Streets of Rage 2

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Streets of Rage 2
Developer(s)	Sega (AM7) Ancient H.I.C. Shout! Designworks[1]
Publisher(s)	Sega
Composer(s)	Yuzo Koshiro Motohiro Kawashima
Platform(s)	Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, MegaPlay, Virtual Console, Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Release date(s)	20 December 1992 (North America) 13 January 1993 (Japan) 27 September 1993 (Europe)
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	CERO: A (Sonic Gems Collection) B (Virtual Console) ESRB: E PEGI: 7+
Media	16-megabit cartridge
Input methods	Genesis controller, Wii Remote, Classic Controller, Gamecube controller

Streets of Rage 2 (Bare Knuckle 2 in Japan and Streets of Rage II in Europe) 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 Yuzo Koshiro.

The game was ported over to the Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear and released for the Nintendo 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/Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection on PS3 and Xbox 360, and the Japanese version of Sonic Gems Collection for PS2 and Gamecube. 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.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Synopsis 2.1 Plot 2.2 Endings 2.3 Levels 3 Release versions and ports 4 Cultural references 4.1 Staff reference 5 References 6 External links

[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 other characters didn't have until Streets of Rage 3.

[edit] Synopsis

[edit] Plot

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 reminisicing 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, and Adam, Axel wastes 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'll 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] Levels

Streets of Rage 2 featured much longer levels, each with multiple settings. It also added weather effects, like rain and mist.

• 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.
• Round 2: Bridge Under Construction - Moving across a bridge full of thugs and bikers, you continue your search. The boss Jet, is equipped with a jet-pack and 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.
• Round 4: Basball 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 fighting ring.
• 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.
• Round 6: Mr. X's 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.
• 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.
• 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.

[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, with brighter colouring and a few different sound effects. 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 Sega 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 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 will next appear 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 Wii Virtual Console, and then released on North America's Wii 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] 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".
• One of the fat enemies in the game goes by the name of "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 Stage 4 boss "Abadede" bears a strong resemblance to that of the professional wrestler The Ultimate Warrior.

[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

[edit] External links

• Streets of Rage Expanded Universe
• Streets of Rage Wiki
• Streets of Rage Online's Streets of Rage 2 Section
• NTSC-uk's Streets of Rage Retrospective
• Complete Streets Of Rage 2 video on archive.org
• A complete video walkthrough of Streets of Rage 2
• Starman vs. Karn Review

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