Now Adam’s appearance as an optional “Black” avatar was nothing novel. Like fighting games, the subtle nuances of each character’s playstyle (pros and cons) garnered individual favoritism from players. Rounding out the trio was the vanilla Axel Stone, the stereotypical blonde-blue-eyed white T-shirt and navy-blue jeans wearing martial artist who was neutral in strength and speed. The provocative brunette Blaze Fielding, dressed in skimpy scarlet clothes was a judo expert who excelled at speed over strength (being the weakest protagonist, but the quickest). Adam Hunter, an African-American in his amber-colored sleeveless shirt and black long-pants was a former boxer, favoring strength over speed (translated in the game by being the most powerful of the three, but the slowest). X and his Syndicate of crime to brutal justice with their bare knuckles.Įach of the three playable characters had a competent, rightly cliché, backstory. Disenchanted by the prolific corruption in the police force, officers Axel Stone, Adam Hunter and Blaze Fielding turn in their badges and guns to take to the streets…with rage, to bring Mr. The year is 1991, and an unnamed neon metropolis is engulfed in rampant crime and violence, all orchestrated by a mysterious boss known as Mr.
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Cue the obligatory opening text crawl… Streets of Rage 4.
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Needless to say we still have some ways to go to equate to the more prominent female representation in the videogame landscape and medium, but strides are being made. I’m speaking of the series’ audacious commitment to the perpetual presence of the Hunter family.Īs I’ve discussed in a prior article, “ Where’s My Black Shepherd?”, spurred by the release of the underwhelming “ Shaq-Fu: A Legend Reborn” (2018) videogame remake (itself also a beat’em up), I highlighted the continuing lack of exclusive (and positive) Nubian representation in videogames over the decades, which would allow players to take on a character of African descent or embark on an odyssey based off of African folklore or religions. In that regard, this beloved franchise deserves unique attention and praise. But rather, this is a look at how this videogame gem bucked the trend to give players a consistent and positive representation of African-American characters throughout its existence.
#STREETS OF RAGE 4 SKATE SERIES#
Now this is not a review of “Streets of Rage 4” or a retrospective of the series as a whole.
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A Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in the USA) exclusive, crafted to compete with Nintendo’s exclusive deal with Capcom to publish the popular arcade game “Final Fight” (and its subsequent two console-only sequels) on the Super Nintendo, “Streets of Rage” flipped the script as being a home console game first that was ported to the arcades, when the opposite was the norm. “Streets of Rage” (“Bare Knuckles” in Japan) was a hallmark of its generation, playing into the schoolyard console debates between vehement Sega loyalists and adamant Nintendo fans. The gameplay and combat were simple and satisfying, while not being overly difficult to beat, or a cakewalk to drudge through. A maverick amongst its peers, renowned for its catchy techno/electronic beats – courtesy of composer Yuko Koshiro and later also Motohiro Kawashima – its soundtrack would fit right at home at a neon nightclub back in the early 90s. Arguably one of the best series of its genre, it only trails behind the more successful “Double Dragon” franchise published by Taito. With the recent release of “Streets of Rage 4” on all major consoles, this well-received and critically acclaimed classic “side-scrolling beat’em up” franchise is just one year shy of being 30 years old.