Released at a time when SNES owners were cooing about Final Fight being a Nintendo exclusive, it offered tight gameplay, great music and – most important of all – a two-player mode, something which the SNES version of Final Fight notably lacked.
That two-player mode was leveraged in an usual way at the game's conclusion, too. Perhaps taking inspiration from Double Dragon – where players had to fight one another at the end to win the affections of the damsel in distress – Streets of Rage (or Bare Knuckle as it's known in Japan) gives you the option of becoming Dr. X's right-hand man. If this option is selected, you must fight and defeat the other player – an amazing plot twist for the early '90s.
This cool feature is only accessible in the game's two-player mode, so solo players must fight Dr. X and stick with the "good" ending.
Thankfully, legendary Genesis patcher BillyTimeGames has created a fix that allows you to select the "bad" option even when playing alone.
"This patch allows players to reach the bad ending in Streets of Rage when playing Single-Player," says the patch's page on ROM Hacking. "When Confronting Mr.X in Stage 8, Say yes to become his right-hand man. After returning to Stage 8, Mr.X will confront you. Defeat him to become the new boss."
Streets of Rage was bettered in almost every way imaginable with Streets of Rage 2, and a further 16-bit sequel would follow. We then had to wait some time for Streets of Rage 4 – but it's great, so it was well worth it.
