Streets of Rage 4 was playable for Dreamcast within Sega Japan, but never saw the light of day. Ever wonder why?
Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 by Justin
Ask a group of old school gamers to reel off their favourite 8-bit and 16-bit classics and chances are, names like Shinobi, Ghouls 'n' Ghosts, Rygar, Chrono Trigger, and Contra will ring out.
Over the past 12 months, we've been treated to next generation iterations of many of these classics. A tough-as-nails new Contra, a gorgeous new Panzer Dragoon, a valiant attempt with Maximo, plus Chrono Cross, Shinobi, and the undervalued Rygar -- all dredged back from the archive with shiny next generation clothing. 2002 was a fine year for retro gamers.
But the game most missed by beat 'em up fans -- infact, most who grew up playing Sega games, has been conspicuously absent. Whatever happened to Sega's standout original 16-bit series, Streets of Rage?
The launch era of Megadrive was a golden age of games. To wit: arguably the three greatest non-Mario platform games of the age: Revenge of Shinobi, Castle of Illusion, and perhaps the greatest of them all: the Megadrive version of Ghouls 'n' Ghosts. Superb, tactical two player strategy in the form of Herzog Zwei and Gain Ground. Great arcade action games well ahead of their time, like Golden Axe and Altered Beast. Cutting edge shooters like Gynoug and Thunderforce 3. And let's not forget the birth of EA's superb sports games.
This was Sega's golden age, the time when its global fanbase was at a peak.
Even within this time, Streets of Rage is remembered as a touch stone series for Sega. Some describe it as the Goldeneye of its time, a breakthrough multiplayer game with huge casual appeal.
Produced by old Sega stalwart Ohba-san (now President of Overworks), and aided by the dynamic duo of Yuzo Koshiro's legendary music, score and his sister Ayano's character designs -- Streets of Rage was hardcore, urban fighting brilliance. Gamers had never seen or heard anything like it.
Two sequels followed. The series sold multiple millions and achieved house-hold name status with gamers of the early 90s. Gamers who abandoned Sega after Saturn, but who now own Sega's lifeline: PS2, Xbox, and GC.
These people remember well. But Streets of Rage vanished. And hasn't been seen since.
Today, Yuzo Koshiro (a Tokyopia contributor) is reflective about the lack of awareness that drove Sega to abandon the series. For years, a new Streets of Rage was listed by gamers as amongst the most requested Sega game for the next generation.
What most people don't know, is that back in the early days of the Dreamcast, several of the original Streets of Rage team did something about it. Working with original character designer Ayano Koshiro, Yuzo Koshiro and others, a proposal was made to develop a new game in the Streets of Rage series. The team went as far as to create a networked version, playable on Dreamcast hardware. Although very early, a
nd obviously experimental, the presentation demonstrated various unique approaches to a potential new game in the series.
On behalf of Yuzo Koshiro, and for the first time anywhere, we can present brief demo videos of Streets of Rage for Dreamcast taken from that original presentation.
Bear in mind that this is not a game. Merely, a series of visual experiments by Sega Japan looking at how a next-gen Streets of Rage game could have been approached. Look out for one of the enemies, amusingly titled 'sumfucka'.
Movie 1.
Movie 2.
Movie 3.
Movie 4.
Movie 5.
The demonstration version was part of a larger presentation made for internal approval at Sega Japan (as all projects are).
Sega of Japan liked the idea provisionally, but sent it to Sega of America for final approval. SOA, in their wisdom, had never heard of the classic series that earned them a generation of fans world wide. The project was rejected by SOA, which then went on to approve curiously low-key beat 'em up projects the same year, including Zombie Revenge, and.... Dynamite Deka.
Wake up Sega! How about a fighting game based on a pre-existing license that a whole generation of your supporters has been asking for?
Sega's disappointing lack of communication with its fans, is an editorial for another time. But we can't help but shake our collective heads at the vetoing of what should really have been a no-brainer.
Although merely early experiments, at we can at least reflect on these new videos and imagine what could have been.
