These little touches elevated it above the competition much more than a mere copy (despite what the box art might have you believe). A special move on ‘A’ would call in the cavalry in the form of a police car which launched rockets onto the screen from an earlier point in the stage, wiping out all enemies on screen. Martial arts, judo and boxing provided the three playable characters with their own look and fighting style, and while the controls were simple, designer and director Noriyoshi Ohba (who had previously worked on Revenge of Shinobi) managed to create an empowering moveset from just a few buttons. Sega borrowed liberally from Final Fight, right down to the roasted meat concealed in trashcans and oil drums, but Streets of Rage somehow carved its own identity thanks largely to the sheer style it exuded. Nintendo bagged exclusivity to the console port of Final Fight which, despite having some considerable downgrades from the arcade original (most notably lacking two-player co-op), still looked impressive on Super Nintendo. The original Streets of Rage - or Bare Knuckle as it's known in Japan - was released in 1991 and was very much a response to Capcom’s game. The arrival of Capcom’s Final Fight in arcades in 1989 took the genre to a whole new level, with huge and colourful character sprites and beautiful backgrounds complementing the pick-up-and-play mechanics. Games like River City Ransom were easy to understand, satisfying to play and made for excellent two-player co-op fodder (as anyone who had siblings in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s will surely confirm). A NES port arrived the following year and the concept caught on with the home console audience.

The humble side-scrolling beat 'em up genre started life in 1984 with Kung Fu Master (later ported to NES as Kung Fu), but it was 1987’s arcade hit Double Dragon that ushered in a wave of classic belt scrollers.

Knuckles in streets of rage 2 rom