the final fight, Sega.

Stop 1: 2 Red Galsias, Round 1 Boss

Stop 2: 2 Black Dominatrixes, Round 2 Boss

Stop 3: 3 Blue Kung Fu Guys, Round 3 Boss

Stop 4: 2 Red Galsias, Round 4 Boss

Stop 5: 3 White Dominatrixes, Round 6 Boss

Stop 6: 4 Purple Kung Fu Guys, Round 5 Boss

The Battle Against Mr. X

Since there's no two-player mode, there's no choice as to whether or not you want to join the 

He'll send two Red Galsias, two Purple Kung Fu Guys, and two White Signals at you. Unlike the 16-bit version, you don't have the luxury of having a pipe at Mr. X's feet to pick up and smack these guys in the face with. After that, you'll face Mr. X himself.

Thanks to the Sega Master System's limitations, you'll be screwed over when it comes to throwing enemies at him. Instead, you'll have to stand at the center of the room and wait for him to get close so that you can pound on him with your standing combo. The chances of you grabbing him are extremely low unless you stun him in advance, since there's no way of knowing if he's running around or if he's using a ram attack (there's no frames showing him ramming you with the butt of his machine gun), because he can damage you if you walk right into him unless you have him stunned. Consider yourself lucky if you're able to actually grab him and either throw or suplex him before then. His life meter is pretty big, so be prepared to spend a little bit more time with him than you would the other bosses.

When you finally beat him, you'll get the ending...with no credits. Yeah, that's such a letdown, especially since you went through all that trouble just to take Mr. X (and a buggy game) down.

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage for the Sega Master System - Part 3 of 4

The ship level: now with air vents directly below the vent pipes! Finally, the Master System version got something right!

Also, we get a version-exclusive boss!

Round 5

The boat may not rock (and the background may not move) like it did on Genesis/Mega Drive, but at least Sega makes up for it by placing steel grates underneath where the destructible vent pipes are. That's brilliant, Sega.

This is the longest stage thus far, as there are six instance in the round where you'll have to trash everybody before you can continue further. You'll face Abadede at the fourth stop, but just like in the Genesis/Mega Drive version, he doesn't have a health bar this time around solely because he's a mini-boss.

The black Dominatrixes will now do that "kneel down after one hit then strike back when you turn away and move a specific distance away from them" strategy from now until the rest of the game. Thankfully, you can walk a short distance from them to get them to react (unlike in the Genesis/Mega Drive version where instantly turning away caused them to strike) so you can strike them when you need to. If you walk past them up to a certain distance, they'll still stop feigning serious injury and attack. If you use your jump kicks, however, you'll negate that entirely.

The Blaze Twins are a little less annoying, but they can still be hard nonetheless. In the SMS version, their jump kicks are purely horizontal instead of diagonal.  You can still use the second they land as the time to snatch them and put them in a grab combo. They also share the same energy bar this time around, but that doesn't make it any easier as you're fighting two bosses at the same time (in a way).

If you saved the special attack you picked up near the end, you can use that and the one you started with to get rid of The Blaze Twins as quickly as they show up.

Stop 1: 2 Green Galsias, 2 Blue Galsias

Stop 2: 2 Blue Galsias

Stop 3: 3 Green Signals, 3 Blue Galsias

Stop 4: 2 Red Kung Fu Guys, Abadede

Stop 5: 3 Blue Jugglers

Stop 6: 3 White Signlas, 2 Blue Jugglers

Round 6

In the first stop of the round, you'll finally meet the Red Galsias (just like you did in Genesis/Mega Drive). They take even more damage than the blue ones. Typical.

The can with the "C" on it is the money bag.

The crushers are now replaced with laser beams, which is actually a pretty classy way to get past the fact that Master System couldn't do what the Genesis did. Only one set of laser beams can fire down to the floor at a time, so don't worry if you have two on the screen and the lights on both of them flash simultaneously. It's just the system's limitations.

Also, just like in the game's 16-bit counterpart, the fire-breathing guy appears again in Round 6. The strategies from the last fight apply.

You'll start seeing conveyor belts when you're past the second stop of the round. At least they work problem-free on Sega Master System.

On the fourth stop, you'll meet the Freddy Krueger look-alike. Don't worry, we're not fighting the boss...yet. Once you beat him, you'll meet the white Dominatrix girls a little earlier than you did in the 16-bit version.

When you beat the White Signals at the end, you'll finally face the boss, and this time it's a new guy! It's some old man in a top hat, a tuxedo and a purple cape. (I think.) He runs around with a rocket launcher on his back, and he shoots a rocket that seems to home in on you before he runs to the other side and fires again. He'll be alternating sides firing rockets at you, but you can definitely catch this guy on his way from one side to the next and put him in a grab combo. To do that, line yourself up with him, then move diagonally towards him when he moves either up or down. He may zig-zag, but it is possible to get used to his movements. If a rocket is coming towards you, jump. 

Despite being Master System exclusive, he's really not that hard at all. At least he's more original than having two Freddy Krueger-type guys onscreen at once.

Stop 1: 3 Red Galsias

Stop 2: 3 Red Dominatrixes, Fire-Breathing Guy

Stop 3: 2 Black Dominatrixes, 3 Green Signals

Stop 4: 3 Red Galsias, Freddy Krueger Lookalike

Stop 5: 3 Red Galsias

Stop 6: 4 White Signals

VCDECIDE - Streets of Rage (Master System vs Sega Genesis)

Ever wanted to see both of these versions side by side? Now you can!

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage for the Sega Master System - Part 2 of 4

Anybody noticed that the game is more generous with the extra lives than the Genesis/Mega Drive version? I have.

Round 3

Gotta love the 8-bit rendition of "Back to the Industry" from Streets of Rage II here.

True to the Genesis version of the game, you start seeing the stronger versions of Galsia here. As I mentioned earlier, the green and blue Galsias have reversed on the food chain here.

Abadede appears at the end. Beating him up is a little trickier this time, as you can't even touch him even if he already performed the lariat; touching him at any time will damage you. You'll have to get him to line up with you, then start punching away with your standing combo and knock him down with it. You can also move around in a diamond-shaped pattern as soon as you see him coming your way and hit him with a few punches from behind. That also works.

Stop 1: 2 Green Galsias, 2 Blue Galsias

Stop 2: 3 Red Kung Fu Guys, 4 Blue Galsias

Stop 3: 3 Red Kung Fu Guys

Stop 4: 4 Blue Galsias, 2 Red Dominatrixes

Round 4

The music here is a combination of "Keep The Groovin'" and "Slow Moon", from the first and second games, respectively.

The Black Domintrixes show up at the first stop, and some of them will do the whole "kneel down after one hit then strike back when you turn away and move a specific distance away from them" technique. The Green Signals will show up right after you take those two down.

When you reach the second stop, you'll finally meet the Kung Fu Guys with blue trim. Told you they'd show up.

All through the level, you'll see those huge gaps in the bridge, and thankfully you can still knock the enemies into them with great effect. For best results, use German suplexes.

Just when you think the level has enough tricks up its sleeves, the last two enemies you'll face in Round 4 are White Signals, which take even more damage than the green ones!

The big fat fire-breathing guy is back in Round 4, and just like in the Genesis/Mega Drive version, you can't throw or suplex him. Since he's always breathing fire, your best bet it to lure him to the top of the screen and keep jumping forward, hitting him with jump kicks, and backing off to prepare the next jump kick until he dies. You can also perform the "two knees, two vaults" strategy here as well.

Stop 1: 2 Black Dominatrixes, 2 Green Signals

Stop 2: 2 Green Signals, 2 Black Dominatrixes, 2 Blue Kung Fu Guys

Stop 3: 2 Green Signals

Stop 4: 2 Green Signals, 2 Blue Galsias, 3 White Signals

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage for the Sega Master System - Part 1 of 4

Covering Streets of Rage again so soon? Well...

But this is a different version, though. Instead of the Genesis/Mega Drive version that I've covered before, or the Game Gear version that omits Adam, we have the Sega Master System version, which has all three characters intact!

If you were expecting a close-to-perfect transition from the coin-ops to the Master System, though, you're about to be pushed two steps back.

Round 1

Well, there's a few weird differences here.

In this one, the green Galsias are weaker than the blue ones, which don't show up until Round 3. That just totally defies my knowledge of Streets of Rage in its entirety...and that's not the only thing.

The screen can show only two enemies at the same time...and they have to be the same time of enemy (in other words, both enemies would have to be Galsias or Signals or Dominatrixes or whatever). Also, the hit detection is a little weird. If you get hit in the torso or above in any way, you will take damage. Apparently, the Sega Master System's programming has no "depth perception." Also, the window of invulnerability that you have in this game (it exists here, believe it or not) after you get taken to the ground is way too brief. Once you hit the floor, you can take damage again after two seconds.

Some grab attacks, such as throwing enemies over to the other direction, are a bit glitchy in this version. You could throw an enemy away from you and they'd go further in the direction you're facing. It's a bit strange at times and makes that attack somewhat useless. They can also break out of a grab when you least expect it and attack you, which really sucks. The German suplex from behind is the strongest grab attack, you have, and when you perform it, it creates an awesome shake effect on the screen that you'll be seeing pretty often.

Your standing combo also acts differently. You could hit an enemy and all of a sudden perform the third or fourth attack of the combo, as if the game is keeping track of where you are in the combo at all times.

There's also the obvious fact that enemies can't scream when they die. This, I can party with...but glitchy parts of the gameplay are harder to overlook.

The Signals are more aggressive in this game. They slide much more often than they did in the Genesis/Mega Drive version. Same can be said about the Dominatrix girls...they can whip you as soon as you're lined up with them.

It should be mentioned that the weakest kung fu guys wear white and red instead of white and blue this time. The guys with blue trim will show up soon enough, though...

The boss here is that guy with the boomerang. Again. Just like last time, go up to him from an angle and grab him when you can, then deal some damage to him from there.

To use your special attack, you have to pause the game and press 1 to clear the screen of all . While this is alright on emulators - you'll most likely have a pause button - but on the real hardware, you'll have to be right next to the console to press the Pause button on it to pause the game. The Special Animation is just...really weird. The screen goes black, goes back to the police car firing the mortar rocket, then goes back to where you are and shows the rocket hitting the ground. The bad guy re-appears and gets knocked back, while you fall from the sky to where you were standing.

The usual weapons - pepper shakers, knives, bottles and pipes - all show up in this game. I almost never use the bottles, due to the extra frames of animation when you use them. The pipes, however, are much better. Knives are absolutely over-powered, though; they go through enemies when they connect and you can throw one and damage multiple enemies at once if you're good.

In each round, I will mention "stops": parts of the level where you have to beat up all the enemies before you can continue on. These are the enemies that appear on the normal difficulty (not sure about Hard).

Stop 1: 2 Green Galsias

Stop 2: 2 Green Galsias, 3 Yellow Signals

Stop 3: 2 Green Galsias, 2 Red Dominatrixes

Stop 4: 2 Red Dominatrixes

Round 2

The old Player Select music plays over and over again in this stage. It's nice to hear it, but it loops about every fifteen seconds, so it can get slightly annoying.

The jugglers wear blue shoes to go with the red pants this time. Weird. Also, grabbing them is even easier in the Sega Master System despite the weapons they have in their hands; you don't even have to stun them to grab them anymore.

The Freddy Krueger clone is back. Fighting him is a little different; you have to get close to kite him into attacking with his claws, then move around him and try to hit him. You still cannot perform a jump attack; doing one will cause him to move directly into you while in the claw swipe animation the entire time, which looks pretty scare.

Stop 1: 2 Green Galsias

Stop 2: 3 Yellow Signals

Stop 3: 2 Red Jugglers

Stop 4: 2 Red Jugglers, 2 Red Dominatrixes

Controls:

Control Pad - Move (move into enemies to grab them)

Button 1 - Attack, special attack (when game is paused)

Button 2 - Jump, vault over enemies after grab (walk into enemies to grab them)

Button 1+2 - Back Attack

Up+2 - recover from being thrown (must be thrown by an enemy for this to work)

The Genesis 6-Pak

Here's some footage for the 6-Pak for Sega Genesis, which includes Streets of Rage. This was packed in with the Model 2 Sega Genesis, and I definitely got this one with mine.

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!

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Blaze - Part 3 of 4

Despite the strategies that are here, I managed to pull off the seemingly impossible and bring a pipe to the Round 5 boss...and it works.

Round 5

Round 5 takes place on a ship.

It's not long after you begin the stage that enemies come after you in groups. Keeping the numbers of enemies down to a minimum as much as possible is key in this stage - you don't want to be ganged up on by as many as seven opponents at once.

In the event that does happen, throw an enemy into others. You just might get an opportunity to use your regular combo, jump kick or rear attack on three guys at once.

The green Galsias with the knives in their hands will home in on you when you're close by. Hit them with jump kicks to back them up, and keep knocking them down with it. Grabbing one of their knives and stabbing another one of them with it does wonders, too.

The black dominatrix girls have a new tactic - get hit, then fall to their knees. If you turn back or wait too long, she'll immediately strike with the whip when they get back up. Avoid this entirely by using grab attacks.

Port holes in the ground hide items, and they're plentiful at the times they show up. One of them even carries a little replica of a police car that gives you another super attack to destroy everything on-screen with when picked up.

After the first piece of meat (which you'll probably need), martial arts fighters will leap out from behind the bottom of the ship. Fight them off as you go; don't continue right when they pop up.

Abadede pops up again, now wearing green. You'll probably have that pipe you just found in your hands, and timing your swings right will definitely keep him away.

You'll soon find the small police car I was talking about...as well as a new form of the juggler. These guys have black pants and light brown hair, and these guys will jump around and throw items that seemingly appeared from out of nowhere at you. Where do these guys keep their stuff? You could use that extra special right away, our you can use jump kicks (and grabs, if you're cunning enough).

The boss here is a pair of Blaze Fielding recolors. Aside from wearing green, they also perform acrobatics.

The best time to grab them is when they come straight down from a jump kick. You'll definitely get some damage on one of them for sure this way. If you're fortunate enough to bring a weapon such as a pipe or a bat to the boss fight, that works too.

Round 6

Round 6 takes place in a factory. Don't ask what kind of factory, the game doesn't even give you hints as to what kind it is. Conveyor belts and crushers make the terrain here a little rocky, and there are still some new things in here.

Items are stored in crates, and the first one you'll break has some gold bars in it. They give you 5000 points, which is more than what the money bags give you.

You'll also see red Galsias with gray hair. Those take even more damage than the green ones, and they're plentiful in this level, so get ready for a fight.

You'll see one of the crushers pretty soon. When you get close enough to it, the bottom light will flash red, telling it to crush whatever's below it with its big steel plates. They can hurt you, but they can also hurt any nearby enemies on their way down as well. When the plates hit the floor, you're free to walk on by.

After this first crusher, you'll come face to face with the big fire-breather again. He's alone this time, so it'll be easier to get close to him and do grab damage without being interrupted. If you can grab him from up front, hit two knees, vault and vault again. Then, grab him again before he repeats the process. If you can keep the pattern up, you'll be able to beat him without him ever attacking you again.

After two more crushers, you'll see two conveyor belts next to each other going in opposite directions. Sidestepping from one to the other as you move from one enemy to the next will make movement in this area easier.

A little further along, you'll see three crates in quick succession. The first two have an extra special attack and a 1-Up respectively; the third has a pipe in case you've lost both baseball bats and you're still itching to hit a home run with someone's head. Trust me, I know the feeling.

Freddy Kreuger makes a return appearance, and this time he brings his own clone. I guess good help is hard to find these days...

Same strategies apply here. Once again, normal enemies won't show up here, so throw one of the bosses into the other for best results.

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Blaze - Part 2 of 4

Time to kick this into high gear...

Round 3

Round 3 takes us to the beach, behind a park as well as some billboards. You'll be rained on a couple of times throughout the stage.

There is now a green variant of Galsia in this stage, and they take slightly more damage than their blue counterparts.

Stacks of tires hold useful items in this level, so give them a whack.

After you find the first piece of meat, you'll see a soda can rolling around on the ground. That's pretty nice detail for a Genesis game. You'll also see the martial artists pull a new strategy: grouping up into threes and triple-teaming you. Move up or down to sidestep their attacks, and try to put a hurting on one of them. If one dies, the other two fight like they normally would.

The boss here is Abadede, the professional wrestler who looks a lot like the Ultimate Warrior of WWE fame. He'll line up with you, then try to hit you with a running clothesline and back up before lining up for another one. Throwing enemies into him does a good amount of damage, and if you can sidestep his clothesline and do some grab damage on him, that's great.

Round 4

We're now on a bridge. Of all things...a bridge.

First of all, there are pits throughout the bridge at certain points. Falling into them means instant death not only for you but for the enemies as well. Knock them in if you get the chance; it makes everything easier.

You'll meet a palette swap of the Signals at the beginning. Their suits are purple and their hair is yellow. Yes, they've switched colors. Yes, they take more damage.

Cones, barricades and poles carry power-ups. How you can hide an apple in a narrow pole like that, I'll never know.

You'll also meet black-clad versions of the dominatrix with the whip. They also take as much damage as the green Galsias and the purple Signals.

There are also martial artists in brown and orange that take more damage. These guys attack more frequently, and they also have a long jump kick that the guys in gray don't have. Fight them accordingly, but be on your guard, as their attack movements are fast.

The last regular enemy you'll meet is a green Signal with melon-colored hair, and they take even more damage than the purple ones. They don't pop up too often, but when they do, they're annoying.

The boss here is a bald man as big as he is tall. He'll run at you, breathing fire into your face for impressive damage. He's pretty slow, so lining him up to throw enemies at him works well. He's like a slower version of Abadede, except he runs off-screen.

If you happen to grab him, do not throw him or suplex him. He'll fall on you and cause damage to you solely with his girth. The best strategy is to walk into him and get to the front and knee him twice. I usually wait in the upper-right, keep moving forward, knee him twice, vault twice, grab again, knee again, vault again and so on. It makes this boss a lot easier and you don't have to deal with the fire breath as often.

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage as Blaze - Part 1 of 4

Alright, who wants to see me play as Blaze like I originally should have?

This playthrough is on Normal, by the way.

Round 1

Round 1 takes place in the downtown area of the city. This part is basically really easy, even on Hardest.

The orange-haired guys in blue are your standard meat-and-potatoes flunky. A full combo takes them out easily. They're usually known by the name "Galsia." (In Streets of Rage 3, they anglicized it to "Garcia.")

The yellow guys with the purple mohawks have two attacks: a slide and a throw. They're usually known as "Signals." (I'm going by Streets of Rage 2 enemy names, so bear with me.) They can be taken out fairly easily as well. In case they or any enemy throws you, hold Up and press C right before you hit the ground, and you'll land on your feet without taking throw damage.

The Asian martial artists move fairly slow, and all they really have are kick attacks and backflips. They're also easy.

The red dominatrices can hit you with their whips and knock you to the floor with one strike if you mosey around. They fall easily, but they don't have to get really close to hurt you, so watch out!

This is a pretty interesting stage. There are telephone booths to smash up and find items in, neon lights for every store, and for some strange reason everyone drives a late-'80s Jeep Grand Cherokee...unless you're a police officer. Hey, the same one shows up in the foreground every five seconds!

The weapons you'll pick up as you go are your standard street fighting affair. Bottles that break upon meeting an enemy's head (nice!), baseballs bats, metal pipes and knives make up your first tools of destruction. If you drop a weapon three times, though, it disappears.

Apples refill part of your health, while meat refills it completely. You'll usually find meat near the end of a stage in case you're needing extra health for the boss battle.

The boss here is some sort of weird guy with denim outerwear, a striped shirt and a crew cut carrying a boomerang. He'll kick at you before you finish your combo, and throw boomerangs in a desperate attempt to hit you in the back of the head. When he throws them, he's most vulnerable, but you can grab him just about anytime you want and whack away at him.

Round 2

Steel barrels carry items both old and new as you fight your way through the worse-off parts of town.

Money gives you 1000 points. When you get 50,000 points, you receive an extra life. You also get one for every 100,000 points you earn after that.

One of the new things you'll find here is a pepper shaker. It's even more of a one-use-only weapon than the knife (at least you an stab people with the knife before you throw it). If it hits any enemies after you throw it, it stuns them for a brief time. Use that time to beat them up scot-free!

The tiny figurines of Adam, Axel and Blaze clumped together are an extra life. If you find one, grab it!

A new enemy appears later in the level: a street juggler. Sometimes they'll juggle torches, sometimes they juggle axes. They both hurt, so don't try to grab them. Instead, fight them with your standard attack or with your jump kick. They'll also stop to throw objects at you during which you'll have more than enough time to hit them, stun them and then grab them.

The boss here is some Freddy Krueger look-alike without the hat. He'll try to scratch you with his claws. Whatever you do, do not use jump kicks; he will instantly try to dodge it and hit you with a blurry, seemingly fast set of claw swipes.

Enemies (mostly Galsias) will show up, giving you ammunition to fight him from afar with. Line him up and take him out!

You can grab him like you did the first boss. It usually involves walking to him from an angle, just to throw him off. One of the normal enemies that pops up has a knife. Hope your aim is true.

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage - Part 4 of 4

Well, it's time to get this over with.

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.

For some strange reason, BirthofaNova triggers a glitch when the green Galsia gets thrown and lands where the apple and pipe are. I wonder how he did it...?

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!

PrinceWatercress plays Streets of Rage - Part 3 of 4

Hope you got your sea legs with you, because the enemies are coming in droves now. Are you ready?

Round 5

Round 5 takes place on a ship.

It's not long after you begin the stage that enemies come after you in groups. Keeping the numbers of enemies down to a minimum as much as possible is key in this stage - you don't want to be ganged up on by as many as seven opponents at once.

In the event that does happen, throw an enemy into others. You just might get an opportunity to use your regular combo, jump kick or rear attack on three guys at once.

The green Galsias with the knives in their hands will home in on you when you're close by. Hit them with jump kicks to back them up, and keep knocking them down with it. Grabbing one of their knives and stabbing another one of them with it does wonders, too.

The black dominatrix girls have a new tactic - get hit, then fall to their knees. If you turn back or wait too long, she'll immediately strike with the whip when they get back up. Avoid this entirely by using grab attacks.

Port holes in the ground hide items, and they're plentiful at the times they show up. One of them even carries a little replica of a police car that gives you another super attack to destroy everything on-screen with when picked up.

After the first piece of meat (which you'll probably need), martial arts fighters will leap out from behind the bottom of the ship. Fight them off as you go; don't continue right when they pop up.

Abadede pops up again, now wearing green. You'll probably have that pipe you just found in your hands, and timing your swings right will definitely keep him away.

You'll soon find the small police car I was talking about...as well as a new form of the juggler. These guys have black pants and light brown hair, and these guys will jump around and throw items that seemingly appeared from out of nowhere at you. Where do these guys keep their stuff? You could use that extra special right away, our you can use jump kicks (and grabs, if you're cunning enough).

The boss here is a pair of Blaze Fielding recolors. Aside from wearing green, they also perform acrobatics.

The best time to grab them is when they come straight down from a jump kick. You'll definitely get some damage on one of them for sure this way. If you're fortunate enough to bring a weapon such as a pipe or a bat to the boss fight, that works too.

Round 6

Round 6 takes place in a factory. Don't ask what kind of factory, the game doesn't even give you hints as to what kind it is. Conveyor belts and crushers make the terrain here a little rocky, and there are still some new things in here.

Items are stored in crates, and the first one you'll break has some gold bars in it. They give you 5000 points, which is more than what the money bags give you.

You'll also see red Galsias with gray hair. Those take even more damage than the green ones, and they're plentiful in this level, so get ready for a fight.

You'll see one of the crushers pretty soon. When you get close enough to it, the bottom light will flash red, telling it to crush whatever's below it with its big steel plates. They can hurt you, but they can also hurt any nearby enemies on their way down as well. When the plates hit the floor, you're free to walk on by.

After this first crusher, you'll come face to face with the big fire-breather again. He's alone this time, so it'll be easier to get close to him and do grab damage without being interrupted. If you can grab him from up front, hit two knees, vault and vault again. Then, grab him again before he repeats the process. If you can keep the pattern up, you'll be able to beat him without him ever attacking you again.

After two more crushers, you'll see two conveyor belts next to each other going in opposite directions. Sidestepping from one to the other as you move from one enemy to the next will make movement in this area easier.

A little further along, you'll see three crates in quick succession. The first two have an extra special attack and a 1-Up respectively; the third has a pipe in case you've lost both baseball bats and you're still itching to hit a home run with someone's head. Trust me, I know the feeling.

Freddy Krueger makes a return appearance, and this time he brings his own clone. I guess good help is hard to find these days...


Same strategies apply here. Once again, normal enemies won't show up here, so throw one of the bosses into the other for best results.