December Retro Community Playthrough - Streets of Rage 1, 2 & 3

[RetroRage]

alright so I've given SoR3 a couple of runs this week, and I've yet to get a score worth posting.  

I only played this game a handful of times when I was a kid and have since forgotten everything about it, so it's basically a brand new game to me again.  

What I can say about it so far is.....damn it's difficult.  The AI has definitely been turned up a notch.  

It's also not very pretty.  Some of the stages look cool and I'm starting to warm up to it a little bit, but the sharpness of the characters has definitely taken a step back.

And the music. is. terrible.  I loved the clean sound of the jazz from the first two games.  That techno shit so far in the first 3 levels of the game is awful.  

The sounds of the voices and screams is equally as bad.  Every male punk has that same groggy "YAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!"  At least in SoR1 and 2 they mixed it up a little bit and they didn't sound nearly as raspy.  

I may be splitting hairs a little bit, but those little details matter to me.

[Disposed Hero]

Well, I wasn't expecting my copy of SoR 3 to come in until Thursday, but as luck would have it, it came in yesterday.  I made three attempts at playing through this game, but like RetroRage said, this game is really difficult.  I've played SoR 2 so many times over the past few years that I was able to breeze through that game on one continue with no problem.  I haven't really played SoR 3 very much at all, so I'm not very familiar with strategies, enemy patterns, etc.  That being said, I am getting better at it with each playthrough, so hopefully I'll be able to finish it before long.

I went ahead and snapped a pic of my current personal high score.  It's nothing to write home about, and doesn't even beat the current community high score, but at least I'm on the board now.

[img width=700 height=525]http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm155/DisposedHero/Community%20Playthrough%20Scores/CAM00275.jpg[/img]

[singlebanana]

What I can say about it so far is.....damn it's difficult.  The AI has definitely been turned up a notch. 

It's also not very pretty.  Some of the stages look cool and I'm starting to warm up to it a little bit, but the sharpness of the characters has definitely taken a step back.

And the music. is. terrible.  I loved the clean sound of the jazz from the first two games.  That techno shit so far in the first 3 levels of the game is awful. 

The sounds of the voices and screams is equally as bad.  Every male punk has that same groggy "YAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!"  At least in SoR1 and 2 they mixed it up a little bit and they didn't sound nearly as raspy. 

I may be splitting hairs a little bit, but those little details matter to me.

I agree with a lot of this. First of all, the AI was really turned up in this game. What I find most notably frustrating is that some of the characters can block. This makes it rather difficult to take down and move to other enemies when there are a lot of them on the screen. The scenery does appear to have taken a step back in several places, but I think that the sprites might be a little more detailed in SoR3 than in SoR2 (just my opinion). The music is much worse as RetroRage pointed out and is especially annoying in the dance club. Sheeeesh!

As noted by others, this is a very difficult game and I think that might be a lot of the reason that people dislike it. As tough as it is, I think the game definitely has its pros, so I'll play devil's advocate here and point out things I like:

1. I like that there is a storyline to follow after each level of the game. The previous games had a story, but it was scripted at the beginning and end with nothing in between. I do think this is a nice touch.

2. Ability to unlock characters. Seems that there are two characters in the game that you can unlock and play as. I think this is a pretty neat idea and I applaud the thought behind this.

3. I really love the vertical rolls. By tapping up or down twice, your character rolls out of the way. I've not mastered this technique, but I think it's crucial to doing well in the game. It can get you out of a pinch or help you dodge things coming at you rapidly (train cars) and it is much faster than walking up and down.

4.  The power bar. I know some of you may disagree, but I think the timed power bar is a nice implementation. Being able to use special moves without taking a life penalty (if the bar is full) seems to be something that was well thought out. There is also a sliding scale of how much damage you take in using the special move depending on how full the bar is; the less full, the more damage of course.

My thought is this. It's a tough game, but I think the better you get at it, the more you'll like it. Be sure to post any scores, since that will at least get you on the board. Thanks for playing guys.

[Disposed Hero]

A friend of mine was telling me that the NA release of SoR 3 was much more difficult than the Japanese version, which, according to Wikipedia, appears to be true:

The game's overall difficulty was also altered for the English version, with the game's Normal setting being significantly more difficult than even the Japanese version's Hard setting. Also, the English version of the game cannot be completed on the Easy setting (it will end after Stage 5).

[singlebanana]

Wow, that's interesting. Someone must not like us.

[JerryGreenwood]

It's like Boo!

I know I'm late, but my SoR2 score is 628,730 and I died right before the final boss. I'm having trouble getting pictures from my phone to the computer but Banana has proof. Also, I thought we weren't supposed to use continues so when it's Battle Royale time, I'll definitely beat it and improve my score.

As for the game, I underestimated SoR2. Trying for a high score greatly improves the strategy and game play. I had a lot of fun playing it. 

Some positives that may fly under the radar

- I loved the "Alien" stage and the mini-boss (Orpheus?). Very creative and unique for a game like SoR to add something like that in. The baseball stadium was cool too.
- While I don't think the music is amazing, it's production deserves a 10/10. It's elaborate and every note from every instrument is clear and smooth.

I only have a few minor complaints - because no game is perfect.

- Needs more of a variety in items. There are 9; Apple, Chicken, Cash Bag, Gold Bars, Knife, Katana, Kunai, Grenade, and Lead Pipe. Compare that to Final Fight which came out 3 years earlier. It has 39 different items.
- It's a little dark. I guess they're going for that techno/neon light/street urchin feel, but I could've used a little bit of daylight aside from through the windows on the final stage and the dawn light at the beach. Maybe they're expressing that the fighting starts at 10pm, goes throughout the night, and the final level is at 8am? It's a stretch given the lack of flesh in the story, but I guess it's possible.

[JerryGreenwood]

I may be splitting hairs a little bit, but those little details matter to me.

Sometimes the little details are what separates a good game from a great game.

[singlebanana]

Yes, Dezorian contacted me while the site was having issues to let me know he was having trouble posting his score. I will update the standings from last week and make the necessary adjustments. This will not effect everyone that much and I think basically gives Crabmaster 5 points for the week instead of 6.

Thanks for joining us Dezorian.

[JerryGreenwood]

Thanks for joining us Dezorian.

Happy to play. Just wish I could find my Sonic Collection to join in the other games. Oh well.

[Disposed Hero]

Thanks for joining us Dezorian.

Happy to play. Just wish I could find my Sonic Collection to join in the other games. Oh well.

I actually have a bunch of extra copies of the Genesis 6 Pak collection that includes the first Streets of Rage game.  I can send you one if you want it.

[JerryGreenwood]

I actually have a bunch of extra copies of the Genesis 6 Pak collection that includes the first Streets of Rage game.  I can send you one if you want it.

Wow, that's extremely nice of you, but it's okay. If it was November 23rd I'd say Yes, but by the time it comes in the mail it'll be almost too late.................

Oh I see what's going on......you wanna distract me with another game so I don't beat your SoR2 high score in the Battle Royale 

[Disposed Hero]

I actually have a bunch of extra copies of the Genesis 6 Pak collection that includes the first Streets of Rage game.  I can send you one if you want it.

Wow, that's extremely nice of you, but it's okay. If it was November 23rd I'd say Yes, but by the time it comes in the mail it'll be almost too late.................

Oh I see what's going on......you wanna distract me with another game so I don't beat your SoR2 high score in the Battle Royale 

Oh yeah, I forgot that the holidays are coming up, so the mail will probably be significantly slower next week.

Heh, I actually wouldn't mind having a reason to go back and play SoR 2 some more.  Bring it on!   

[MaterialHandlerMike]

Played SoR3 last night. Didnt even get past the first boss nor did I even get on the points board. Going to be a tough one to co-op too i bet.

[Disposed Hero]

[img width=700 height=525]http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm155/DisposedHero/Community%20Playthrough%20Scores/CAM00276.jpg[/img]

I keep getting better at SoR 3 every time I play, so I'm confident I'll be able to at least beat the game before long, although I may not be able to do it without using a continue.  I thought I'd share some tips I've come across for those who may not know about them:

1.  There is a 1up and 5000 points (gold bar?)  hidden behind some foreground scenery at the start of the first level.  There's also a 1up hidden behind the foreground near the start of the third level.
2.  There's a hidden passage you can take near the start of one of the levels, I think level 5.  You have to fight a lot of those ninja guys in there, but you can also find a 1up and quite a few gold bars, so I thought it was worth it.  Lookup a walkthrough to see specifically where it is.
3.  You get stars under your life bar for every 40,000 points you accumulate without dying (you lose the star if you die).  Each star powers up your dash attack (double tap left or right then press punch).
4.  Some of the weapons have special dash attacks.  The knife does some 'shoryuken' style uppercut, while the sword does a pretty effective charge attack.  There may be others, but those are the only two I've found.  I also believe that the special weapon attacks are character specific (the ones I mentioned were done using Blaze).
5.  I personally think that jump kicks are more effective in this game than in SoR 2 since you can always steer yourself while in the air.  Very effective for knocking enemies off ledges/into pits.

I'll post some more if I think of/discover anything else.  Good luck guys!

[singlebanana]

Nice score, and thanks for the great tips! I found the hidden pickups at the beginning, but not the 1up on the 3rd level. This game is really challenging and I imagine that the bosses probably appear again toward the end of the game like they do in the previous titles. Any particular strategy you use for Mona and Lisa? I did better on them the third time I played through by kind of taking my time, avoiding their attacks, letting my power regenerate, and picking my spots to kind of single them out. Not sure if there is a better strategy though. Those mining carts are pretty brutal on level 4 and really sapped my energy. When you hear the sound that indicates they are coming, you have to at least get to the center of the screen.