Streets of Rage

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Bare Knuckle
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Genre: Side-scrolling fighter

Bare Knuckle, (known as Streets of Rage outside Japan) is a Beat 'Em Up sidescroller for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Released during 1991. The music for was composed by Yuzo Koshiro who was well known for his work with the Revenge of Shinobi.

Storyline

The game's Storyline takes place in a city that resembles New York. The city had been taken over by an evil syndicate, headed by the evil Mr. X. Chaos ensues and out of it comes three brave ex-cops: Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, and Adam Hunter. Together they are willing to risk everything including their own lives to free the city from the evil syndicate.

The opening sequence text says: "This city was once a happy, peaceful place...until one day, a powerful secret criminal organization took over. This vicious syndicate soon had control of the government and even the police force. The city has become a center of violence where no one is safe.

Amid this turmoil, group of young Police officers has sworn to clean up the city. Among them are Adam Hunter, Axel Stone, and Blaze Fielding. They are willing to risk anything...even their lives...on the... Streets of Rage"

Characters

Axel Stone: Axel is the leader of the three. He is a 22 year-old white blond male who is skilled at Martial Arts and loves to play video games. Axel is one of only two characters who appear in all three Streets of Rage Games. (The other one being Blaze Fielding.)

Adam Hunter: Adam is the powerhouse of the three. Adam is a black 23 year old male who excels in boxing. His weakness is that he moves more slowly than Axel and Blaze which makes handling Adam somewhat difficult.

Blaze Fielding: Blaze is a 21 year old white female. She enjoys lambada as a hobby and masters at judo martial arts. Blaze is physically weaker than Axel and Adam. However, what she lacks in physical strength she makes up for with speed. Blaze is an excellent choice for new players who are trying to master the game.

Mr. X: Mr. X isn't a playable character. Mr.X is the final boss and head of the syndicate. He is the main antagonist throughout the series. Generally he carries around a machine gun when fighting or sits on his throne sicking goons on the player. However in Bare Knuckle 3, he has been reduced to a brain inside a jar.

Special Moves

In Bare Knuckle, the player can call for a police car. Upon doing so, the sunroof on the police car opens and a police officer fires a bazooka with a flare bomb in a Golden Axe-esque way. In multiplayer games when player two calls for the car the police officer uses and even bigger gun and tons of blasts rain down in a meteor shower fashion causing large explosions.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by Yuzo Koshiro. A slightly enhanced soundtrack is available online containing two beta tracks not available anywhere else. The first beta track is Up and Up. It has been said that it would have been used in round 7 but was replaced by Violent Breathing. The other track is called Super Threc (which is considered by some to be a typo so it should actually read "Super Three")