STREETS OF RAGE X

Revisiting the 16-bit era with some added punch.

- By Justin Wagner

It doesn't take much time to pick your average beat-'em-up clean - even Streets of Rage, inarguably among the best games in the genre, is about an hour long regardless of which entry you pick up. The fun is in replaying it over and over, getting through with fewer and fewer continues, and roping your friends in for some co-op button mashing; but even so, every well runs dry eventually. Until rogue fans step in, of course.

Streets of Rage X is an OpenBOR recreation of the 16-bit Streets of Rage games by developer Kratus which makes those originals feel minuscule. Each game from the Mega Drive trilogy is a mere 'route' on offer here, with each character previously unique to each game now playable in any of them. “But what about game balance?” I hear you retort; where we're going, we don't need it.

FLAIR KNUCKLE

Combat has seen a ludicrous, maximalist overhaul that feels inspired by Streets of Rage 4's triple-digit juggling combos. You can chain a few hits together in the Genesis games and even score infinite combos with techniques that feel like borderline exploits, but you can keep an enemy trapped in hit stun so long you'll rarely need anything all that extravagant. On the other hand, X is so dedicated to form, function's been chucked out a window.

FLEXOTERICA Meet the lesser-known playable fighters

BIG BEN Big Ben is a real nuisance in the main game due to his inexplicable ability to breathe fire, but now you're free to take out your frustrations by doing it yourself.

ROO Roo is a kangaroo with boxing gloves and apparent combat training. As if they needed any help to flatten their opponents.