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Retro|Spective 072: Streets of Rage

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    #31
    Originally posted by Asura View Post
    Yeah; I mean Max in particular really looks like an SNK character to me. I could imagine him being the "heavy guy" in a Fatal Fury game.
    Yeah, I think Max and other characters have a more SNK vibe than a Capcom style.




    Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
    There is more than a hint of Duck King in that Y Signal enemy that Final Fight and Streets of Rage seem to share.


    2P from Final Fight is similar to Duck King from Fatal Fury.

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      #32
      Yep. And Y Signal in Final Fight feels like a really close lift of that Final Fight character.

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        #33
        Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
        Yep. And Y Signal in Final Fight feels like a really close lift of that Final Fight character.


        Yeah, you mean Signal looks like 2P from Final Fight. So all three characters have a similar look.

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          #34
          Yes, sorry. That was a mistake. The Streets Of Rage character always looked like a copy of the Final Fight one.

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            #35
            Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
            Yes, sorry. That was a mistake. The Streets Of Rage character always looked like a copy of the Final Fight one.
            Some of the people behind Final Fight left Capcom and went to SNK to create Fatal Fury. I can only guess that some of the artists worked on both games. The artists behind SOR were probably influenced by characters from those games. Of course, creative people are often influenced by other people's work. There is a chance that an artist(s) working on SOR had worked for Capcom previously.
            Last edited by Leon Retro; 15-01-2019, 23:33.

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              #36
              I find scrolling beat-em ups quite boring when playing alone, so music is a big decider in whether I'll play one or not.

              It's the reason I hardly play SoR3, even though I think it plays better than SoR2(although it feels a bit too long). Having said that, I think the harsh music suits the gritty look of the game.

              The only ones I play are SoR, SoR2 and Golden Axe 2. I occasionally play Final Fight but never for long.

              I did have fun playing Final Fight with Escape-to-88 at the meet-up, and had a wicked AvP session with a couple of mates many years ago.

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                #37
                Originally posted by randombs View Post
                I find scrolling beat-em ups quite boring when playing alone
                Yep. For me, as with a lot of old arcade games, they can be great for a quick blast in the arcade in the '80s and '90s before chucking a few coins into Street Fighter or whatever but it's a very different situation playing them now as a game to put on at home and work my way through alone. They were designed with different aims in mind.

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                  #38
                  Clue for 073:

                  Time for the Divine Retribution of the Wrath of Heaven

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                    #39
                    This thread was all like "Wowzers! How aces are the Streets of Rage gamez?!" then Dagg Thong turns up and it's all like "Pffftt... it's just a clone of Final Fight and SNK and Golden Axe is better!"

                    Well, I loaded up the SoR classics on the one last night, thanks [MENTION=4034]Atticus[/MENTION] for the hint!

                    After getting over the fact I was playing a Mega Drive game, emulated on a Xbox 360 game, being emulated by the Xbox One on backwards compatibility, I entered the raging streets.

                    It looks pretty pixelated and there are options for scanlines and smoothness, but I just decided it's best as is.

                    Streets of Rage is actually a lot prettier than I remembered, with some cool animated backgrounds.
                    I liked the beach where the waves are lapping at the sand, rain is lashing down and waste drinks cans are being blown along.
                    Lots of other bits like parallax scrolling backgrounds or tatty old posters with the torn edges flapping in the breeze.
                    Combat was good and I got through a fair few levels, but felt it lacked the crowd control that I remembered.
                    It's in II that throwing enemies became more of a tactic.



                    Moving onto Streets of Rage II, straight away, there was a jump in sprite quality!
                    They were bigger and better animated.
                    The combat is a lot better too, with more options available and the double-tap dash move is now back.
                    Obviously the music is immense, but that's not news.
                    I love how it tries to tell a story, rather than "walk left to right punching" and you feel like you're in an action film.
                    You get past the high street and get to a bar, but your way is blocked by a knife-throwing punk.
                    Once he's dispatched, you enter the bar and the music changes. Plenty of furniture to smash on the way to the bar where a well-dressed woman is talking to the barman, who is busy cleaning a glass. She sheds her coat to reveal she's a stocking-clad lovely wielding a whip!
                    Once she's downed, the barman heads out a door, so you follow him. The bar's lounge music fades as you step into the bar's back yard. Rain drops hit the concrete and a crack of thunder starts the boss music. The barman tears off his apron and starts attacking, but he's no henchman, he can throw you and hit you with big roundhouse kicks.
                    Love it!


                    Streets of Rage 3 is the game I've played the least and the graphics aren't particularly better than II and the music is less catchy.
                    Straight away, the combat is noticeably tougher! I was at the knife punk before I took a hit in II, but I'd nearly lost a life pretty fast in this. Enemies are literally running circles around me, they move so fast. There are guys with guns before the level is done!
                    Some interesting levels like the docks with the guy in a speedboat helpfully dropping off henchmen to fight or the disco with some crazy lighting.
                    The plot is something to do with bombs and robots and has cut screens for the first time to give some exposition. I'm not sure what happened between II and 3 to make robots and cyborgs a real thing!
                    I think playing it more would help you learn the enemies' attack pattern and weak spots, and hit boxes, but it's definitely a shock after the first two games. Many of the tricks and moves learned before didn't work and the bosses seemed to always get the hit if you hit at the same time. Instead of one police car per level or an individual special move, you get a meter that fills up and allows you a special move. You can use it before the meter is full, but you take damage.
                    There's an elevator level and I repeatedly got knocked off the edge or spawned by it or stood up by it and fell off!
                    I got as far as fighting "Axel" and had to go to bed.
                    There's an eclectic mix of henchmen, cyborgs and I even beat up "Bruce" and "Roo"!



                    I might go back and finish them as I enjoyed all three, but II was my fave.

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                      #40
                      Originally posted by Asura View Post
                      I would go for that, too. The Splash Wave video talks about how they were influenced by Street Fighter II, but I wonder - did quite a bit of Fatal Fury find its way in there?
                      I think, like a lot of Japanese games made at the time, they looked and used lots of similar games as influences.
                      The great thing about SOR II is not only that it played great, sounded amazed amazing, but the GFX also was something else and really made the Snes and it's scrolling beat them up's look utter crap in comparison: with SOR II massive huge sprites, more than 4 characters on screen, loads of levels and full 2 player mode ....SOR II was a gift for the SEGA fanboys and the SEGA press at the time.

                      I think that's why it's held in such regard by any SEGA fan back in the day.

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                        #41
                        Dagg Thong

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                          #42
                          He knows he can control me by using my true name!

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                            #43
                            Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                            After getting over the fact I was playing a Mega Drive game, emulated on a Xbox 360 game, being emulated by the Xbox One on backwards compatibility, I entered the raging streets.
                            A bit OT but I remember having an old Nokia Symbian S60 phone (remember them, smartphones before iPhones/Androids were a thing?) and there was a very good GBA emulator for it but not a decent SMS emulator, so I used to run an SMS emulator for the GBA within a GBA emulator on my Nokia phone. It ran some (but not all) SMS games surprisingly well!

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                              #44
                              Originally posted by randombs View Post
                              I find scrolling beat-em ups quite boring when playing alone, so music is a big decider in whether I'll play one or not.
                              Yeah, the music is really important. Good music really helps create atmosphere and therefore draws you into the game more.

                              Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
                              They were designed with different aims in mind.
                              I always enjoy playing through all my favourite scrolling beat 'em ups. I know the gameplay is quite basic, but if everything is well designed, I get hooked and end up playing all the way through.

                              Originally posted by Superman Falls View Post
                              Clue for 073:

                              Time for the Divine Retribution of the Wrath of Heaven
                              God of War?


                              Originally posted by QualityChimp View Post
                              The barman tears off his apron and starts attacking, but he's no henchman, he can throw you and hit you with big roundhouse kicks.
                              Love it!
                              Yeah, such a classic scene.

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                                #45
                                More retro than GOW

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