Three fighters cleaning up a city, with Yuzo Koshiro's synth score. Sega's answer to Final Fight.
Streets of Rage was developed by Sega and released for Mega Drive in August 1991 — a beat 'em up featuring three ex-police officers cleaning a city controlled by a crime syndicate. The game's soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro used the Mega Drive's FM synthesis sound chip to create a house and electronic dance music score that was technically distinctive for the hardware. Three characters — Axel, Blaze, and Adam — had different speed and power stats. A special call-in move allowed one player to summon a police car that fired a rocket for area damage, usable once per life. Streets of Rage sold over 1 million copies and spawned two sequels; Streets of Rage 2 is often cited as the superior entry.
— inspired by Yuzo Koshiro
About this game
Streets of Rage (1991) — known in Japan as Bare Knuckle — is the beat 'em up that defined what the Mega Drive's FM sound chip could do. Three former police officers — Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, and Adam Hunter — take to the streets to clean up a city overrun by a syndicate. Its house and techno soundtrack, composed by Yuzo Koshiro entirely on a computer, was unlike anything that had come from a game console before.
Key Features
Three playable characters with distinct movesets: Axel (power), Blaze (speed and grappling), Adam (balanced). Two-player cooperative play throughout. A special police attack — a helicopter airstrip that calls in a police car to fire a rocket launcher — available once per life. Eight stages across a city, from the streets to a rooftop to a ship. The soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro uses FM synthesis to produce driving house and techno music composed on a computer, not sequenced by hand in a game editor.
Gallery
The Story Behind
In 1991, the beat 'em up genre was defined by Double Dragon and Final Fight — games with simple, punchy gameplay and generic rock soundtracks. Streets of Rage arrived as something different: a game that felt like a club night, with FM synthesis tracks by Yuzo Koshiro that drew from house, techno, and breakbeat. Koshiro composed the soundtrack not in a standard game audio editor but using a custom computer program he wrote himself, enabling a compositional complexity that other games of the era could not match. The game was one of the Mega Drive's best-selling titles in Japan and helped establish Blaze Fielding as a rare female protagonist in the action genre.
Tricks & Tales
Yuzo Koshiro composed the Streets of Rage soundtrack using a custom program he wrote himself, running on a PC-88 home computer. This gave him compositional freedom that standard game audio tools of the era could not offer. The game's house and techno music was years ahead of what most Western games were producing in 1991. The police special move — a rocket launcher strike — was later removed from Streets of Rage 2, which replaced it with a special blitz attack for each character. In Japan, Blaze Fielding was one of the earliest prominent female protagonists in a Sega action game.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Japan version title: Bare Knuckle: Ikari no Tekken (ベア・ナックル 怒りの鉄拳). Western versions are titled Streets of Rage. Content is functionally identical across regions. Plays on any regional Mega Drive / Genesis.
Maintenance Tips
Standard Mega Drive cartridge — 72-pin edge connector, no battery save. Clean contacts with isopropyl alcohol if read errors occur. The game's ROM is single-sided; no internal battery. Common and easy to source; replacement cartridges are affordable if the original fails.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Streets of Rage copies regularly.
Will a Japanese Mega Drive cartridge work on a North American Sega Genesis or European Mega Drive?
Not directly. Japanese Mega Drive and North American Genesis cartridges have different physical notch positions, preventing direct insertion without a pin adapter. The console also enforces regional settings in hardware — a Japanese cartridge on a Western console will often lock up or refuse to boot without modification. Playing Japanese Mega Drive software is most reliably done on a Japanese Mega Drive. Region adapters and mod chips exist for those wishing to run imports on Western hardware.
How should I clean a Mega Drive cartridge?
Apply 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol to a cotton swab and wipe the gold-plated edge contacts on the base of the cartridge. Most Mega Drive cartridges use standard Phillips screws if the shell needs opening for deeper cleaning. Clean the console's slot separately — oxidized slot contacts are a common cause of boot failure on Mega Drive hardware.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Streets of Rage
A short checklist for buying a used Mega Drive cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Make sure it fits your console
This is a Japanese Mega Drive cartridge; it differs in shape and region from the North American Genesis and may need a matching console or adapter.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
See what it's selling for on eBay →Unexpected Discoveries
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Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Streets of Rage sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
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