SOR2 - Why is it a classic?

[Stuart@retrogamer]

Why is Streets of Rage 2 so bloody good? Post your thoughts here.

[thevulture]

Easy, it`s the perfect sequel:Everything good from the 1st game?Been vastly built apon.Massive sprites, lush backdrops, Best ever MD music are the audio/visual icing on monster of a gaming cake.Pinncle of the scrolling beat-em-up`s for me.Vast array of moves, very fluid control system, punches that felt like they were doing some real damage, 1-on-1 duel mode, soundtrack that really urged you on.Brilliant laugh when playing with friends and THE game to shut your Snes owning mates up with, at the time.

[nakamura]

I was a SNES owning mate and it shut me up! Then I pinched his MD and played it to death!
The whole game is brilliant, music, graphics, levels and the moves. All of it was better than the first and indeed better than the third. There were no decent 2 player scrolling fighters on the SNES i recall, certainly not at the time and this just oozed class.

[retrohogg]

well for me SOR2 is one of my all time favourite videogames, i remember seeing it advertised in my local paper second hand as a kid and using my meagre pocketmoney to buy it that was 18 years ago and i still pick it up for a run through every once in a while, its a game a look forward to one day playing with my kids, its just quality at every level.

[jdanddiet]

£44.99. Thats how much it cost me 16 years ago. Best bargain ever!

[felgekarp]

Because the first one was complete crud.

[lanky316]

Any game which my dad would badger me to play is a good sign. Think it just had everything, great gameplay, great colour, great sound, there's not a side scroller that comes close.

[Sepp Salerno]

There’s a reason why friends of mine who have fallen out of gaming entirely trip over themselves like simpletons to play it whenever they are at my gaff Everyone remembers it, and has fond button mashing memories attached to it. It was real hyped back in the day, and for good reason, it lives up to all it’s expectations and surpasses them. It’s all just perfect and has the same kind of ‘pick up and playability’ as classics like Pacman, and Space Invaders and it still stands up today. Streets of Rage 2 is up there with not only my favourite Mega Drive games, but my favourite games of all time. It gives classic arcade street brawlers like Final Fight, and Double Dragon a real run for their money, and at the time it offered the ‘everyman’ a near close arcade beat em up experience without having to track down, and fork out for a Neo Geo. It plays well, the graphics are great, the levels are well designed, the A.I isn’t totally mind numbingly predictable, or bland.

[Megamixer]

For me, it's just one of those games that oozes 'Early 90's' from every pixel. From the excellent music, the locations and typical punk/thug designs, it all makes you feel like you're actually fighting your way through some early 90's American city streets.

The actual gameplay is perfect and one of the big draws for me is that it's just so much fairer than Final Fight, a game that was clearly designed to steal your money. Streets 2 just feels really special because it wasn't converted from an arcade game but still managed to have buckets more charm/style and playability than it's rival.

[GigaPepsiMan]

It is one of the games that defies it genre in my opinion, it is also a perfec sequel improving everything from the first game, better graphics, new soundtrack, new moves, more enemies and so one.
On it's own the game is good because everything feels perfect, even though you are fighting gangs and ninjas you feel like it is a fair fight and that you can beat them all. I know that is the idea but SOR2 does it so well wheres other gmes put you anaginst some reallly unfair enemies.
One last reason is that this is a game that I can not get bored of, if I play an arcade game like Final Fight or burning fight I get bored after a while as I find myself putting more credits into the maching to carry on, SOR2 doesn't have that.

[RMLF]

It was the Zeitgeist of its time. It summed up everything that was 'gaming' on the Megadrive at the time. I can remember the hoards of kiods waiting to get a glimpse of it when a demo cart/jap version showed up at Dave Fryers' Computers in Gloucester. It was the just being there and sensing the whole thing was amazing. It wasnt even that people were playing it. They were just stood agog at the graphics and the music being pumped out from a humble Megadrive.

The Mean Machine video showing the first stage / fairground as a rolling demo only heightened the anticipation.

SOR2 is the personification of coolness it self. It was the perfect game for the perfect time it plays well is finely balanced has a soundtrack that stands up nearly 20 years later. Unparalleled game play, possibly one of the greatest games of all time

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Because no scrolling fighting game can ever come close to this one, not even the Konami ones!

It really is in a class of its own. None of those Final Fight games can compare, nor can the first Streets of Rage (slow, less-than-graceful ageing) or the third Streets of Rage (overblown, Dr. Zan but not Max).

Nice and violent too, knives and grenades clashing and all that.

[Smurph]

Simply put, it ripped off Final Fight almost wholesale (incredibly similar sprites, for example), but expanded on all that was good about it into what is for my money the best scrolling beat 'em up ever, and added a whole lot more. The music has never been beaten, it still looks stunning, and it's a blast to play.

[crusto]

Its the massive level of polish that wins the day for me. Pure class from start to finish. Theres never a dull moment, the difficulty curve is spot on and the music is chart worthy! And it was a kick in the teeth for all the snes owners at the time who thought the MD wasnt capable of producing a fighter to rival final fight. Imo streets of rage 1 came close, but streets of rage 2 was enough to make you jealous!

[NonShinyGoose]

It's your typical greatly improved 16-bit sequel - bigger sprites, more moves, better music...and it nicked a few ideas from Street Fighter II, such as giving Blaze a fireball and Axel a flaming dragon punch.