Streets of Rage 2! Well, this was something really…how should I say…a messy experience
but in a good sense. So let’s start from the beginning.
The first time I saw this game was in a shop where, a long time ago, you could come and play for free. Usually guys played there for hours, so it was unreal to have a chance to play there, not to mention my school. It was during that time when 8 bit and 16 bit play systems were very expensive and just got to our country, I could afford them only after a few years when their price dropped down dearly. Well anyway, I saw this game, I got to this shop when a guy was playing as Max Thunder, he was playing on the first stage of the game. As he progressed, I met all these enemies. The first ones who made us (me and my friends, I was not alone) smile (sometimes laugh) were the punks, it was the way they moved
kind a funny if you think about it. Then, he got to the second stage, well, this was one big surprise for all of us guys watching this game, even for the salesman. He got to the point where a fat guy appeared, we all burst up laughing by the way he was jumping and fighting, and laughing
We were laughing the entire fight between this fatty and Max. To think that a fat man like him can jump with a bird-like pose and use this move as a hit
Since the guy playing got only to the 5th or 6th stage, I didn’t meet Shiva, but this was a no loss for me at that time, because I got my eyes on these karate fighters, namely Hakuyo, Suzaku, Ryokurou, Hakuro, Seiryu, Byatcko, Ko-Shu, Suicho, Ho-Oh, Ko-Kaku, Rakan, Kongoh, Ashurah. Well, I was little back then, so I remember almost all the enemies looking differently then the ones I saw in our days, it’s often like this, when you are still too young, your perception differs from the one you own when you are a grown up
this was my case also.
Here’s the deal with these karate fighters. I LIKE THEM, very much! I don’t remember them doing their flying kick (not to mention the fact that I remember them having a different outfit, although I was not paying attention on their clothes), but I do remember their palm strike. When I saw them performing this strike, I was like “damn, striking with a palm is a very deadly thing to do”, so I was enjoying this every time I saw them punching like that, especially I loved their short-range hadoukens out of their palms. I still remember that the guy playing SOR2 got kinda emotional when he met these karate guys, he was in a way afraid of them and had a hard time defeating them, he was not that experienced so he got beaten a lot (no wonder, since he didn’t even get to the last stage, not that I blame him). One more thing, I remember them performing this strike with turning their back to the player, also their hadouken being just a simple spark not detaching from their palm, but as I already said, I was little back then so my perception was of a child’s.
But still to this day, I can’t remember anything connected to these karate fighters. Thing is, they look very familiar, I have a feeling that I know them from somewhere, all I can say is maybe I watched a very old movie where there was someone who also was fighting with his palms and not fists, but their scream when they perform their flying kick also seems very familiar (god
this scream, can’t get enough of it, very well done, you can feel the rage bursting out of these karate guys, they really mean to hurt you, serious little bastards, aggressive too), I guess it is also connected with someone from an old movie. Still, after all these years I just can’t remember anything connected to them, just can’t. I don’t know, maybe there isn’t anything connected to them, maybe it’s just the fact that it characterizes me in some way, but don’t know what exactly this is. Well, I hope to find out about it
A few years later (4, maybe 5), at last I got my hands on Sega Mega Drive, my first 16 bit system. Before that, I did play games on this system, but had to pay for it. You just went to a place with some TV sets and a few 16 bit systems, pay up, and enjoy yourself. Played many games with my friends, including Bare Knuckle 3 (this is the first game I played from this trilogy), but one day we (me and my friends) decided to buy Streets of Rage 2, and so we did. The first sight, I didn’t like it because I compared it with Bare Knuckle 3 so I told my friend to change it. And here guys, comes the best part!
When I met this game in that shop I mentioned above, I didn’t even know how this it is named, which made me to make the mistake to change it AFTER I FINALLY GOT THE GAME I BADLY WANTED WHEN I WAS LITTLE!!!
Jesus Christ! I can’t say that I was mad or anything, I have this game now but…it’s just…I don’t know…funny and sad at the same time, I don’t know
it’s for you to decide I guess. So only after a long time I finally met the BK2 Shiva, this was when I was 25 or 26 when I found out about emulators (my Sega was unused and then broke, then just thrown away). I got my internet connection when I was 24 so that’s why I played SOR2 that late (although it was late because of my mistake mentioned above). I didn’t recognize that this is that same game I watched in that shop (stupid perception
). But after all these years I finally got this game, played it, and had my fun. Except that no one from here wants to play it, even though I had friends who played with me, mostly I was playing alone. I can’t say that this is a big problem but still, it would be more fun to play in coop with someone.
So this is my story with Streets of Rage 2
it was an experience where I was not actually playing the game
Hope Shiva won’t be mad at me for not meeting him in Mr. X’s office in the past, don’t want to get a “wadyaa!” in my face, not to mention sniffing his heel after high-kicking me.
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