Streets of Rage Series Review - Sega Mega Drive/Genesis - Kim Justice

#sega #megadrive #review #retrogaming
Requested for so many years, thought about for so long, the Sega Mega Drive's finest..the Streets of Rage Series Review video is finally here! And it's a 40 minute ride through three incredible games, and the remake, and...well, all the failed attempts at bringing the game back. It's the longest video yet, a return to Mega Drive action that was truly worth the wait. Enjoy!
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[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

The production quality of your reviews is impressive. I appreciate the amount of passion and research that goes into these.

[@kierank1982]

My Flatmate and I were so moved with nostalgia after watching this we got the mega drive out of storage and played the trilogy back-to-back through the night. Thanks Kim!

[@MacJaxonManOfAction]

This is the best gaming retrospective I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Thank you, Kim Justice.

[@etr6629]

You have the best, most in-depth content of any classic gaming channel, methinks.

[@etr6629]

+ best personality to listen to :)

[@16bitbrit]

Brilliant. Just Brilliant. A huge well done on this, and thanks for taking the time to put it together - it's very much appreciated.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

If anyone's still wondering why the difficulty in part 3 spiked it has to do with the American used game market. Japan heavily regulates their second hand market where in the US we've got a legal concept called "Right of Sale" which is basically the opposite: no regulation whatsoever. You bought it, you can sell it. Anyway back in the 90s game makers used to think making the game unreasonable hard was the best way to keep it out of the used shops. Working Designs was famous for this. They make Exile on the TG16 so hard it was practically unbeatable. If you asked they'd tell you to let the enemies hit you off the screen in the hopes you could get knocked into the next level :P

[@joegillian314]

From what I've heard, the reason for the increased difficulty in the US version of this game is due to a scheme cooked up at the time by the rental market. Renting games was big business back then, and the theory was, if we make the games harder, then little kiddies will have such a tough time beating them that they'll have to rent the game over and over again to finish it. This strategy was applied again and again to US releases, because we love to compromise artistic integrity for the sake of money. That's capitalism for you. But at least it made us Americans stronger, more skillful gamers in the end...right?

[@ShiitakeWarrior]

Why Streets of Rage 3 was made _way more difficult_ than Bare Knuckle III remains a mystery to many to this day.

[@221b]

In a lot of cases, these changes were the result of developers and publishers being afraid of the rental market, which was pretty big in the US but practically non-existent in Japan. They'd often crank up the difficulty on US releases of games to ensure that they couldn't be beaten in a weekend.

[@sams1170]

my favorite character playing this as a kid was always skate, my brothers never wanted to play as him but i just like the fact (along with his other moves) was the fact that you could mount onto the enemies shoulders and punch the shit out of the back of their head lol awesome, aaaahhh memories :)

[@Champion2D]

Mate my face lit up when I saw this video in my feed. I love your 16 bit retrospectives and you absolutely did "justice" (see what idid there :d) to one of my favourite franchises of all time. You sir get a standing ovation.

[@richardmoores]

Champion 2D Rob I get what you did there 🤪

[@ECMIM]

Actually, we know why the difficulty was increased: to stymie game rentals. It's the same reason Contra Hard Corps had its life bar shortened and why Castlevania III is vastly more difficult in NA than in Japan. Source: used to be a game journalist 'back in the day'.

[@ChrisSmout]

Kim, this video is an absolutely great retrospective...the ending brought a tear to my eye and made me fire up SOR2 for a quick play. Instant sub!

[@TigerBearCatBrandon]

I will rarely watch a game review longer than 20 mins, but you lovingly hit on every relevant detail about the main three and the future - well done ! I'm planning to watch the Golden Axe one.

[@vaporwave2345]

Bravo sir, this review is simply amazing. I can see all the work and passion you really put into it. I am a massive SOR fan and it's wonderful to see someone really delve into its history with such conviction. I'm definitely going to show this vid to all my friends, you should make more reviews like this for sure!

[@LeeONardo]

Just a couple of little things you missed out. SOR remake's bike level was an added in feature that was supposed to have been in SOR3. Max makes an appearance in SOR3 alongside Adam, Adam appears in the helicopter (as shown in the video) and Max is standing with them all in the final shot of SOR3's ending. I don't think you mentioned the reason for the outfit colour changes in the US/Euro version of SOR3, they were supposed to be "gender neutral" (what the fuck?!?) Even though they were all the 2 player palettes from SOR2's duel mode pretty much. You also could have breifly mentioned that SOR had a comic run being in the UK's Sonic the Comic, I think 3 series and a special. Absolutely brilliant video however, I am a massive SOR fan and you did a great service for it here. GOD that music ... so good.

[@stradlemonkey444]

I LOVE Streets of Rage! Absolutely love it. The music is worth buying this game alone. If I remember, it was included in the SEGA CD multi-game disk. Countering moves, jumping over enemies using them to do it, then bashing their backs is side-scrolling beat em up bliss (computer savvy folks- look up "Beats of Rage"- new skins and levels with the same game engine, but remapped swapping "Alex" for He-Man (yes! An amazing He-Man version with most well known characters (including Skeletor and the cats, and even Lion-O of Thundercats is playable).

[@ShiitakeWarrior]

Oh, sure. Adam was _"too busy to help"_ in SoR3. And then he appears in a helicopter at the end of Stage 6 to mow down Jet's (remaining) minions.

[@SuperHns]

Finally a KZbinr who knows to hold UP+Jump to catch yourself when being thrown. gg

[@SOR4]

Yeah, one of the most funny things I see on many KZbin "lets play"s :)

[@PopMusicKiller]

Great video, Kim! It should definitely be mentioned that Yuzo's sibling, Ayano Koshiro was the designer and artist for Streets of Rage 2! They now both work at Ancient and have recently released Gotta Protectors, the excellent 3DS retro hack 'n' slash.

[@paul3100]

thanks for finally doing the best beet em up series off all time , its been a streets of rage kinda month for me so this is perfect paul

[@hairy_cornflake]

I absolutely love Streets of Rage 2, it's one of my all time favorite game and favorite soundtrack. And I do agree, it is the best beat'em up and MegaDrive game.

[@EAprima]

*sniff... Thank you for allowing me to relive my childhood by talking about one of the greatest side-scrolling beat-em up series, ever.

[@jamescurtis1583]

+EAprima awww the feels at de end :,,,)

[@Paul07791]

I think you got it right in the video. After SOR 3 the beat 'em up genre was dead, the arcade was also dead, so not much sense it pondering how Sega got it wrong as there was no "right."

[@dannydordoy6245]

Thank you kim justice... Just had a nostalgic 43 mins .. That nearly brought a tear to my eye . Brought back my childhood . Fantastic review of my all time favourite games . The music blew me away as an 11 year old and the whole soundtrack now lives on my phones music player . Great video mate and thanks again 👌 You have a lifetime subscriber

[@carlosbfly]

So good to see you back and you were much missed. No one does retro reviews and look backs like you. Informative, funny and filled with details no other You Tuber provides. Bravo :)

[@tubey84]

Love your presentation, unique on KZbin - would love to see more content (despite disagreeing you on several things!) Keep up the good work :)

[@DeconTheed92]

I also want to say I feel SOR3's music had a wider range of genre influence then the first two did; the aforementioned Percussion sounds more like Freeform Jazz ala Synthesizers then hardcore techno, Tunnelway borders on IDM/Braindance, and stuff like Kama de Coco and Mr. X always sounded like Yuzo was trying to fuse orchestral/classical music melodies and progression with electronic rhythms and instrumentation. Add in the also aforementioned Crazy Train's Rotterdam Techno to stuff like the bad ending music and BGM2/Fateful Encounter's attempts at chaotic piano pieces, and you've got a kinda eclectic soundtrack. Not surprising it's so divisive, really (but damn it all if I don't fucking love it too).

[@andrefrierson]

Damn the memories,deep stuff, I'm still playing in 2016, don't care if I'm 86 I'm still playing

[@myinnapeaceministries7545]

S.O.R.2 has been my favorite game since 1993! Could play that game all day, every day! I ironically, it's my son's favorite game too! Crazy he loves it just as much as his dad, when the game was released 3 years before he was born!

[@gastongenser1331]

Amazing review! I really enjoy them. You put so much love into it. Keep up the great work man!

[@DiePixelspieler]

WOW! Just WOW! One of the best Streets of Rage Videos on KZbin! Period!

[@TopperRico]

My pc just blue screened from all the awesomeness crammed into this. Brilliant as usual Kim.

[@ratius1979]

One of the best games ever made. Thanks for such a brilliant tribute to it :)

[@benny26787]

Great Vid. Streets of Rage Remake is just amazing.

[@x.kalibre]

And I had no trouble watching you talk about Streets of Rage for nigh on 50 minutes =) Excellent retrospective, SOR2 is one of my favorites games ever as well, and very well deserving of the Best Beat'em Up title, IMO. Like you said, perfection.

[@spiderjerusalem100]

The first two Streets Of Rage games are excellent, particularly the second one. SOR2 outclasses the Final Fight games in every way. Great video and probably the best one i have seen about this classic series!

[@cinefreak2307]

I was amazed by this review. I was a huge fan of the trilogy back in the day and because I love house music the first game sountrack is my favorite. Thank you for this!

[@Bu33ab3]

The Music from the Streets of Rage games is awesome!

[@RolyWestYT]

OMG I LOVED THIS SO MUCH!! Must go back and play them all

[@ghostmedic171TV]

As usual - top quality stuff - and as always - entertaining to watch Nice one brother!!!

[@DeconTheed92]

As far as the music in SOR2 and SOR3 goes, you've actually got two people to thank; Yuzo Koshiro, and his less-well-known (and from what I can tell, not super active in the field) partner Motohiro Kawashima. The latter's contributions to SOR2 are fairly minimal- he was responsible for Max Man, Expander, and the unused track Little Money Avenue solo, and co-composed Jungle Base with Yuzo. In SOR 3, though, he actually did about half the soundtrack. As a general rule, the more tuneful (yet still hard hitting) tracks like Fuze, The Poets II and Moon were him, and the really out there/hard hitting stuff like Beat Ambience, Inga Rasen and Crazy Train was Yuzo's work- although there was some crossover here or there (Yuzo did the laid back and mostly tuneful Random Cross, Motohiro did the wacked out and crazily catchy Percussion, one of my personal favourite songs in the game).

[@roboyle]

As for the difficulty of SOR3, the general consensus is that the difficulty level in the West was raised to counteract the effect of game rentals, where an easier game could be finished by those renting it for one night, rather than going out to buy it.

[@roboyle]

P.S. I've been watching all your recent Sega and GM videos the whole of this morning! Fantastic stuff!!

[@TheDumontShow]

Just wanted to say that this video is one of the best retrospectives I ever seen on video games. Everything you said in this video was not only accurate but very detailed and you had a level of passion that show how much u really loved not only Dtreets of Rage but Sega as a whole. The way Sega used to be. I loved how you said how Sega could have done good by releasing that Grid remake since games like Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I said this to someone a month ago. They could have rolled out a Streets of Rage remake right there. Especially in today's market where the downloadable market is aching for a game like it. I remember Castle Crashers was a huge hit at the time and thinking why Sega never capitalized on it. Sega's downfall is their fault alone. Every fan can attest to it. Look how many franchises they threw in the garbage since 1995 in favor of Sonic. They pushed Sonic so much, it has ran them into the ground. They disregarded a huge fanbase over Sonic.

[@TheDumontShow]

That garbage called Sonic Boom has ran them. Into the ground and now they want the respect of fans again. They have disrespected the fans. This is why Streets of Tage isn't around anymore. They need to put Sonic on the back burner and revive their franchises and make Alex Kidd as the new mascot for them. I want them to start over and I hope they see this video and realize how foolish they have been. Anyway superb video and thank you for listening

[@j.scottroberson590]

The fact that you referenced "Rebel Without a Pause" makes you my favorite person on the internet.

[@dellzincht]

"Your heroes aren't martial artists" Axel Stone, ability: Martial Arts

[@AllofTheGame]

The more I watch your videos, the more I'm convinced that we have the same tastes in games. You obsession for GTA and SoR make me feel like we'd get along well. Also Alien Power was always my favorite track on SoR 2. That baseline is nuts.

[@RYANOvision]

New sub here. Love your videos! I am currently catching up and am really enjoying your research heavy and unique take on the "history" video. Great job! I am dumbfounded you don't have at least 200k subs?!!?! Keep up the great work!!

[@AllofTheGame]

Thank you for mentioning the Rebel Without a Cause thing. That used to drive me nuts that I nor anyone else could figure it out lol

[@madeup7617]

The problem with a 40 minute SoR video is how do you not stop and turn on the OST? I made it 14 minutes before I had to go listen to a song lol SO GOOD.

[@Harri927]

I love Streets of Rage 2 because It's my favorite of the series and I loved the style of game and the fighting is excellent.

[@blessuu]

I think I beat these games every month or so the game play and sounds keep bringing me back after all these years!!!

[@HyperSonicSquall]

absolutely fantastic. as another high note to take inventory of; Sega did re-release Streets of Rage 1 as part of their 3D Classics range. it's amazing; not only is the 3d really good but it has custom settings to let you play the japanese or international version, and even lets you emulate both the model 1 and model 2 genesis for different sounds. the best part is; there's rumors going around that SoR2 is in the mix to be remade

[@HyperSonicSquall]

***** the only thing anyone's really missing out there is the art and renders by Ken Sugimori

[@HyperSonicSquall]

***** eshop works just fine. even if you get your system stolen, you just gotta call nintendo and they'll put the games on your new account. it's not perfect but it works out.

[@HyperSonicSquall]

***** well you're missing out, that's all i'm gonna say. not only streets of rage but ya got arcade perfect ports of outrun, space harrier, and super hang-on

[@darklordcthulhu7231]

Streets of Rage Remake on PC was fucking amazing, such a shame SEGA shut it down.

[@markganus1085]

this is a whopping wealth of info in one youtube channel. I'll make sure to check back more often

[@x.kalibre]

So good to see this again almost 4 years after. What a great tribute ^^

[@CTFC-GERMANY]

Great review! have seen a lot to this series but yours is the finest!!! Thank you veryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryveryvery much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ps: SoR1+2 are my absolutely favorite videogames! Love it since the early 90ies. Your channel is superb in generaly! Most clips are exactly what i am interessted in and very well made. (my first console was atari vcs (around 1990 a brand new Killermachine in East Germany back in days :D ) upgraded through a master system only a few month later^^ (than MegaDrive, Saturn, Dreamcast, Everdrive MD^^) , first homecomputer was a c64 (than switched to amiga 500, later to PC - and here i'm still sitting (with installed Dosbox, VICE, FS-UAE and a big bunch of gaming-goodness :D ).

[@johnrose1342]

Always had faith that SOR 4 would one day be a reality and change this video forever! Todays the day, finally, after so long, it happened!!!! And I for one think it is utterly superb!! A trilogy no more!!!!

[@GasheadSteve]

How on earth have I missed this.... great review Kim, a really top watch

[@colin419]

Fantastic video review dude, Streets Of Rage 2 is still my favorite side scroling beat em up.

[@terrythe2dmaniac71]

It was and still is one of the main reasons I still have my mega drive always hocked up to my bedroom's TV, ready to fire up and play at any moment during the week.

[@irishbloke99]

the music in the first game is just incredible, excellent vid again.

[@jakublulek3261]

Only Double Dragon Advance came close to Streets of Rage series in my book. I love how '80s and OTT Streets of Rage are, and how good time capsule they are. And music, man, that music! Nobody ever used Mega Drive sound chip limitations that much to game's advantage like these games, and Neo Geo games because Neo Geo AES/MVS used pretty much same Yamaha sound chip as Mega Drive. I like Streets of Rage 3 almost as much as second one, European and US versions are ridiculously hard but that never turned me off, I beat it only once but man, only God Hand on PS2 was that satisfying. And dance club stage, where they literary say you to DANCE? Brilliant. Sonic maybe is console mascot but let's face it. Nothing was more anti-Mario than Streets of Rage.

[@LeeONardo]

I found that the Xbox release of Spikeout was the best attempt of an up to date SOR. Its also 4 player splitscreen!

[@SOR4]

I recommend you to try "The rage" for PC. It's heavily inspired by "Streets of rage" and also uses a modified music of Metallika. ;) /watch?v=aT8IwD7BtSI

[@bluebull399]

I absolutely loved this game, it was definitely the best beat em up ever. My parents were big music fans and our front room was dominated with a 1000w PA system. The highlight of my childhood was being allowed to set my megadrive up in the front room, hook it up to the HUGE sound system, load up streets of rage and have a god damn house music gaming party! I'll never forget how the room literally used to SHAKE!

[@renbymon]

Fantastic review, Kimble. So wonderfully done and perfectly captures the essence of the SoR series! Thanks so much for this. :D

[@deutschbagnl]

You mention that Koshiro's tracks would go over well at a club/rave: he has actually done live DJ sets of his compositions from the game, and at least one of them is on KZbin. He does a good job of mixing and transitioning them live and it's worth checking out. The soundtracks owe a lot of their success to being re-worked adaptations of popular songs from the late 80s and early 90s. I remember being a kid and hearing the opening theme to SoR2 and immediately remarking to my friend "That sounds like Enigma." Some would see it as derivative or even plagiarism, but it was a brilliant move to bring a recognizable contemporary sound you'd hear in clubs or on the radio into a video game soundtrack.

[@jeff97ish]

I am a Nintendo guy first, but Streets of Rage 2 is the reason I own a Genesis and Retron5. It is the best beat'em up on any console. I play it through almost every day.

[@Celestial07]

Yeah, it is quite the experience, isn't it? I do agree with you. For me, I love both - SoR2 and Bare Knuckle III (on Hard and up). BKIII on Hard is a lot easier than SoR2 on Normal. Mostly cause SoR2 had bosses like 'Abadede' (Boss 4) that did plenty of damage for no good reason and Zamza was kinda annoying.

[@Zephyr_Weiss]

SoR Remake combines all three games together and has every sprite from every version. both censored and uncensored. lots of characters to unlock (including the Flamboyant Ash)

[@corrinox]

Excellent retrospective. You really did the series justice (no pun intended). Thanks for your hard work!

[@TheInfiniteMiseryJumper]

If I ever hear Expander in a club, I'm going to go ballistic. Yuzo, what a legend.

[@shkeni]

I like that the enemies in the SOR4 concept were named "SUMFUCKA" xD Great video for an awesome series.

[@cumbrianrambler7715]

Finally, a reviewer who understands music and art of games. Bravo! Subscribed. Everyone knows SoR2 is on 3ds eshop with loads of M2 tweaks for difficulty, music, arcade modes etc? £4.50

[@KaskelotenZebbe]

Good job! Glad to see someone else enjoying the SoR3 soundtrack. Though not all tracks are good, on the whole I think it's good and as you say definitely unique.

[@eranoal]

Well done on a great video. Great content, well presented, great visual references and it really tickles me when you swear - you do it so inoffensively. I only have three things to add: Skate's special weapon on SoR2 (the spearhead) was so fast in his hands; I didn't like how they toned down the violence in SoR3 - punches and kicks felt and sounded like they were bouncing off rubber, whereas SoR2 had such an amazingly violent impact sound; SoR3 was so much harder on two player.

[@natl9953]

You really nailed this one Kim. Spot on in every way. I never realised bare knuckle 3 was so different from SOR3

[@theycallmejpj]

this video was god-tier

[@joshuahumes5548]

I like how you start in the night and finish at the dawn

[@The_Husband_of_Jane_Lane]

I really enjoy the Bare Knuckle series, it is one of my favorite Sega titles, and also Blaze Fielding is pretty hot.

[@TheVanDammeFan2009]

That Golden Axe music at 1:15 is amazing!

[@JazzemYT]

Finally got round to watching this; you did a wonderful tribute to one of my favourite childhood series :) Made me want to give the third game another go as well, which never quite clicked with me even through the Japanese version.

[@shanefelle]

Great video! However, you have to give credit to Motohiro Kawashima for SOR 2/3 soundtracks. He was involved heavily in 3, producing half of the soundtrack and in 2, he was involved in about 30%. So he had a part to play in the series incredible music, that deserves recognition.

[@ChromeKong]

I agree on EVERYTHING Kim says about Streets of Rage 2. The game alone got me into electronic music in the 90s and I had to search for a long time for stuff to follow up this greatness!

[@ReinaHW]

I loved the series, especially Streets Of Rage 2. I only ever played as Blaze and pretty much mastered her attacks and controls. It's not looking very likely that it will ever return since Sega has clearly lost the plot for over twenty years due to most likely arrogance, bad management, greed and probably very out of touch people at the top who care nothing for gaming, only profit over quality. The series really should get a chance to return though, it's long overdue and it needs to be made with love, care and respect for it's past.

[@Spills51]

Geez you just made me go to steam and p/u these. Loved this series all those yrs ago. They are only 3 bucks per game o I figure the nostalgia trip alone covers that. Great video :)

[@JimboJammy]

Been meaning to watch this video for a while now. Glad I finally did! Kim your work is fantastic!

[@arambo128]

Excellent as usual, my favourite youtuber by a long way. Kudos sir

[@MDthornton83]

Excellent review, Kimble! Absolutely excellent! Keep up the good work!

[@Alianger]

Excellent review! Here's hoping you do something similar for Monster World/Wonder Boy some time in the future (you are a fan, right? heh)

[@eranoal]

I second Alianger's request! Wonder Boy in Monster world had the best ending that I ever saw on the Mega Drive.

[@HoustonIsImmortal]

The slight speech impediment and dandy-ish Euro accent somehow made this historical review all the more enjoyable. Well done, mate!!

[@CarozQH]

Finally!! I love the Master System and Mega Drive SoR1 and the amazing third game! For some reason, I've never played the second one for some reason. I guess I should really do that...

[@TheCompletionist]

Your series perspectives are always well appreciated. I have only ever played the original streets of rage but it definitely was an enjoyable game and I look forward to playing the other entries in the series when I get a free chance to do so.

[@JohnnyOrgan]

You've great taste in music, Kim.

[@PantherUK]

Quite possibly the finest review video I've had the pleasure of watching...

[@ricardolima9411]

Let's all appreciate the fact that he used composite video output for proper dithering effects on the Megadrive.

[@TheBroz]

*she

[@gingergreek]

SOR games are to date amongst my all time faves

[@grildings]

I've been waiting for this since the 'Mega Weeviews' times, and it was damn worth the wait! Cheers

[@edbadyt]

Are me and my the brother the only people who lived Fighting Force? We used to rent it on Playstation from the local video shop. We played it on co-op and always said it felt like a 3d Streets of Rage. Now I know why.

[@edbadyt]

*liked not lived

[@vguyver2]

used to play it with my brother too. But it wasn't that great.Had some fun, but mostly poking fun at the quirks such as tossing cars at people. In all honesty, the best thing in the game was when fighting the final boss. It was hilarious that he'd charge at you while you were armed with a gun, and he'd do a torpedo roll midair with each shot. Then, when out of ammo, you'd throw the gun, and he'd just swat it away. "I took five magnum bullets to the head, why did you think tossing the gun at me would work?" *Boss then proceeds to beat the crap out of me in a 3 move combo.*

[@KevinSkye1]

Ironically as a 87' kid, I loved the SOR series, I started out with 2 but fell in love with 1. Ironically, that's why I'm a die hard DFO fan because it's a call back for me.

[@xMasterSparku]

There's nothing ironic about that...

[@nbr6116]

I Just can't get over the Fact, that this Channel has just 34k Subs... Every Video is stellar! How can this be?

[@y0sh1rulez]

Wow! Only you can do "justice" to this series! Thank you for this!!!!

[@darklordcthulhu7231]

The music for SOR1 was just fucking ridiculously good. When you are head bopping as you punch twats in while you are playing your Megadrive, you know someone got the beats right. It was Koshiro-san, btw. He totally got the beats right.