Streets of Rage

SEGA News Bits: Streets of Rage Turns 25 Years Old

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On this SEGA News Bits, George and Barry split a trash can chicken and look back on SEGA’s iconic beat ’em up franchise Streets of Rage. Known as Bare Knuckle in its country of origin, Japan, Streets of Rage was SEGA’s answer to Final Fight. Now, 25 years later, many would argue Streets of Rage completely overshadowed the very franchise it set out to compete against. Enjoy the video, and after watching why not play some Streets of Rage? In the comments below, tell us your favorite franchise memories.

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SEGA Retrospective: Streets of Rage – 25 Years of Beat ‘Em Up Greatness

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Streets of Rage 25 yearsHow did SEGA’s Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle become the big franchise that it came to be? Many people in the West know Streets of Rage as a defining video game franchise for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive – and they aren’t wrong – it was one of the greatest trilogies to grace the console. Today we will take a look at the early concepts, changes and history of the first title that came out 25 years ago. That is correct, the first Streets of Rage launched just months after Sonic the Hedgehog back in 1991, which was a huge year for SEGA’s 16-bit machine.

So let’s hit the streets and rage on.

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SEGA 3D Classics, Atlus sale on 3DS eShop

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SEGA and Atlus have given 3DS owners another reason to check out their games on the eShop, where the companies have put ten of their games on sale.

The following SEGA 3D Classics titles are being sold for half-off at $3 a piece until July 2:

  • Streets of Rage
  • Space Harrier
  • Sonic the Hedgehog
  • Shinobi III
  • Galaxy Force II
  • Ecco the Dolphin
  • Altered Beast
  • Super Hang-On

If you haven’t ever played these games before, now is a good a time as any to try them!

Atlus, meanwhile, is selling both Shin Megami Tensei IV and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked for a third off, at $20 each, until June 29.

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Streets of Rage and Shenmue soundtracks are getting a vinyl release [update]

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I got to say I love records, I have quite the collection and I’m so excited that SEGA has teamed up with a new record label called ‘Data Discs’ to release both the Streets of Rage and Shenmue soundtracks.

Data Discs is calling itself the first record label dedicated to releasing video game soundtracks and its fitting that its first two releases would be two of the most iconic soundtracks of their time. The Streets of Rage soundtrack will be fully remastered with the help of Yuzo Koshiro . Both releases will be pressed on 180 gram vinyl and include a lithographic print with each title.

If you want to pre-order yourself a copy (like I do), you’ll have to wait until May 30th when Data Discs opens its website. The records won’t ship until September and there will be extras for early pre-orders.

[update]

Found out that each release will come in three different colored vinyls, one of the colors will be exclusive to Data Disc website!

Streets of Rage: 

  • 180g translucent red vinyl with black splatter (exclusive to the Data Discs website)
  • 180g translucent red vinyl
  • 180g black virgin vinyl

The Streets of Rage soundtrack will come with traditional OBI strip and 2x lithographs featuring artwork from both the western and Japanese release. Early bird orders will come with five playing cards featuring original character art, and packed with hand-stamped envelope.

Shenmue: 

  • 180g translucent blue vinyl with ‘colour in colour’ effect (exclusive to the Data Discs website)
  • 180g translucent blue vinyl
  • 180g black virgin vinyl

The Shenmue soundtrack will feature one lithograph, spot varnished cover and a OBI strip. You can hear samples of the Shenmue remaster on Data Disc’s soundcloud. I’ve been told they will be priced at £20 (roughly $30 USD), but can’t 100% confirm that.

[Via: Polygon]

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Here are the 17 mobile games SEGA have pulled for a lack of quality

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We talked about it before that SEGA planned to drop older titles that they either weren’t going to update or didn’t fit their quality of standards.
The following titles are no longer available on Google Play or iTunes:

  • After Burner Climax
  • Jet Set Radio
  • Super Monkey Ball 1 & 2 
  • Super Monkey Ball Tip’n’Tilt 1&2 (older phones)
  • Altered Beast
  • Ecco the Dolphin 
  • Golden Axe 1, 2 & 3 
  • Phantasy Star 2 
  • Streets of Rage 1& 3
  • Space Harrier 2
  • Virtua Fighter 2 
  • Zaxxon Escape

After Burner Climax has also been taken down from XBLA and PSN, so it makes sense that the mobile version would also be dropped. As for those Genesis/Mega Drive games, SEGA has been trying to have higher quality versions of them starting with Sonic CD, Sonic 1 & 2. SEGA did say; “Given the right situation, these titles may return in an updated form,” so you never know if we will see some of these return.

If you paid for any of the games, you can still download them at anytime on iTunes or the Play Store.

[Via: Eurogamer]

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Cook & Becker releases official licensed art prints for Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Streets of Rage, and more

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If you have ever wanted to put some cute retro SEGA art on your wall and show people that you too are a retro gaming art snob, you can now pick up prints over at Cook & Becker. These prints are officially licensed by SEGA and being sold by the Dutch art dealer for $99 dollars unframed.

Check out the pieces here:

More should be coming out this summer, if you wallet wasn’t empty already. My favorite prints are Phantasy Star, Golden Axe and Shinobi (yes, in that order). Which are your favorites?

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Axel Stone from Streets of Rage, Sakura Shinguji of Sakura Wars and more confirmed for Project X Zone 2

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Courtesy of the new issue of Famitsu (and the scans above, provided by @TACK0520 on Twitter), we now know three more characters showing up on the SEGA side of things in the upcoming Project X Zone 2: Brave New World.

Axel Stone of Streets of Rage fame has been confirmed to show up in the game, as have Sakura Shinguji and Gemini Sunrise from the Sakura Taisen series. Whilst both Sakura Taisen characters return from the first game, this is Axel’s first appearance in a seriously long time, and it’s great to see him added to the roster. In addition to these SEGA additions, Capcom’s Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey of their Ace Attorney series are also confirmed to be appearing, as well as characters from God Eater 2 and Summon Night 3. From the looks of things, Axel will be an assist unit, whereas the Taisen characters return in their role from Project X Zone. 

Overall, it’s awesome to see more SEGA love from this game; Axel was definitely near the top of my wanted list, and I’m ecstatic to see him return.

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First Look at 3D Streets of Rage 2 Gameplay

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Recently SEGA and M2 announced that they would be continuing their incredible range of 3D remakes for the Nintendo 3DS. In the next wave of titles comes three of the most beloved SEGA Megadrive/Genesis titles; 3D Streets of Rage 2, 3D Sonic 2 and 3D Gunstar Heroes.

Today SEGA uploaded the first look at 2D Streets of Rage 2 or as it was known in Japan ‘Bare Knuckle 2.’ Check it out above!

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Duncan Gutteridge is attending Weston Super Sonic 2015

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Upcoming UK Sonic convention Weston Super Sonic has announced another guest, this time in the form of Duncan Gutteridge! 

Duncan’s work for Sonic goes as far back as 1993, as he illustrated every single piece of artwork in the official Sonic the Hedgehog calendar for that year; this artwork was later used in various pieces of Sonic merchandise throughout the 90s, and it’s now rather iconic! If that wasn’t awesome enough, he’s also the man behind the cover art for the SEGA Mega Drive hit, Streets of Rage II! 

This guest announcement is the latest in along line of amazing reveals: Weston Super Sonic previously announced that fellow Sonic the Comic legends Richard Elson, Nigel Kitching, Carl Flint and Ferran Rodriguez will also be in attendance, and that Mike Pollock, the voice of the nefarious Dr Eggman, will be conducting a live Skype Q&A at the event. There’s also activities like speedrun tournaments and art contests taking place during the day!

The event has already been successful, as all of tickets have sold out! However, don’t fear if you can’t make it, as SEGABits will be there, and provide impressions of the day!

Plenty of details are available on the official Weston Super Sonic website, for those who do plan to go!

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Check out SEGA of Japan’s trailer for the physical SEGA 3D Classics Nintendo 3DS release

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Not too long ago, we speculated that a physical release of SEGA’s 3DS 3D Classics was in the works, and shortly thereafter such a release was revealed to be happening! Releasing December 18th, and featuring cover art by Ken Sugimori, the compilation is to include a mix of wave 1 and wave 2 titles: 3D Space Harrier, 3D Fantasy Zone, 3D Outrun, 3D Streets of Rage, 3D Shinobi 2, and 3D Ecco the Dolphin. Also included are two bonus titles, Space Harrier 3D and Outrun 3D which originally released to the SEGA Master System and utilized the 3D glasses.

For a sampling of what to expect from the compilation, check out the trailer above. If you have a Japanese 3DS or alternate means of playing import titles, you can pre-order the game from Play-Asia. In the meantime, I’ll just sit here watching the trailer, fingers crossed for a US release. Tears running down my face.

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Red Bull Music Academy unveils new series – “Diggin’ In The Carts” – Features Takenobu Mitsuyoshi and Yuzo Koshiro

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Red Bull Music Academy has announced it is producing a new video series, “Diggin’ in the Carts,” discussing the influence of video game music on how we know music today, and looking at the people that produced it.

The series is to be six episodes long, and also features several well-known musicians and bands such as Anamanaguchi, Flying Lotus and Joker (who recently produced a Mega Drive inspired album) providing commentary.

For us SEGA fans, legendary composers Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (Daytona USA, OutRunners, Shenmue) and Yuzo Koshiro (The Revenge of Shinobi, Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle Series) are to be featured in the series, which is music to our ears! In the trailer, Space Harrier and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 can be seen, possibly giving us hints about what to expect.

Also featured is Nobuo Uematsu, famed composer of the majority of the Final Fantasy series, and Manami Matsumae, composer of the original Mega Man game’s soundtrack (and also the composer of the upcoming Mighty No. 9), amongst many others.

The first episode premiers on Red Bull Music Academy’s site on September 4th, so be sure to check it out!

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Round Table: The future of Streets of Rage and our favorite memories

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As Streets of Rage Week comes to an end, the SEGAbits writer’s round table has us reflecting on our fond memories of the franchise, and where we would like to see the franchise headed in the future. SEGA has always been hit or miss when it comes to reviving and remaking older franchises. For every SEGA 3DS 3D Classics remake, Castle of Illusion and Shinobi 3DS there are a slew of stinkers – Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Altered Beast (PS2), several of the Sega Ages 2500 releases. Point is, a remake or reboot of Streets of Rage could go either way. What direction would be like to see the franchise headed? Follow the flashing “GO!” and read on!

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SEGA in the Media: Saints Row IV’s homage to Streets of Rage

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This just might be a first for SEGA in the Media, a SEGA inspired video game within another video game! Released last year, Saints Row IV was a tongue-in-cheek action-adventure game from Illinois based developer Volition. Given the self-referential nature of the series, it only makes sense that they’d eventually reference crazy action games of the past, and what game is more fitting to pay tribute to than SEGA’s Streets of Rage? Dubbed “Saints of Rage”, this 2D beat ’em up appears at around 75-80% of the way into Saints Row IV. In-game, “Saints of Rage” is an enemy created nightmare simulation. Kicking off with a “Winners Don’t Use Drugs” message, the player is taken to a title screen which is a direct reference to the original Streets of Rage title screen.

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