3D Streets of Rage 2

Genre: Brawler

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Wireless)

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Review:

Streets of Rage 2 is an Arcade-style Brawler originally released on Sega Genesis in 1992 and later ported to numerous other platforms over the years (including two ports on Nintendo Switch), with the 2015 Nintendo 3DS release of the game adding stereoscopic 3D. This game has players controlling one of four characters as they fight enemies with fists and feet – Adam from the first game is replaced in this game with new characters Max and Skate.

The presentation here is improved from the first game, which already looked great. Streets of Rage 2 once again uses detailed 2D pixel art visuals that still look great by today’s standards, backed by an excellent chiptune soundtrack, and featuring some good bashing and shouting sounds as you and enemies pummel each other.

While the visuals feature modest improvements, the gameplay has received a good overhaul as well. The gameplay isn’t quite as stiff as the prior game, nor is movement as slow. It could still be a bit better, and the game can still get a tad repetitive at times, but overall this is still to this day one of the better games in this genre.

The Nintendo 3DS release of the game adds a few extra features, such as the ability to play the game with different emulation modes or different international versions, screen settings, button reassignments, save states, a “casual mode” that has enemies defeated when they’re knocked down (even bosses), and a new “Rage Relay” mode that has players cycling through all the characters in one playthrough.

Overall, 3D Streets of Rage 2 is a decent port of a classic Brawler, and a great one at that. While I think this game has since been eclipsed by the truly spectacular Streets of Rage 4, this game remains a highlight in the series and genre.

tl;dr – Streets of Rage 2 is a huge improvement over the first game thanks to a good variety of attack options. It’s still a bit on the repetitive side, but this is still a solid entry in the genre.

Grade: B

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