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Streets of Rage 2 sucker-punches XBLA

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Aug 29, 2007 12:10 pm PT

Sega Genesis beat-'em-up arrives on Microsoft's downloadable game service without warning, but with online multiplayer.

Streets of Rage 2 with graphics smoothing turned on.

Earlier this month, Sega's Genesis-era beat-'em-up Streets of Rage 2 surfaced on a list of Xbox Live Arcade titles set to be released "in the coming weeks." When Microsoft's weekly missive for Xbox Live Arcade games arrived on Monday and only mentioned Capcom's Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, it was thought that would be the only new release for the downloadable game service.

That assumption proved wrong, as Streets of Rage 2 also arrived on Xbox Live Arcade today. However, this isn't a straight port of the Genesis classic. The game includes online cooperative and versus multiplayer modes, a graphics-smoothing option that can be turned on and off from the game's pause menu, leaderboards, and achievements.

Streets of Rage 2 follows up on the first game with a story revolving around the same three protagonists. When Adam is kidnapped by the nefariously anonymous Mr. X, it's up to Axel and Blaze to save him. Helping the pair out are two new characters, Adam's younger brother Skate and the muscle-bound Max. As in the first game, players pummel their way through waves of street gangs, making use of a variety of weapons and techniques along the way.

Streets of Rage 2 sells for 400 Microsoft points ($5), $3 less than the 800 Wii points ($8) asked for the offline-only version of the game on Nintendo's Virtual Console.

131 Comments

  • NoseWeed619

    Posted Oct 7, 2008 5:58 pm PT

    Yay for Streets of Rage 2! I love this game. It's just a classic awesome game.

  • tbodine

    Posted Oct 31, 2007 4:29 am PT

    This was by far my favorite game for the Sega Genesis, I'm definitely buying this

  • mariokart64fan

    Posted Oct 30, 2007 12:11 am PT

    to all that complain about pricing on all 3 shall just play these games on old systems for god sake,,, like i said thousand times before 10 dollars even is a good price for all n64 games except gay sport titles. but ya 10 for goldeneye= good deal especally if a its a hard to find game b cost more in real stores ,,, same for super mario 64 my pawn wants 30 $ for it ,, so if i got the dl which i did i also have the cart so i would save 20 $ plus the fact that it will never break ... thats a good price for a game that wont fail ever .. i can not count the times where i had to go get a new goldeneye007 or mariokart 64 but those games costed 20-30 $ at the time the lowest ive seen goldeneye was 12 before the pawn shop raised it to 20

  • Iceferno

    Posted Sep 24, 2007 2:22 pm PT

    As soon as I saw this, I posted it on the HooplaNet Forums. Everone was happy

  • mista_ed

    Posted Sep 5, 2007 10:31 am PT

    My cousin and I used to play this when we were kids. I would get really mad and beat him up in real life when he would take my food and beat me in the vs. battle.

  • xployt268

    Posted Sep 5, 2007 4:16 am PT

    what best way spend 5 bucks

  • GrimBee

    Posted Sep 2, 2007 1:30 pm PT

    soulessblade - you got it in one. SoR3 was one of those "untouchable" games.

    I never got it when it was out because I was only like 14 - 15 then, and £60 - £70 for ONE GAME was a heck of alot. And what with the Sega Saturn around the corner, and arcades giving out 3d fighters (from Sega!).
    It was a game I wanted to play, but never did get around to playing it.

    One day, I found it in Gamestation for £13!!!! £13!!! (it was on eBay for nearly £100 then!).
    I played it - the music is a real change, and axel wears black jeans and yellow shirt (why?).

    The punch sounds aren't as clear and "punchy" as this game, and things just do feel unfinished. Enemies do strange things, throws can go weird. But once you get through the music, you really do like it. Its just not "singable" melodies thats all.

    Now - Thunderforce IV. If there ever was a game that needed the XBL shine, it is this one. With a load of stages (10) and a heck of a challenge and some of the best music in a game (even to this day), this game bleeds style and a unique atmosphere, and every bullet is been carefully plotted and drawn.

    SoR2 - with its music, battle mode (even though its sparse and the combat can be unfair, its still a good addition) and excellent characters and stages - it beats the heck out of everything. It may not be long, but crank up that difficulty (its more fun this way) and you got a game that rivals castlevania for longetivity.

    I first played this game when I was 9 years old, and to this day it is just absolute quality. People who haven't played it just need to dedicate some time to it and enjoy it all.

    It would be good for Microsoft to have sor 1 and 3 together in one pack, the first one had AWESOME music aswell, very catchy and offered a good challenge. But by todays standards, the third one would probably make up for its graphical blandness.

    Well done Microsoft - XBL got one of the finest games, ever.
    Now its time to get ThunderForce IV on there, too.

  • soulessblade

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 11:26 pm PT

    LoL with MarcusFenix715. I used to play SoR2 with my Dad! He always used to pick Skate. He always used to giggle at Blaze's "Verticle Slash" technique. I still have the Mega Drive cartridge! Good times, good times.

    Awesome 360 version, just downloaded it and fell in love all over again. I personally hope they don't release SoR3. To me it just felt wrong, and kinda unfinished. Plus Zan was just weird. Some love it, just not me. I'd rather see ThunderForce 4 than SoR3. Not related I know, but a damn fine game.

  • Jebril

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 6:17 am PT

    For real the people that are saying not to mess with the classics and not change them have no idea what they are talking about if you want the REAL classic don't play it on your VC, go play it on Sega Genesis and see how it feels.

  • Jebril

    Posted Sep 1, 2007 6:11 am PT

    That's so friggin hilarous Conanfan1, because look at this the XBLA version is $5 and includes better graphics, cooperative multiplayer, online play, leaderboards, achievments, wow and people say that Microsoft is money hungry, trust Microsoft has a ton of money their friggin stuffed.

  • Conanfan1

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 10:17 pm PT

    Damn it. I bought this for $8 on the Wii, and now I'm going to have to pay another $5 for the XBLA version.

  • wwonka666

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 5:50 pm PT

    Nintendo are greedy they need to lower the price of VC games. NES should be $4, TG16 $5, SNES and Genesis $6 and N64 $8. That would be much better pricing IMO.

  • rikhan_z

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 3:56 pm PT

    you can play online ... oh yea...

  • UnknownPerson55

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 1:03 pm PT

    wii
    360
    hopefully ps3 soon

    i played this game so much on genesis.
    im hoping ill soon be able to do it again.

  • Nawras

    Posted Aug 31, 2007 12:27 am PT

    I played the game to death on Genesis

  • mitu123

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 5:21 pm PT

    I have this game on Genesis back in the day, and I also have it on VC, but with online multiplayer and smoothing graphics, I really should get this game on Live. Will Streets of Rage 3 be on Live, or VC for that matter?

    This is one of the best beat em ups ever created IMO.

  • iebubu

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 3:22 pm PT

    all i cans say is TRUE CLASSIC. all these XBLA games are bringing back serious memories. a time when games were simple and fun

  • LOWJ000

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 3:01 pm PT

    That game was awesome when I played it last. Did it come out like ten years ago? I think it's good that they're offering these classics on VC and XBLA.

  • DrKill09

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 12:03 pm PT

    "Graphics smoothing" aka "hq4x" rules!

  • GoddBless

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 11:43 am PT

    The Wii VC has been owned!

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