The fact that people continue to use semicolons incorrectly - despite them being one of the easiest forms of punctuation to understand - is immensely frustrating.
@@MEGAD-nb9uu it's both shit and also lightning. When it's good it's great and when its bad...the 32x happens. My forever issue with Sega is that they do not care about American fans
Is it wrong I kinda prefer the original game's soundtrack to this one? While on a technical level the tracks in 2 are more to talk about, the beats in the original are just that much catchier and get me very pumped.
Hands down my favorite Genesis game and one of my all-time as well. The crack of the bat/pipe is still one of my most satisfying sound effects in video games.
Another reason Yuzo Koshiro’s music was so epic in this series was because it borrowed heavily from electronic music that was so prevalent at the time. If you listen to groups such as Black Box, Inner City, and Technotronic you’d be hard pressed not to find similarities. All in all, my absolute favorite soundtracks of any game ever.
@matt fahringer are you familiar with those groups? I am. That’s late 80s/early 90’s urban dance music infused with some electronica (basically what would become today’s EDM)...where’s the disagreement?
@Michael Bonavita Yeah don't forget Enigma MCMXCAD and Maxi Priest's ''Close To You'' which sounds alot like Streets Of Rage 1 & 2. Heck even the bonus Enigma MCMXCAD release back in 1991 had a special remix of ''Princibles Of Lust'' which had the Maxi Priest ''Close To You'' beat in it and Yuzo Koshiro borrowed heavy from that song especially when listening to SOR Level 4 music.
@@Oysterblade84 Yes! It’s amazing how close Principles of Lust and the opening theme are. Also, check out Soul 2 Souls first 2 albums. There’s a lot in there too.
This is one of those games I got simply by looking at the lone screenshot in the Sears Wishbook catalogue. Another "gift" enjoyed on Christmas morning. My dad died laughing everytime the "skater kid" got on the enemies shoulders and started punching. Such a classic.
Certified classic, my favorite in the series. That music....god that music is beautiful. And the SoR series as a whole has some of the most satisfying beat'em up sounds.
I remember summer weekends renting this, and staying up basically all night playing with friends. Being an 80's baby 90's kid was amazing! Nostalgic Times!🙌🏽
Same here in southeast Brazil, kids from our street would meet to play either snes or genesis (we call mega drive here). Playing Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Rock n Roll Racing with a child’s imagination was awesome
I have a really fun memory with this game. My mom was a manager of an Arcade (Called Lazer Illusions) back in '93, and they had a Genesis console play area with a bunch of small 13" TVs, and one big 30". Me and my friend played this game co-op from start to finish on the 30" TV with a bunch of people watching, cheering us on.
I remember hearing SOR2 stage 1 soundtrack back in 2016 and I couldn't believe it was from a mega drive, I love SOR2 to death and I'm glad the series came back with a bang with SOR4
Thank you for the review. I remember when my Mom bought me SOR 2 in early 1993, because I made the honor roll. My friends and family spent hours and hours playing. Up to now me and my son play it together and he loves the game. Never get tired of this game.
Not only did Yuzo Koshiro write his own sound engine to use for engineering music for the Mega Drive, he used the Z80 to add that extra sauce to the tracks to have significant depth and dynamism. They definitely stand on their own as you stated @Sega Lord X. This is in my top 3 favorite “beat em’ ups” of all time. Everything just works and it has aged magnificently.
Hitting them with Max's back breaker was even more satisfying especially since it's hard to pull off. Watching those long life bars drain after one single execution is a joy though.
Man, I used to be the biggest Nintendo fanboy, but this is the game that won me over back then. There is just something so unabashedly... cool about some of SEGA’s titles. However, you, Sega Lord X, pushed me completely over the line to being a complete SEGA nut. Wouldn’t have gotten a Saturn, which is now one of my favorite consoles, if it weren’t for your glowing recommendation. I have not been as excited for a “new” (to me) game as I am whilst I wait for my Virtua Guns and HotD, Virtua Cop 1, and 2 to arrive from Japan. Thanks for being you, your passion for SEGA is pure as can be and absolutely contagious.
My tenth birthday party consisted of A Streets of Rage cartridge rented from the local video store, four large pepperoni pizza's and every kid on my street (and some of their little sisters). Good times.
@Harpoon: Since you haven't changed it, you appear proud of your paedophillic statement. Just saying what it looks like. In the meantime, I DO NOT want to imagine what you did to the "little sisters". "Welp", it appears you still stand by your unnatural statement.
Still one of the best beat-em-ups of the 16 bit era. The Sega Ages port to the 3DS deserves a shout out too, it's a gorgeous port by the wizards at M2 with added stereoscopic effects.
Absolutely my favorite game on the Genesis. Been playing it since it first came out when I was a kid, and I still play it regularly. The gameplay NEVER gets old, even more than two decades later. I was just playing it earlier today, in fact. I share SLX's sentiments on this game. Top notch review as always.
Its 30 years that I play this game at least 2-3 times year minimum. I remember when I first played the game I was completely blown away. Now a game that keeps calling you back 30+ years to play means its special.
This game completely outclassed not only the beat'em ups in other consoles of it's time but the ones in arcades, only Capcom and Konami managed to make arcade games able to compete with Street's of Rage 2.
I remember when I first played Streets Of Rage 2 on the Game Gear at Kay-Bee toys when it was first released. It blew my mind just with that port. After I played it on the Genesis, that was a whole 'nother mind-blowing amazement!
Soundtrack is worth a listen. Go straight, never return alive, under logic, slow moon and of course dreamer, just off the top of my head. The game is pretty good too.
The improvements to streets of rage 2 is comparable to that of sonic 1 to sonic 2 to the point that it’s difficult to go back to the original streets of rage, due to how much streets of rage 2 improved over the first game it’s that damn good and my favourite Mega Drive with its soundtrack, being one of the best ever in the system, and not just on the system, it’s one of the best soundtracks ever created.
I remember when this came out. I got it day one, And was amazed. I thought it looked like it was straight out of the arcade. And that was a big deal back then.
I remember the wide eyed amazement when seeing pictures of streets of rage 2 for the first time in electronic gaming monthly. I must have have gone through that magazine hundreds of times, looking at the amazing photos over and over again, waiting in agony for the game to release. When it did, me and my friend would stay up all night playing it. Honestly one of my favorite games of all time, and my favorite Genesis game overall. Like x said, I was frustrated not seeing a sequel while owning both the Saturn, and the Dreamcast. Still we did get the awesome sor4 recently, and was so damn happy to hear yuzo working his magic again. Few games though can match the excellence of 2, even decades later in terms of gameplay, music, and graphics. Though many have tried, you just can't beat a classic
Nice timing, been playing this and 4 a lot recently. I think this is one of the best 16-bit games ever. I play it all the time and never get sick of it. It's just pure fun! Sexy graphics, deep gameplay for a beat em up, meaty sound effects, it's all there. But its crowning achievement is easily the music. This and Sonic 3 are the two games in my opinion that don't even sound like they come from the Genesis. Amazing understanding of the hardware and a crafty use of samples. One of the highest quality soundtracks of the era, and it comes from the plucky Genesis. Still impresses me to this day. I remember just assuming the 3rd one was the best when I was younger. I asked for it at a flea market stand and the guy said "all we have is the second one" and I thought eh what the hell. Later on I realized I really lucked out. Love this game
This is one of my all time favorite beat'em ups on the Genesis and up there with the best. Everything from the first Streets of Rage was hugely improved from the graphics to the characters and the god-tier soundtrack from the great Yuzo Koshiro.
Just downloaded the rom to play on my Tectoy New Mega Drive... Didn't even know of this video upload today. Thanks God for the Brazilian Tectoy. Got my new Mega Drive 3 weeks ago
I was a Sega kid, but I'll be honest, I never liked SOR protagonists. It was a disappointing tendencies of the 90's in general, when you are playing beat'em-up controlling some "totally rad dude" or "strong-and-independent", looking at the enemies, thinking "THAT who I want to play!" A year or so ago, however, I played a rom, called "SoR2 Boss hack", where characters were replaced with 4... well... bosses. Played with Abadede for hours, for days! Beat it on the Hardest with no safe states. I wasn't a fan of SOR 2, but with a mod I could finally appreciate what was in that game, what hooked so many. So, I'd like to take a time to say sincere *Thank* *you* to a guy who made that roster change. I played some crappy hacks, that tried to do the same, so I can really appreciate the work you put in that, making it like if it was intended that way.
And this is the beautey of modding. Allowing the gaming experience to change so it can be appreciated in new ways. or to torture everyone who ever sees the cursed abominations that come from the depths of the sonic romhacking scene....
The fact fans had to wait over 20 years for a proper sequel to Streets of Rage is criminal. One of the many great series Sega has almost neglected next to the many great series they have neglected. Keep showing them you and your subscribers love their games. Maybe they’ll finally have that proverbial light bulb go off one day making them realize. Wow these guys really want to play these old titles again 😂 🎮.
Fun fact: Yuzo Koshiro also wrote the original tracks for Ys I and Ys II. He also has credits for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Shenmue. It's amazing how much prolific work this made is responsible for. Also pretty neat that his sister is the lead game designer too! Small caveat, Streets of Rage 2 had another composer, Motohiro Kawashima, who worked on a few tracks entirely himself. It's worth noting too that Koshiro developed an MS-DOS program to make full use of the Yamaha FM synth chip. Incredible work that largely goes unrecognized.
I love how this game is set in a modern City,but still squeezed in both a Piraten ship Stage and an alien space ship Stage in a way that made narrative sense.
I was literally playing this yesterday and I thought to myself “ It would be awesome if Sega Lord X did a review of this”. Awesome video like always. I don’t care what anybody says I love every entry in this franchise.
I think the 16-megabit cartridge size was also partially in response to Street Fighter II on SNES (which was hyped for being the first 16-megabit home game). The Genesis didn't get SF2 until 1993 so Streets of Rage 2 having a similar size game was something for Sega to market during the 1992 holiday shopping season.
I knew you'd hit pretty damn hard with something after your Nintendo episode yesterday! Man Streets of Rage was, and always will kick ass... Sega Lord X strikes again!!!😎
Streets of Rage 2 is one of those games I absolutely love even though I'm terrible at it. It's also my go-to example whenever anyone says the SNES had better music than the Genesis.
@@brorianszk I only tried that so far... the twins before I enter to the main boss kill me all the time :( once I got in with my son, with our last life..... and lost of course :) never ever get in since.... :)
This game holds a special place in my heart, used to play it all the time as a kid and will always be a game that I don’t play as often but still hold it fondly as the all time greatest of its era. 🤩👊
The ONE nitpick I have with streets of rage 2 is the omission of the team attacks that were in part 1 and brought back in 3...now one could argue that barely anyone used them but having the option is always a plus but once again great video Sega lord please do more reviews
This was the great consolation prize of not having access to Street Fighter 2 that SNES got in 1992. I got SOR2 on day 1 for $70, and it was well worth it! I feel that this game actually surpasses the arcade Final Fight game from 1989. To this day, nothing has surpassed it in the genre. The techno goodness was insane, and nothing on SNES could compare, especially if you had a model 1 and listened to it with headphones!
The GOAT game as far as I'm concerned. I've never played a game as steadily since day 1 as I have SOR2. Be it the original Genesis, an emulator, the iOS port, or the Mini Genesis, not a month goes by I don't play SOR2. The Genesis had something that Nintendon't, and that was a lot of really great co-op games. It was singlehandedly responsible for me and my sister getting along and not fighting or yelling at each other, and my mom considered the Genesis a worthwhile investment in her sanity at the time. SOR4 is great, but nothing will ever beat SOR2.
I'd also like to mention that Blaze was something of a pioneer character. I think at that time there were only a tiny handful of games that featured or offered a female character to play as (Metroid, SMB2, and the Golden Axe series are the ones that spring to mind). While her attacks didn't hit like Axel or Max, she was the best of both speed and power. No damsel in distress, she was a true badass and is still my favorite to play as.
Can't recall how many hours my mom and I played this game in the Past. Our record was setting it on the "maniac" difficulty using a special code and starting with only 3 lives. We did beat the game, but still couldn't beat it staying alive together, she kept on dying fighting Mister X. I played as Max and she took Skate. Maaaaan, those were awesome times...
Love this channel. Before I got a NES I was an Arcade kid out in the world on a BMX. Growing up in a working class poverty environment your lifestyle drew you to the Genesis when it came out. I respect the SNES completely, but back then it was a sheetrock walls, two story air conditioned thing. Us kids in the trailer parks and apartment complexs gravitated towards the stereo component system with the *bass.* It was the Heavy Metal/Hip hop *street* machine for us fist fighting kids smoking cigarettes before puberty and finding Penthouse magazines in the strip of woods between neighborhoods. Camouflage, Nunchucks and Butterfly knives; sweat pants for pajamas. I could always go visit a friend from school to check out ChronoTrigger.
@Orwellian Future Is Now yeah i couldn't compare a platformer like mario 3 to a beat'em up game like SOR2. I was basically trying to say that the mario 3 was all fun and cutsie but Streets of Rage was badass and all business. My love for sega, capcom, konami just took off after that.
@Orwellian Future Is Now There's literally difficulty options in SoR2. I played on Very Easy as a kid and go for Hard or Hardest as an adult because of my experience.
I was a big gamer when I was a kid and sor2 was the game I played the most. I still remember how it plays perfectly. And once in awhile I go on UA-cam and listen to the whole soundtrack with a little smile on my face while I remember all the memories. To me it is the game with the best soundtracks, it was ahead of its time and I liked all the tracks, it was constant.
This game hit on all cylinders. Great graphics, gameplay, music, and sound effects. Great memories playing it with family and friends throughout the years. Still my favorite beat em up to this day
Streets of rage 2 was and still is a banger! I find myself playing this game again every few years or so just to experience some childhood memories! Awesome review!
One thing I think many developers don't get is that one of the most important aspects of any beat em up is making it so that every single hit feels like it has impact. That means having the player be able to really feel each punch or kick land, and to do this you need the proper punch/kick sound effect. The sound effects when landing shots is one of the most important aspects of any game for that matter. It's one thing that makes games like Castlevania stand out, as there's a really nice feeling that comes with every single connection you make with the whip in that game. Each hit is accompanied by a satisfying thud sound effect and it's very satisfying. This game has the exact same thing, along with a split second freeze of the game action each time a hit lands. It's one thing this game did perfectly and is something many developers don't think about.
I basically ended up with SOR2 by chance. What a lucky day it was, taking a gamble on a game because the box art looked cool and it sounded like "Street Fighter"!
Street Of Rage 2 is perhaps the most revolutionary game ever. Gameplay 10, soundtrack 10. 50 years from now we will still be playing this game. Street of Rage 2 is like Dr Dre's album "The Chronic", it's like the movie "The Good The Bad and the Ugly". It is an interporal masterpiece. Thank you for these memories and for this review Sega Lord X!
Streets of Rage 2 on the Game Gear was my introduction to the series and will always hold a special place in my heart. This series is dope and I'm super excited we finally got a new entry after so long.
This is one of my favorite games of all time and certainly the best brawler of the 16 bit era. I've still never beaten it on the highest difficulty setting (Very Hard) and I don't like to use save states, but I continue to replay it a few times every year hoping maybe someday, lol.
That gave me chills. I can't recall many games in the 90s which were more antecipated that SoR2. The first images on magazines while in production still showed some different special moves - like Axel doing a Tiger Uppercut-like which ended up becoming his flaming uppercut. Even though this is the only installment in the series with no alternate endings, it is the most balanced yet and the soundtrack is unbelievable. I hope you give a take about SoR3 in the future as well. Great video!
Sega and Steam did something interesting with this game. They gave it and Revenge of Shinobi, the games just showed up in library one day. Games that were so good they motivated me to buy the Genesis collection.
Honestly I think this stands out as the must play beat em up on the genesis/mega drive, it's just bad ass in every way. Gameplay, music, graphics, everything dude
The music, especially the Never Return Alive boss track, is still straight 🔥 to this day. I remember the boss fight against Shiva being fun and challenging as he was a match for the heroes with his own super moves, and fighting style being very similar to Axel & Blaze. SOR2 is so good that I know of some friends streaming this on their gaming channels, showing how 🔥 it is even today!
I LOVE ❤️ this channel, from the intro which just reminds me of all this 16 bit greatness, to the quality of the content!!! Really wish I could remember what became of my Japanese Megadrive!? Kudos from the UK 🇬🇧
The fact that people are still playing this game today and praising it; just shows you how much of a classic SOR 2 is!
The fact that people continue to use semicolons incorrectly - despite them being one of the easiest forms of punctuation to understand - is immensely frustrating.
@@ContinuePlayMag is it; really; I wonder?
@@andrewtaylor5723 yes. Yes, it is. And you don't get irony points for deliberarely misusing it again twice.
@@ContinuePlayMag ok; sorry.
@Orwellian Future Is Now I didn't. "@Andrew Taylor yes", has the word "yes" as the third word, not the first.
The Genesis is such a beautiful device, crafted from the most beautiful obsidian stone, from the deepest reaches of the earths core ...
Na its 💩
@@MEGAD-nb9uu nah it's ⚡⚡⚡
@@MaidenHell1977 😒 naaaa it 💩
@@FloridaEbikes geneshit💩
@@MEGAD-nb9uu it's both shit and also lightning. When it's good it's great and when its bad...the 32x happens. My forever issue with Sega is that they do not care about American fans
One of the best soundtracks any video game has ever had.
"Go Straight" is basically the iconic representative of the game in terms of soundtrack, and is an iconic example of a classic track from the Genesis.
Stage 5 Sor 1 is pretty cool
Definitely
Is it wrong I kinda prefer the original game's soundtrack to this one? While on a technical level the tracks in 2 are more to talk about, the beats in the original are just that much catchier and get me very pumped.
The fact that the SOR2 soundtrack is an option on SOR4 says it all.
You knew you were getting a Genesis for Christmas when the first gift you opened was a copy of Streets of Rage 2 and you had no Sega Genesis.
My Genesis came with Sonic 2 so that didn't happen. I did experience this getting an Xbox for Christmas 2002 by opening a game first.
It seems like parents/grandparents should have said something like “Open this big one first.”
@@mynameisjon Did you buy a copy of Sonic 3 after that?
@@mynameisjon That's excellent.
Then you opened the NES
Hands down my favorite Genesis game and one of my all-time as well. The crack of the bat/pipe is still one of my most satisfying sound effects in video games.
You know its a good sound effect
When you can hear it perfectly with actually hearing it
**WHOOMCH-THWACK**
Haha I'm not alone!
"I could continue to swing from this man's sack for another 20 minutes or so.." LOL nailed it!
Another reason Yuzo Koshiro’s music was so epic in this series was because it borrowed heavily from electronic music that was so prevalent at the time. If you listen to groups such as Black Box, Inner City, and Technotronic you’d be hard pressed not to find similarities.
All in all, my absolute favorite soundtracks of any game ever.
Agreed.
@matt fahringer are you familiar with those groups? I am. That’s late 80s/early 90’s urban dance music infused with some electronica (basically what would become today’s EDM)...where’s the disagreement?
@Michael Bonavita Yeah don't forget Enigma MCMXCAD and Maxi Priest's ''Close To You'' which sounds alot like Streets Of Rage 1 & 2. Heck even the bonus Enigma MCMXCAD release back in 1991 had a special remix of ''Princibles Of Lust'' which had the Maxi Priest ''Close To You'' beat in it and Yuzo Koshiro borrowed heavy from that song especially when listening to SOR Level 4 music.
@@Oysterblade84 Yes! It’s amazing how close Principles of Lust and the opening theme are. Also, check out Soul 2 Souls first 2 albums. There’s a lot in there too.
“Good Life” by Inner City influenced Go Straight” heavily. Still amazing sounds!
This is one of those games I got simply by looking at the lone screenshot in the Sears Wishbook catalogue. Another "gift" enjoyed on Christmas morning. My dad died laughing everytime the "skater kid" got on the enemies shoulders and started punching. Such a classic.
Certified classic, my favorite in the series. That music....god that music is beautiful. And the SoR series as a whole has some of the most satisfying beat'em up sounds.
I remember summer weekends renting this, and staying up basically all night playing with friends. Being an 80's baby 90's kid was amazing! Nostalgic Times!🙌🏽
lets add this: american kid ;) I am jealous by the way. We weren't so lucky in the 90s.
Same here in southeast Brazil, kids from our street would meet to play either snes or genesis (we call mega drive here). Playing Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Rock n Roll Racing with a child’s imagination was awesome
this game really is special over the years playing it with friends has always been great and the music is on my ipod always
I have a really fun memory with this game. My mom was a manager of an Arcade (Called Lazer Illusions) back in '93, and they had a Genesis console play area with a bunch of small 13" TVs, and one big 30". Me and my friend played this game co-op from start to finish on the 30" TV with a bunch of people watching, cheering us on.
I remember hearing SOR2 stage 1 soundtrack back in 2016 and I couldn't believe it was from a mega drive, I love SOR2 to death and I'm glad the series came back with a bang with SOR4
I went into SOR4 with very low expectations... I was wrong to do so 'cos it's fucking brilliant and I'm hopelessly addicted to it.
Probably has the best soundtrack in the Genesis games library.
It’s a close one between sor2 and s&k3 both awesome!
Shocked when I found a live performance of this music online
sor1 was better
Yes, but Time Trax had an even better soundtrack.
No question
Thank you for the review. I remember when my Mom bought me SOR 2 in early 1993, because I made the honor roll. My friends and family spent hours and hours playing. Up to now me and my son play it together and he loves the game. Never get tired of this game.
Not only did Yuzo Koshiro write his own sound engine to use for engineering music for the Mega Drive, he used the Z80 to add that extra sauce to the tracks to have significant depth and dynamism. They definitely stand on their own as you stated @Sega Lord X. This is in my top 3 favorite “beat em’ ups” of all time. Everything just works and it has aged magnificently.
Nice audio synopsis man. Spot on.
@@swpdisciple thank you. I appreciate it.
Man, hitting bad guys with that lead pipe was extremely satisfying.
The sound and the hit detection is so spot on
Hitting them with Max's back breaker was even more satisfying especially since it's hard to pull off. Watching those long life bars drain after one single execution is a joy though.
@@DeludedOne Exactly the reason why I prefer to play as Max. Slow as hell, but the damage he causes is immense!
This game is responsible for my recurring dream of falling back into level 6
Sup?
Man, I used to be the biggest Nintendo fanboy, but this is the game that won me over back then. There is just something so unabashedly... cool about some of SEGA’s titles. However, you, Sega Lord X, pushed me completely over the line to being a complete SEGA nut. Wouldn’t have gotten a Saturn, which is now one of my favorite consoles, if it weren’t for your glowing recommendation. I have not been as excited for a “new” (to me) game as I am whilst I wait for my Virtua Guns and HotD, Virtua Cop 1, and 2 to arrive from Japan. Thanks for being you, your passion for SEGA is pure as can be and absolutely contagious.
I love how in the stadium level, it says "Bare II" on the scoreboard. A subtle reference to the original Japanese title.
It could also be a mock pr0n title, to the uninitiated, given the seedy nature of a gang controlled city.
omfg SoR 1&2 have such great music.
3 does have some good tracks too
SOR 3 is not as good in my opinion.
My tenth birthday party consisted of A Streets of Rage cartridge rented from the local video store, four large pepperoni pizza's and every kid on my street (and some of their little sisters).
Good times.
"(and some of their little sisters.) Good times."
You might want to rephrase that...
@@leighdappa Sir, I'm not responsible for what goes on in your imagination. Pizza and streets of rage are the only things I mentioned!
@@leighdappa Welp, you just outed yourself.
@Harpoon: Since you haven't changed it, you appear proud of your paedophillic statement.
Just saying what it looks like.
In the meantime, I DO NOT want to imagine what you did to the "little sisters".
"Welp", it appears you still stand by your unnatural statement.
@@leighdappa Nonce.
Greatest Megadrive game ever made.
Still one of the best beat-em-ups of the 16 bit era. The Sega Ages port to the 3DS deserves a shout out too, it's a gorgeous port by the wizards at M2 with added stereoscopic effects.
This soundtrack has been forever etched into my mind.
Absolutely my favorite game on the Genesis. Been playing it since it first came out when I was a kid, and I still play it regularly. The gameplay NEVER gets old, even more than two decades later. I was just playing it earlier today, in fact. I share SLX's sentiments on this game. Top notch review as always.
I was just playing the 3D version of this game on 3DS today.
One of the best game soundtracks ever!
The best soundtrack in the genesis library in my opinion
Thunderforce 4: Am I a joke to you?
Hitoshi Sakimoto was amazing making music on the Mega Drive with Gauntlet IV and Verytex.
The Streets Of Rage series is my absolute favorite on the Sega Genesis. I couldn't get enough of them when I was a teenager.
Its 30 years that I play this game at least 2-3 times year minimum. I remember when I first played the game I was completely blown away. Now a game that keeps calling you back 30+ years to play means its special.
Can never have too many Streets of Rage game reviews!
I’m with you on the soundtrack. EASILY the best soundtrack on genesis. I’d go as far to say ever, but that’s a bold statement
One of the best Beat Em Up games ever.
This game completely outclassed not only the beat'em ups in other consoles of it's time but the ones in arcades, only Capcom and Konami managed to make arcade games able to compete with Street's of Rage 2.
I remember when I first played Streets Of Rage 2 on the Game Gear at Kay-Bee toys when it was first released. It blew my mind just with that port. After I played it on the Genesis, that was a whole 'nother mind-blowing amazement!
One of my favorite gaming soundtracks ever .
Soundtrack is worth a listen. Go straight, never return alive, under logic, slow moon and of course dreamer, just off the top of my head. The game is pretty good too.
The improvements to streets of rage 2 is comparable to that of sonic 1 to sonic 2 to the point that it’s difficult to go back to the original streets of rage, due to how much streets of rage 2 improved over the first game it’s that damn good and my favourite Mega Drive with its soundtrack, being one of the best ever in the system, and not just on the system, it’s one of the best soundtracks ever created.
Me and my big sister would be playing this game for days, man good times rip
I remember when this came out. I got it day one, And was amazed. I thought it looked like it was straight out of the arcade. And that was a big deal back then.
I remember the wide eyed amazement when seeing pictures of streets of rage 2 for the first time in electronic gaming monthly. I must have have gone through that magazine hundreds of times, looking at the amazing photos over and over again, waiting in agony for the game to release. When it did, me and my friend would stay up all night playing it. Honestly one of my favorite games of all time, and my favorite Genesis game overall. Like x said, I was frustrated not seeing a sequel while owning both the Saturn, and the Dreamcast. Still we did get the awesome sor4 recently, and was so damn happy to hear yuzo working his magic again. Few games though can match the excellence of 2, even decades later in terms of gameplay, music, and graphics. Though many have tried, you just can't beat a classic
Normally a game review goes to 10. But this one goes to 11.
11.5 if you count the music.
Nah fam. This one goes all the way to Mania.
It's one louder.
@@neilomac ah right spinal tap. Spaced out on that one.
Thank you Nigel Tufnel!
Nice timing, been playing this and 4 a lot recently.
I think this is one of the best 16-bit games ever. I play it all the time and never get sick of it. It's just pure fun! Sexy graphics, deep gameplay for a beat em up, meaty sound effects, it's all there.
But its crowning achievement is easily the music. This and Sonic 3 are the two games in my opinion that don't even sound like they come from the Genesis. Amazing understanding of the hardware and a crafty use of samples. One of the highest quality soundtracks of the era, and it comes from the plucky Genesis. Still impresses me to this day.
I remember just assuming the 3rd one was the best when I was younger. I asked for it at a flea market stand and the guy said "all we have is the second one" and I thought eh what the hell. Later on I realized I really lucked out. Love this game
This is one of my all time favorite beat'em ups on the Genesis and up there with the best. Everything from the first Streets of Rage was hugely improved from the graphics to the characters and the god-tier soundtrack from the great Yuzo Koshiro.
I still play this game till this day! It's one of those games you just keep coming back too! It's part of my childhood and is always a blast to play!
Just downloaded the rom to play on my Tectoy New Mega Drive... Didn't even know of this video upload today. Thanks God for the Brazilian Tectoy. Got my new Mega Drive 3 weeks ago
SOR music on a high end stereo system! It had killer bass!
Nice to see someone cover this obscure game. You never hear anyone talking about it in retro gaming circles.
I was a Sega kid, but I'll be honest, I never liked SOR protagonists. It was a disappointing tendencies of the 90's in general, when you are playing beat'em-up controlling some "totally rad dude" or "strong-and-independent", looking at the enemies, thinking "THAT who I want to play!"
A year or so ago, however, I played a rom, called "SoR2 Boss hack", where characters were replaced with 4... well... bosses.
Played with Abadede for hours, for days!
Beat it on the Hardest with no safe states.
I wasn't a fan of SOR 2, but with a mod I could finally appreciate what was in that game, what hooked so many.
So, I'd like to take a time to say sincere *Thank* *you* to a guy who made that roster change.
I played some crappy hacks, that tried to do the same, so I can really appreciate the work you put in that, making it like if it was intended that way.
And this is the beautey of modding. Allowing the gaming experience to change so it can be appreciated in new ways.
or to torture everyone who ever sees the cursed abominations that come from the depths of the sonic romhacking scene....
I love the Genesis, this channel is dope, a great inspiration keep it coming bro!!!
The graphics and game play blew my mind when I first played Streets of Rage 2 in the early Nineties. It still holds up just fine today.
The fact fans had to wait over 20 years for a proper sequel to Streets of Rage is criminal. One of the many great series Sega has almost neglected next to the many great series they have neglected. Keep showing them you and your subscribers love their games. Maybe they’ll finally have that proverbial light bulb go off one day making them realize. Wow these guys really want to play these old titles again 😂 🎮.
Fun fact: Yuzo Koshiro also wrote the original tracks for Ys I and Ys II. He also has credits for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Shenmue. It's amazing how much prolific work this made is responsible for. Also pretty neat that his sister is the lead game designer too!
Small caveat, Streets of Rage 2 had another composer, Motohiro Kawashima, who worked on a few tracks entirely himself. It's worth noting too that Koshiro developed an MS-DOS program to make full use of the Yamaha FM synth chip. Incredible work that largely goes unrecognized.
I love how this game is set in a modern City,but still squeezed in both a Piraten ship Stage and an alien space ship Stage in a way that made narrative sense.
0:55 - Sadly the Mr-Crosswalk-For-A-Head enemy was cut from the final game.
I was literally playing this yesterday and I thought to myself “ It would be awesome if Sega Lord X did a review of this”. Awesome video like always. I don’t care what anybody says I love every entry in this franchise.
I think the 16-megabit cartridge size was also partially in response to Street Fighter II on SNES (which was hyped for being the first 16-megabit home game). The Genesis didn't get SF2 until 1993 so Streets of Rage 2 having a similar size game was something for Sega to market during the 1992 holiday shopping season.
I knew you'd hit pretty damn hard with something after your Nintendo episode yesterday! Man Streets of Rage was, and always will kick ass... Sega Lord X strikes again!!!😎
Streets of Rage 2 is one of those games I absolutely love even though I'm terrible at it. It's also my go-to example whenever anyone says the SNES had better music than the Genesis.
I don’t let myself play sor2 until I beat sor1. might never happen :(
@@nattila7713 Try easy mode then.
@@brorianszk I only tried that so far... the twins before I enter to the main boss kill me all the time :( once I got in with my son, with our last life..... and lost of course :) never ever get in since.... :)
Streets of Rage 2 is the best in the series! That game never gets old! Such a retro classic beat'em up!
2>4>1>>>>>3 for me
This game holds a special place in my heart, used to play it all the time as a kid and will always be a game that I don’t play as often but still hold it fondly as the all time greatest of its era. 🤩👊
This brings back memories. I was 13
best game on the genesis. rented it for my 8th birthday. still play it 27 years later
Awesome video! Iconic game. The Streets of Rage 3 soundrack is really underrated tho.
It grows on you
The ONE nitpick I have with streets of rage 2 is the omission of the team attacks that were in part 1 and brought back in 3...now one could argue that barely anyone used them but having the option is always a plus but once again great video Sega lord please do more reviews
This was the great consolation prize of not having access to Street Fighter 2 that SNES got in 1992. I got SOR2 on day 1 for $70, and it was well worth it! I feel that this game actually surpasses the arcade Final Fight game from 1989. To this day, nothing has surpassed it in the genre. The techno goodness was insane, and nothing on SNES could compare, especially if you had a model 1 and listened to it with headphones!
"Dreamer". That track...so friggin' awesome.
The GOAT game as far as I'm concerned. I've never played a game as steadily since day 1 as I have SOR2. Be it the original Genesis, an emulator, the iOS port, or the Mini Genesis, not a month goes by I don't play SOR2. The Genesis had something that Nintendon't, and that was a lot of really great co-op games. It was singlehandedly responsible for me and my sister getting along and not fighting or yelling at each other, and my mom considered the Genesis a worthwhile investment in her sanity at the time. SOR4 is great, but nothing will ever beat SOR2.
I'd also like to mention that Blaze was something of a pioneer character. I think at that time there were only a tiny handful of games that featured or offered a female character to play as (Metroid, SMB2, and the Golden Axe series are the ones that spring to mind). While her attacks didn't hit like Axel or Max, she was the best of both speed and power. No damsel in distress, she was a true badass and is still my favorite to play as.
Great video! I’ve been playing the hell out of Streets of Rage 2 this past week on my PS3 (Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection).
Can't recall how many hours my mom and I played this game in the Past. Our record was setting it on the "maniac" difficulty using a special code and starting with only 3 lives. We did beat the game, but still couldn't beat it staying alive together, she kept on dying fighting Mister X. I played as Max and she took Skate. Maaaaan, those were awesome times...
I love playing this and golden axe 2 with my my boys.
Played this almost daily for years as a kid. Remixed many of the tracks for fun years ago. Sega needs to be making more oldschool games like this.
Love this channel. Before I got a NES I was an Arcade kid out in the world on a BMX. Growing up in a working class poverty environment your lifestyle drew you to the Genesis when it came out. I respect the SNES completely, but back then it was a sheetrock walls, two story air conditioned thing. Us kids in the trailer parks and apartment complexs gravitated towards the stereo component system with the *bass.* It was the Heavy Metal/Hip hop *street* machine for us fist fighting kids smoking cigarettes before puberty and finding Penthouse magazines in the strip of woods between neighborhoods. Camouflage, Nunchucks and Butterfly knives; sweat pants for pajamas. I could always go visit a friend from school to check out ChronoTrigger.
That year I got Streets of Rage 2 and Sonic 2. Best Christmas gifts ever
Streets of Rage 2 was the game that made me ditch Nintendo. Going from Mario 3 to Streets of rage 2 was like going from age 8 to 18 overnight.
Lmao 😂. Same, but Sonic for me
@Orwellian Future Is Now They're two entirely different games though. It's very much an apples to oranges comparison.
@Orwellian Future Is Now yeah i couldn't compare a platformer like mario 3 to a beat'em up game like SOR2. I was basically trying to say that the mario 3 was all fun and cutsie but Streets of Rage was badass and all business. My love for sega, capcom, konami just took off after that.
You don't need to "ditch" anything. There should be room in your heart for both companies.
@Orwellian Future Is Now There's literally difficulty options in SoR2. I played on Very Easy as a kid and go for Hard or Hardest as an adult because of my experience.
I was a big gamer when I was a kid and sor2 was the game I played the most. I still remember how it plays perfectly. And once in awhile I go on UA-cam and listen to the whole soundtrack with a little smile on my face while I remember all the memories. To me it is the game with the best soundtracks, it was ahead of its time and I liked all the tracks, it was constant.
This game hit on all cylinders. Great graphics, gameplay, music, and sound effects. Great memories playing it with family and friends throughout the years. Still my favorite beat em up to this day
Streets of rage 2 was and still is a banger! I find myself playing this game again every few years or so just to experience some childhood memories! Awesome review!
I will never forget the moment i replayed this game as an adult and realized the controls are silk and the programming is on another level
One thing I think many developers don't get is that one of the most important aspects of any beat em up is making it so that every single hit feels like it has impact. That means having the player be able to really feel each punch or kick land, and to do this you need the proper punch/kick sound effect. The sound effects when landing shots is one of the most important aspects of any game for that matter.
It's one thing that makes games like Castlevania stand out, as there's a really nice feeling that comes with every single connection you make with the whip in that game. Each hit is accompanied by a satisfying thud sound effect and it's very satisfying. This game has the exact same thing, along with a split second freeze of the game action each time a hit lands. It's one thing this game did perfectly and is something many developers don't think about.
I basically ended up with SOR2 by chance. What a lucky day it was, taking a gamble on a game because the box art looked cool and it sounded like "Street Fighter"!
Street Of Rage 2 is perhaps the most revolutionary game ever. Gameplay 10, soundtrack 10.
50 years from now we will still be playing this game.
Street of Rage 2 is like Dr Dre's album "The Chronic", it's like the movie "The Good The Bad and the Ugly".
It is an interporal masterpiece. Thank you for these memories and for this review Sega Lord X!
Streets of Rage 2 on the Game Gear was my introduction to the series and will always hold a special place in my heart. This series is dope and I'm super excited we finally got a new entry after so long.
This is one of my favorite games of all time and certainly the best brawler of the 16 bit era. I've still never beaten it on the highest difficulty setting (Very Hard) and I don't like to use save states, but I continue to replay it a few times every year hoping maybe someday, lol.
How in the world did i miss this game growing up, I played 1 and 3 but had no idea 2 looked so good
So many memories with this masterpiece :)
Some of the best music on the console too, right up there with The Adventures of Batman & Robin.
Both my favorite beat em up and Genesis game of all time! Thank you so much for covering this masterpiece.
It's not often I care about the music in a video game, but SOR2 is definitely the exception. It's so incredible!
That gave me chills. I can't recall many games in the 90s which were more antecipated that SoR2. The first images on magazines while in production still showed some different special moves - like Axel doing a Tiger Uppercut-like which ended up becoming his flaming uppercut. Even though this is the only installment in the series with no alternate endings, it is the most balanced yet and the soundtrack is unbelievable. I hope you give a take about SoR3 in the future as well. Great video!
Sega and Steam did something interesting with this game. They gave it and Revenge of Shinobi, the games just showed up in library one day. Games that were so good they motivated me to buy the Genesis collection.
This game was mind blowing back in the day and still holds up.
Honestly I think this stands out as the must play beat em up on the genesis/mega drive, it's just bad ass in every way. Gameplay, music, graphics, everything dude
Great review. I've seen a lot of SoR2 reviews and I still thoroughly enjoyed this one. Thanks.
The music, especially the Never Return Alive boss track, is still straight 🔥 to this day. I remember the boss fight against Shiva being fun and challenging as he was a match for the heroes with his own super moves, and fighting style being very similar to Axel & Blaze.
SOR2 is so good that I know of some friends streaming this on their gaming channels, showing how 🔥 it is even today!
So much yes to this!
But most importantly, what percentage of this video was spent listening to "Seeegaaaaaaa"?
@@JamesBondSPY007 !!! Don't tempt me...
Total length of video: 804 secs.
Total length of "SEGA": 3 secs.
.37% of the video was spent listening to "SEGA".
Comfortably in my top 3 Megadrive games alongside Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Phantasy Star IV.
SegaLord with a review of the holy grail of Genesis games. I’m here for it !
I LOVE ❤️ this channel, from the intro which just reminds me of all this 16 bit greatness, to the quality of the content!!! Really wish I could remember what became of my Japanese Megadrive!? Kudos from the UK 🇬🇧
Excellent video. SOR2 was perfection on the Genesis. I used to play the hardest difficulty with my cousin all the time.