I was not familiar with the Streets of Rage series during its initial release and for many years after. On the surface, the Streets of Rage games looked like a Double Dragon knockoff to a Nintendo kid like myself but that’s just in the surface gameplay as a beat ’em up. In the games you can play as one of several characters trying to rid the city of crime one punch/kick combo at a time.
I finally realized these games existed when I was doing research on the most popular and fun games for the Genesis while trying to build my collection. The Streets of Rage games, specifically SoR and SoR2, were considered must owns so I sought them out. I realized that due to their popularity at the time of release and also as pack-in titles for a period, I could find complete copies for relatively cheap so I went that route. As a result, I picked up both of my copies just this year, 16-17 years after first owning a Genesis. Unlike cardboard NES and SNES boxes, the Genesis clamshell style boxes last much longer and with slots to keep the manual as well as the games, they are generally easier to find. This is great for collectors of Genesis games and makes for cleaner looking shelves in a collectors game room.
I haven’t spent a lot of time with the SoR titles since purchasing, but I’ve gotten through a few levels on each one. I immediately fell in love with the music and gameplay of generally ass-kickery. The use of weapons is very satisfying as they are in all beat ’em up style games but holding onto them is always the challenge. Streets of Rage 1 & 2 certainly live up to their billings as “must own” Genesis titles but I can’t speak to the third installment as I haven’t played it. It appears to be generally less well received than the first two but if I can find one at a reasonable price, I won’t hesitate to pick it up to add to the collection.
Games in my collection:
- Streets of Rage – A-
- Streets of Rage 2 – A
Wish list:
- Streets of Rage 3
Cartridge Corner 