The Hardcore Retro God (Review #65 - Streets of Rage Trilogy)
Channel: The Hardcore Retro God
Date: 2020-09-16

After a long, grueling 7-month absence*... you'll never guess who's managed to BELT OUT YET ANOTHER SPECIAL COMEBACK REVIEW!  (Forgive the opening and ending commentaries, as they were produced at that time before tonight's release...)  The focus of my latest review NEEDS ABSOLUTELY NO INTRODUCTION WHATSOEVER - serving as Sega's answer to CAPCOM's Final Fight, complete with a hip soundtrack conducted by the inimitable Yuzo Koshiro (who, for the record, also voiced all the characters - both the playable crusaders and their opposing cadre of adversaries alike, regardless of gender, EXCEPT [maybe] IN 3) - with Motohiro Kawashima joining him for the next 2...

Streets Of Rage revolves around the endless efforts of Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, the Hunter Bros. (Adam & Sammy, aka "SKATE"), Max 'Thunder' Hatchett and Dr. Gilbert Zan (both an ex-wrestler associate of Axel's and a former, half-cyborg scientist respectively) to once and for all end Mr. X's plots in terms of gaining control of their once-peaceful urban community.

Did I forget to mention a 4th installment was recently released months ago?  But I digress... The scope of this latest comeback "review-a-thon" in a nutshell is this:

STREETS OF RAGE (Genesis, '91)
STREETS OF RAGE 2 (Genesis, '92)
STREETS OF RAGE 1 and 2 (Game Gear, '92 & '93)
STREETS OF RAGE 3 (Genesis, '94)

*As I imagine those that have watched already might have noticed, although I've been away for much less time than what I intended (specifically, 6 months)... in reality I needed more so I could arrange the rest of the special.  Other than that, enjoy it all!