Who remembers the Streets of Rage trilogy of video games Sega had published for their Genesis and Game Gear systems from 1991-94? In Japan, this series was called Bare Knuckle.

The series told the story of a troubled city taken over by one Mr. X (this was also the name of the last boss in Nintendo's Kung Fu game) and his syndicate. To solve this, three ex-police officers by the names of Adam Hunter (born 1968), Axel Stone (born 1969) and Blaze Fielding (born 1970, her first name not only represented her fiery strength worthy of it, as well as her original red wardrobe, but in this case it was also a re-spelling of the French name Blaise) go about and foil the plans of Mr. X, willing to risk anything - even their own lives - on the... Streets of Rage.

The first game was released on January 16, 1991 for the Sega Genesis in the USA (Mega Drive in all markets outside of the USA) as well as the Master System in Europe. Its soundtrack was composed by Yuzo Koshiro, who was inspired to do so after listening to Hi-NRG-genrefied music that was to become popular in Europe in the mid to late 1990s. During the game, this first installment in the series was known for the fifth round boss being two Blaze lookalikes (their wardrobe is green in contrast to Blaze's red). They also turned up as the last mini boss before Mr. X in the final round (their wardrobe this time is black).

The second game, Streets of Rage II (Bare Knuckle II in Japan) was released in early 1993 and the available platforms were the same here and abroad. This time, Adam Hunter is dropped from the main cast and replaced by his younger brother "Skate" Hunter (his given name is Eddie in the NTSC/PAL markets and Sammy in Japan; his nickname comes from the fact he wore rollerblades), and added to the new cast is Max Thunder, an old friend of Axel's.

The story of SOR2/BK2 is explained thus: On the one-year anniversary of the trio of Adam, Axel and Blaze conquering the city over Mr. X and his syndicate, they meet at a bar for drinks. The next morning, Axel got a strange phone call from Adam's younger brother, Skate, whom he was living with on the edge of the city (although Axel and Blaze were both out of the city entirely at the time). Blaze and Axel then found Adam and Skate's house wrecked and a picture of Adam chained to a wall at the feet of Mr. X. The city was soon once again controlled by Mr. X and his syndicate. Axel and Blaze, unable to contact the police (which was the source of the first game's special attack), enlist Skate and Max Thunder (an old friend of Axel's) to free the city and rescue Adam from the Syndicate's private island.

SOR2/BK2's gameplay was overall better than the original. Instead of calling on the police as a means of special attack, now your characters each have their own special attacks in them (which took away some of your player's health). Besides having a health meter of your own, so too do all of the enemies that you face (in the first game, only the main bosses had a health meter as well). The soundtrack was also updated.

The special attacks for the four characters in SOR2 are: Axel: Dragon Wing (A), Dragon Smash (Left+A or Right+A); Blaze: Embukyaku (backflip; A), Kikousho (fireball; Toward+A); Skate: Double Spin Kick (A), Corkscrew Kick (Toward+A); and Max: Knuckle Bomb (A) and Thunder Tackle (Toward+A).

The third and final installment, Streets of Rage 3 (Bare Knuckle 3 in Japan) was released in late 1994. Max Thunder gave way to Dr. Zan, a cyborg, who was important for story reasons. The plot differed between BK3 and SOR3. SOR3's plot was insignificantly cut, leaving a few gaps in it. Among these in the plot change was the invention of a scheme to switch from city officials to robots, the general was replaced by the chief of police, and so on. Once again, the soundtrack was updated.

For the NTSC/PAL versions of SOR3, Sega of America (NTSC)/Sega of Europe (PAL) altered it amid GLAAD-sensitive concerns. First off, the playable miniboss, Ash, from BK3, was removed for the NTSC/PAL versions because he was clearly a homosexual. Also, the female enemy characters were less scantily-clad, and the wardrobe color schemes were changed. Axel now resembled Adam in wardrobe only, and Blaze's wardrobe was changed from red to white (more like silver), and Skate now donned red and blue rather than red and yellow. Sega had stated these changes were to create "gender-neutral colors."

The special attacks for Axel, Blaze and Skate remain from SOR2, although Axel's special moves have been toned down slightly, and Blaze's double-slash attack is not as effective with a knife in her hand. Skate's Corkscrew Kick was replaced with the Rolling Punch Attack. Special attacks for newcomer Dr. Zan are: Electric Body (A) and Electric Reach (D-Pad+A). As any character, each time you activate the Special Attack (the A button) your character's strength meter is downed (even thou

Wow, that's some detailed information you got there. I played Streets of Rage 2 all the time, and I loved it. Still do, actually. I might have to hook that baby up and have a go of it again. I only played 1 and 3 a little bit, but I enjoy them both as well. I gotta say though, that the graphics made a huge leap with the third installment.

I have played it too. it's a classic... I loved all the characters... hmmm...as I remember I used to play for Zan and this skater kid...:cool:

Ahh man I love Streets of Rage/Bare Kunckle great games I allways loved Playing As Adam and Axle in the first one then Blaze and Max in the second one then Blaze and Axle in the third one I just love Streets of Rage so much.

Ash, the homosexual miniboss, is only unlockable in the US/European versions via the Game Genie.

I loved those games. I really wished they would have left adam in though. I always felt skate was kind of a lame character. The music in the 3 games was not as good as the first two.

The first SOR still to this day in my opinion has the best soundtrack ever.I used to just play the songs from the option menu while I built model cars in my room.

i loved playing as blaze, i don't know if she did or not, but i remember she had a slightly longer reach than the other two. is SOR1. i only played SOR 2 a lil bit, liked axel then, but found it no where near as good as SOR1 for some reason

[FONT=Impact]man i used to love this game skate was my favorite but i played with everybody else too[/FONT]

Axel had the best name, so that's who won for me!

Axel's the man.....

Axel.

I beat SOR 1 and 2 with Axel.

I never played SOR 3 though.

They need to make Street of Rage 4

Adam Hunter the best ever his kick was awesome like HIYAAAAAAAA!!!!