Four Play - Streets of Rage - Console / Handheld Comparison

In this episode of Four Play we compare the home versions of the classic Sega beat 'em up Streets of Rage. But which conversion is the best - Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, Tiger Electronics LCD or Sega Mega Drive? You decide!

#sega #megadrive #segagenesis

[thelairdslair]

My thoughts: Yeah, it's a no contest this week, the Mega Drive wins by a mile and the Tiger LCD is a distant last. But what is interesting here is the huge number of differences between the Master System and Game Gear versions, despite them looking and sounding very similar. Firstly they have different intros and character selects with the absence of Adam on the GG. Then you have more levels on the SMS (6 instead of 5) and more moves too. However the SMS is only one player, whereas the GG is two player. They also play quite differently too, as the GG version doesn't have as accurate hit detection as the SMS using a much bigger hit box, but this doesn't really benefit you and it actually causes you to get trapped and killed on regular occasions making the game much harder. By far the biggest problem with the GG version though it the grappling, because when you grab enemies it doesn't do anything unless you specify a move almost immediately, you can't just hit them in a grapple to weaken them further before you specify an attack. This is incredibly annoying as you can't chain attacks as well and the slightly unresponsive controls, especially when it gets busy, make this worse. I have no idea why they changed it in this way, but it makes the SMS version far superior. So my final ranking is Mega Drive > Master System > Game Gear > Tiger LCD

[erneststackhouse]

Streets of Rage on the Sega Master System will always be with me as that is the 1st game i ever beaten all by myself. Later on i found out due to console they could only have so many people on one screen so there were fewer enemies coming at you. You could really hold your own & even as a kid i was able to beat this game. To this day i still constantly play this game but don't really have the time to beat it anymore but i don't stop to play it because i died it's just there's no time anymore!

[JGreen-lexx]

Tiger handheld got my vote
That 60 fps and smooth scrolling along with the pixel smooth images... Chef's kiss.


Also better battery life than GameGear.

[Trialwolf]

Honestly the Master System is a very impressive port, considering how Golden Axe turned out it is quite surprising how complete it is. The only true negative is needing to pause the game on the console to use your super. Actually had this a few years and it's a lot of fun, also interesting when you compare how Final Fight was treated when it was ported to the NES.

[TrangleC]

I liked the music in Streets of Rage 2 on the Genesis/Mega Drive so much that I sometimes just kept the console running in the background, without playing, just to have the music running.

[GCSoundArtifacts]

This is a real classic that brings me great nostalgia. Well, I think the Tiger LCD is dispensable for a comparison. And the Mega CD version was, unfortunately, forgotten here. Considering all circumstances here, the original Mega Drive version is, obviously, THE one. And it's truly great to see that in all of the Sega versions there's the indispensable Yuzo Koshiro's magic touch in music and sound FX. Master System has a truly decent version, in spite of being just a one-player option. Both SMD and SMS were the versions I played the most, and it's curious to see that they were 4MB cartridges, of the same size. Game Gear is good to see that it's not a carbon copy of the SMS or the reverse, but the adaptation could be better in the controls indeed. Adam's absence hits hard. I like the brighter colors if compared to its 8-bit sibling. My final ranking is obviously the same of the Laird's.

[theeirinneffekt]

DAMN! Fighting in The Street sounds EPIC on the Tiger LCD version! More dark sorcery from Yuzo!

[tiagopereirasantossilva]

Tiger Electronics Game's Background make remember more the first level of The Simpsons Arcade that Street of Rage.

[kenwheeler]

The Tiger LCD is by far the greatest. Look at her lighting fast attacks and ability to be in almost two places at once. Just overwhelming non-stop action. 😆

Seriously though, obviously the Genny takes it by a parsec. Lots of animated backgrounds, multiple enemy types, with several onscreen at once. Damn near like having the Arcade at home, just like the old ads used to say. The GG looks nicer than the SMS and has up to 3 opponents onscreen at once, versus only 2 at a time on the Sega 8-bit console but with the closed in perspective it's a bit too challenging and unfairly at that. The SMS one isn't too bad for but gets a bit monotonous. I can see getting bored with the Tiger handheld within a minute or two.