With stunning visuals, solid gameplay, and a then-advanced soudntrack pushing the Genesis console to its full capabilities, Streets of Rage 2 is a must-play for anyone into the Beat 'Em Up genre. It is considered by many fans to be the greatest game in its respective series.

Bringing the roster of characters to 4 by introducing the strong-but-slow Max, and the fast-yet-weak kid Eddie/Sammy "Skate" Hunter (the younger brother of excluded original protagonist Adam Hunter) Streets of Rage 2 brings in plenty of strategy depending on which character(s) you select.

One year has passed since the events of Streets of Rage. Always ready to conquer the city once more, Mr. X kidnaps original protagonist Adam Hunter, and sets loose all of his punks on the streets, bringing the city once more into destructive turmoil. In response to Mr. X's return, the retired police officers Blaze Fielding and Axel Stone once more set forth into the streets of rage, this time with Adam's younger brother Skate, and Axel's wrestler friend Max, in hopes of permanently ending Mr. X's reign on the city and rescuing Adam.

The gameplay of Streets of Rage 2 is similar, yet more refined to the original game. The main protagonists walk to the right on a 2D-3D plane, stopping on occasion to beat through waves of punks and martial artists. In rare occurrences, certain everyday sights (trash cans, phone booths, tables, etc.) are on the playing field, and can be struck to obtain street weapons (knives, lead pipes, baseball bats, etc.) and healing items.

You all know the story…

A year after their first battle with the Syndicate, the original Ragers and their city have enjoyed 365 days of peace. But, nothing lasts forever…

Mr. X had come back with a vengeance, going toe to toe against not only the rag-tag team of Max, Axel, Blaze, and Skate but also at least once against the Fearsome Foursome, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

Having last suffered setbacks at the hands of the Green Machine, the Syndicate has reared its ugly head once again. Mr. X challenges Mike, Leo, Donnie, and Raph to a final battle for the city, leaving them unaware that he’s made an alliance with one of their toughest foes…

Will the Heroes in a Halfshell topple the demonic duo of Mr. X and one Oroku Saki? Or will the Syndicate overrun the turtles and finally prevail?

Double Z / eskayelle’s fifth romhack revisits his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles … of Rage game and remixes it, adding the following features:[list]
[li]Playing this game on a Japanese Mega Drive? A European Mega Drive? An American Genesis? Regardless of your system, the same tubular TMNT Remix title screen and story intro will display. (Region locking has also been removed and the Game Genie master code applied. Checksums, be gone!)[/li]
[li]A couple music tracks have been switched within the stages, providing more urgency in the final stage of the game, with an unused remixed throwback to one of the main themes assigned to Stage 7.[/li]
[li]A re-colored Donatello is now much more purple… and brooding…[/li]
[li]Duplicate turtles in duel mode are now recolored, putting them that much closer to their ‘80s cartoon counterparts.[/li]
[li]Are you used to Leo being the most well-rounded turtle? Raph being the strong one? Each reptile has been rebalanced![/li]
[li]Tired of getting your head stomped in by your “buddy”? Ti’s friendly fire patch has been applied, limiting the damage players can do to one another in story mode to throwing enemies and weapons.[/li]
[li]Subtle revisions have been made to enemies in 6 of the 8 stages, ratcheting up the difficulty a tad, while giving some new flavor to the game. Think you can find all the changes?[/li]
[li]A blatant homage to an old WWF wrestler is now made much more obvious; plus, he’s decked out in an old rival’s Mega Powers colors.[/li]
[li]Galsia/Garcia and Donovan finally get their due! Play far enough into the game, and on the right difficulty setting, and you’ll have to contend with each of them once as a mini-boss.[/li]
[li]Thanks to savok, now all players can run in all directions, as well as start a run when turning around. With the added speed, how many more juggle combos can you create with your favorite turtle?[/li]
[li]Thanks to a utility by Sharpnull, the ending is a lot more… mutant.[/li]
[li]Shiva’s on a leave of absence given his multiple failures to protect Mr. X. Backing X up this time is… the Shredder![/li]
[li]Continues have been removed to balance the lives options and allow for greater difficulty. Choose your turtle, and your lives count, wisely; you’ve only got one shot to take down the big man with the cigar.[/li][/list]

Think you can settle the score with Shredder and Mr. X with one live to live and no continues? This ain’t your daddy’s Streets of Rage 2. Why not download the game, fire up your YouTube account, and step up to the challenge?

Don’t forget these fab features from the first TMNT of Rage, which make their return here:[list]
[li]Restorations from the original SoR2: Garcia, Garuda, and Mosquito names; enemy knockouts counter; Mr. X’s cigar and cigar animation; and unused track “Little Money Avenue” (placed on Stage 3).[/li]
[li]That new TMNT title screen – with a remix![/li]
[li]Portraits of the TMNT within the player select screen, those portraits being based on the SNES Turtles in Time game (and Donnie’s purple now a little darker).[/li]
[li]Name sprite tiles on the player select screen (“MIKE”, “LEO”, “DON”, and “RAPH”).[/li]
[li]More lives and difficulty choices in the options menu![/li]
[li]Shadows on the more commonly used player sprites, to reduce that “floating” feel in game.[/li]
[li]Air/juggle combos.[/li][/list]

Check the in-game credits and the readme for some folks whose assets, code, or tutorials/guidance helped make this game happen!

Cowabunga!

Database match: Streets of Rage 2 (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Genesis (v. 20180824-045026)
File/ROM SHA-1: 8B656EEC9692D88BBBB84787142AA732B44CE0BE
File/ROM CRC32: E01FA526
External Header: No

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