/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.2435786]

I keep hearing people say that Streets of Rage III is inferior to Streets of Rage I & II, can someone explain in detail why this is so? Because I played all 3 games and III is by far my most favorite of the series.

Out of the three III offers the fastest arcade-style gameplay while the other two are way too slow and clunky. 2 is okay and could pass as a 1989 brawler I guess, but again it's way too slow and can't compare to arcade beat 'em ups post-1989. Streets of Rage 1 is a joke in all respects.

tl;dr - You could drop III in an arcade club and it wouldn't feel out of place. You can't say the same about I and II.

[Anonymous No.2435804]

People like to shit on III because 1) the NA localization butchered the original script, and 2) a ton of stuff was rushed and left unfinished in the actual game itself.

https://tcrf.net/Streets_of_Rage_3

It's a good game that could have been even better.

[Anonymous No.2435813]

I mean, I don't think it's bad, but it definitely doesn't feel as polished as 2.

[Anonymous No.2435824]

The main problem people have is that 3 didn't differ from 2 in major way. People consider the jump 2 had from 1 to be huge. Also the music in 3 didn't hit like 2's did. I know a big reason was when 3 was being made electronic music had a white hot fad going on where random notes in the song was "cool". That didn't age as well as 2's music has now. I own all 3 and the only one I've played with buds over and over again was 2. Everything comes together beautifully. 3 is great but everyone whose played it with me say they like 2 better, and they can't even explain why in detail. It's just a weird thing at the end of the day.

[Anonymous No.2435827]

>>2435824
2 was all about house music while 3 was all about detroit techno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwykYW1mOhA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkZ3gPWYxc8

[Anonymous No.2435834]

How is 2 any more or less "clunky" than 3? You don't even know what you are trying to say. The first game may be inferior in every way to its sequel, that does not make it a "joke".

What I personally dislike about 3 is the lack of balancing. The second one is perfect in that respect, the normal difficulty is fun to play at at first, hard will take a good deal of time to beat and you can spend a decade on this game before 1cc'ing hardest gets boring.

3 on the other hand is broken. The japanese original is way too easy, cranking up the difficulty does not change anything meaningful, it's no challenge. The US version is near unplayable unfair rather than a fun challenge. Again, changing the difficulty setting does not really help a lot.

I also dislike the graphics overall. The way Axel looks when he falls to the ground is horrible, and after the (great) first couple of stages the rest just looks dull and repetetive. The only good later stage, the white house, is on the "bad" path.

The music may be a product of its time, but I doubt many people prefer it over the second game's.

[Anonymous No.2435836]

The main problem I have with 3 is that 1 is the best.

[Anonymous No.2435842]

Things SoR 3 does worse than 2:
>bad localization like >>2435804 mentions
>messed up audio feedback on account of poor SFX (biggest problem)
>retarded gauge mechanic
>nearly as bad star mechanic
>music
>character gfx
>addition of running/rolling mechanic means no strong char
>many mob chars revamped instead of new additions
>new mob additions that suck because they compound problems that 2 had (mobs that can block)
>new mob additions don't add anything gameplay wise compared to 2
>gameplay emphasis changed but not nearly as balanced as 2 (2 is just a masterpiece in positioning and awareness)

Things 3 does better than 2:
>traps and pits; generally more imaginative level design, like 1
>split paths with different endings
>a plot (? assuming you give a shit; I don't)

It's harsh when you have to follow up arguably the best game on the console, so 3 was always poised to disappoint, but there are legitimate problems with it. It's not bad in its own right, just nowhere near as good as 2.

[Anonymous No.2435854]

>>2435842
I actually like the gauge mechanic and I think the character graphics look the best of all 3 games. I mean the way it looked in the first two games was like they stuck nes sprites in 16 bit game, I actually hate it. What sucks the most about 3 to me are those retarded wall breaking stages that are nearly impossible to complete without a second player.

[Anonymous No.2435856]

>>2435854
>>2435854
I meant nearly impossible to complete without dying a bunch of times.

[Anonymous No.2435874]

>>2435786
BARE KNUCKLE 3 FTW!

[Anonymous No.2435893]

Am I the only one who prefers the gender-neutral colors used in SOR3 over the standard palette used for the rest of the series?

[Anonymous No.2435897]

>>2435854
>I meant nearly impossible to complete without dying a bunch of times.
It's retarded and illogical but yes, you can punch the bulldozer to stop it for long enough for you to break the wall. *cough*noob*cough*

>gauge mechanic
It's a bad mechanic, plain and simple. As it was, the A button is a bailout move that clears back and for with mediocre damage and the A+f a higher damage/bigger risk directional move. Both cost you your life, so there's a risk/reward mechanic involved in using it at all times, with the added bonus of if the bailout doesn't connect, you get to keep your health (which is a great weapon in an of itself, depending on the enemy).

With the gauge, all you have is carte blanche to use it when you don't really need it, because there's more damaging options when you're not at risk. And then you ARE at risk and get cornered with the gauge depleted- you're at a point where it's in your best interest to take the damage you're being dealt rather than use the bailout move since it's going to sap half your life bar. So a beat 'em up suddenly becomes a let 'em beat you up. It plain doesn't make sense.

[Anonymous No.2435901]

>>2435854
>I mean the way it looked in the first two games was like they stuck nes sprites in 16 bit game, I actually hate it.
Maybe the first game had crappy sprites, but SOR2 could hold up against any CPS brawler available at the time. I don't think there's a single SNES brawler that looks as good as either SOR sequel, except maybe Iron Commando.

[Anonymous No.2435918]

>>2435897
>more on the gauge
What it effectively ends up doing (and it's partially the same problem with the star mechanic) is that it punishes players who play poorly when what it should be meant to do is help them and favors good players (except not really) by giving them something they don't need.

Also, on the star mechanic, since I'm on the subject- It's meant to reward, but it "helps" only those that play well (again, who arguably need the help the least) by giving them more advanced, more convoluted moves which in some cases are less useful (depending on the character/foe), putting the player in a position where dying to have the move reset could be a tactical option. And you shouldn't be encouraged to die.

[Anonymous No.2435929]

>>2435897
The gauge would be better if, when it is empty, it only saps so much strength as it did in SOR2.

Which is I think one of the better changes they made in SOR3 (versus BK3). In BK3, it ate one fourth of your health. In SOR3, it only used up a little amount of health, if you did a special without the bar. And Shiva got an electrocution graphics; that's about all the improvements I remember.

Also, allowing everyone to run non stop turned the game into a run-and-knock-down fest with no actual tactics involved. Not that you needed any with the enemies being so retarded and just randomly piled at you.

The game had gigantic balance and design issues. But the extra characters, moves, and features (hidden paths, alternating paths, more varying levels etc) were a lot of fun. Not enough to make up for all the faults, but fun enough to break out the game every once in a while. The Japanese version, anyway.

[Anonymous No.2435939]

>>2435918
The star moves aren't really bad in any situation, except maybe Axel losing his anti air (which isn't as useful anymore since air kicks have absolute priority over any other move), and on pit stages where they can easily make you run into pits unintentionally.
It would be better if you could control their movements to some degree, like you can do with Skates 2 and 3 star moves.

The 1-star move being a double range version of your normal move was a huge cop out though.

Also you can do the special moves with the x button even if you don't have the stars. They should've changed it so you can pull out the no-star move with some combination as well. Heck, make X a shortcut for the default move, with all the other ones hidden.

[Anonymous No.2435942]

>tl;dr - You could drop III in an arcade club and it wouldn't feel out of place.
Nigga please, the game is 2 hours long and looks ugly compared to games like Tower of Doom or Alíen vs Predator

It's still a good game, but SoR2 was much more impresive for a 1992 console game.

[Anonymous No.2435949]

>>2435929
>The gauge would be better if, when it is empty, it only saps so much strength as it did in SOR2.
It certainly would be better but again, you're encouraging players to use a high potential damage (mostly the A+f moves) offensively, risk free. So you do it without 2nd thought.

Whereas in 2 you can still use them as an offensive weapon, but it's always "should I?" At least until you know where the healing items are.

Moral of the story, encourage players to make thoughtful decisions and be aware of the level instead just pressing a button when a gauge flashes "OK".

[Anonymous No.2435959]

>>2435949
>but it's always "should I?" At least until you know where the healing items are.

Not really once you know the levels - it always becomes a tradeoff, sacrifice a little health in order to deal giant damage, and eliminate the bigger threat (ie. enemies surrounding you) as quickly as possible.

[Anonymous No.2435965]

>>2435959
But that's exactly what I said anon.

[Anonymous No.2435976]

>>2435965
You said it depends on the healing items.

It doesn't.

It depends on how many and what type of enemies you have to face at any given time, if there is a way to corner them, what moves they have, if you can prevent more enemies from coming in by not scrolling the screen too much, etc.

Healing items is honestly the last consideration.

You always die just before you can pick one up, anyway.

[Anonymous No.2435983]

>>2435976
You said:
>Not really once you know the level
I said:
>make thoughtful decisions and be aware of the level
Difference?

I made the healing item remark because when you know that bin has an apple and you have full health it's essentially 3 free A moves.

[Anonymous No.2435986]

>>2435983
ok, you are right. I probably skipped half your post anyway.

[Anonymous No.2435990]

I played through all 3 Bare Knuckle games recently and thought 3 was the best. 2 has better music but being able to dash as any character sells it for me.

[Anonymous No.2436274]

>>2435986
TBH the way I worded it kinda implies what you pointed out. What I meant is essentially what you wrote here >>2435959

[Anonymous No.2436295]

Roo.
Skate.
Your arguments are invalid.
I remember like my 3rd playthrough when I was twelve, I killed the clown first and Roo ran away and then when I died on the Blaze-clone bosses and could drop back in
as...
a....
fuuuuccckin....
KANGAROOOO??!!?

[Anonymous No.2436776]

>>2435893
Blue is cyborgist, you fucking meat sack