One of the greatest beat 'em ups ever!
You play as either Axel, Adam or Blaze and go through the different stages beating up Various criminals. At the end of each stage you face a Boss. The Bosses can be really tough but some can be defeated quite quickly.
Having a special Attack makes it easier though. In a special attack A police Car will show up, a cop will come out and fir a rocket launcher. The impact wipes out all the enemies on screen or will knock a lot of energy off of a Boss.
The actual fighting is great. You have basic punches and kicks and then depending on how close you are to an enemy you can headbut them and knee them in the face. You aslo have jumping attacks and the ability to graple with enemies.
The controls are easy to learn and are very responsive. As far as I know you can only use the standard mega drive controller but I might be wrong. The controller is great with the game though.
Playing Streets of Rage on your own is good but like many other beat 'em ups (Golden Axe) it's better to play it with someone else.
First off it makes it a bit easier but the whole game just seems a lot better. The graphics in Streets of Rage are very good. Back when it was released the visuals were pretty much unmatched. Even today they still impress me to a certain Extent. There is a lot of detail to every aspect of the game. The Main Characters, the regular enemies, Bosses, Back grounds, weapons, everything looks great. The game also moves at a great pace but slows down at a few points if there is a lot going on. All the characters are animated very good too. Moves seem to flow prefectly with out any choppiness.
Another great part of the game is the sound. The effects are great with all the punches, kick and throws sounding spot on. There are also screams and shouts from the enemies.
The music in this game is awesome. It ranges from Dance/Techno to ambient and all works perfectly.
Streets of Rage is a great game with an awesome fighting system, good graphics and a sweet soundtrack. If for some reason you haven't played it you should pick this game up. You can get it on it's own or in a compliation with other games like Golden Axe and Sonic. but make sure you have 2 controllers as this game is definately made for 2 players.