Streets of Rage (series)

Streets of Rage is a series of co-operative side scrolling beat 'em up games developed by Sega and later Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games.

The series focuses around a group of vigilantes taking to the streets to protect Wood Oak City from the sinister organisation the 'Syndicate' ran by the mysterious and villainous Mr. X. Players are able to use weapons they find on the ground to attack, smash environmental objects and pick up food items to heal themselves.

Whilst there have been several attempts to revive the series during the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast's eras, these attempts were scrapped and the series went on a 26 year hiatus between the third and fourth entries.

Playable Characters

 * Axel Stone - The male face of the series. Axel has been playable in every title to date. One of the trio of ex police members.
 * Blaze Fielding - The female face of the series. Blaze has been playable in every title to date. One of the trio of ex police members.
 * Adam Hunter - One of the original three protagonists. He appears in every title to date but is only playable in 1 and 4. One of the trio of ex police members.
 * Eddie "Skate" Hunter - Adam's kid brother, he has been playable in every title since his debut (although only as a retro character in 4)
 * Max Thunder - Axel's wrestler friend. He has appeared in every title since his debut, although he is only playable in 2 and 4 as DLC.
 * Dr. Gilbert Zan - A cyborg with previous ties to the Syndicate. He's playable in 3 and 4 (although only as a retro character in 4)
 * Roo - A boxing kangaroo and secret character. Playable in Streets of Rage 3.
 * Shiva - Mr. X's right hand man and Axel's rival. He has appeared since 2, is a secret character in 3 and DLC in 4.
 * Ash (Japan only) - A mini boss in the Japanese version of 3. He is a secret character in that version only.
 * Cherry Hunter - Adam's music loving daughter. She debuts as a playable character in Streets of Rage 4.
 * Floyd Iraia - Dr. Gilbert Zan's apprentice. He has cyborg arms after losing his biological ones in an accident. Debuts in Streets of Rage 4.
 * Estel Aguirre - A special forces officer. She is a boss in 4 but became a playable DLC character in the same game.

Games

 * Streets of Rage - 1991, Mega Drive/Genesis
 * Streets of Rage 2 - 1992, Mega Drive/Genesis
 * Streets of Rage 3 - 1994, Mega Drive/Genesis
 * Streets of Rage 4 - 2020, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Mac, Linux
 * Streets of Rage: The Fighters - 2022, Arcade, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, Windows, Mac, Linux

Spinoffs

 * Sega Heroes - Axel, Blaze, Adam and Mr. X are playable heroes(despite Mr. X not being a hero)
 * Power Drift - The 3DS standalone version in Japan features Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding and Adam Hunter as playable drivers
 * Streets of Kamurochi - A spinoff of Yakuza made in the style of Streets of Rage. Kiryu Kazuma, Goro Majima and Ichiban Kasuga are playable in this although all three have identical movesets based off of Axel Stone.