Streets of Rage: The Movie!

As we all know very well by now, the Streets of Rage games are unquestionably the finest such examples of their genre as can be found in the splendid world of retro. The first game blew the socks off us MegaDrive owners when it arrived in a flurry of punches and kicks back in 1991 and the sequel which arrived only a little over a year later was, quite frankly, astonishing. Not only had Sega managed to better their already-superb original but in so doing had pretty much perfected the genre in what is still regarded as one of the greatest games ever made.

The third game, perhaps inevitably, couldn't quite live up to these lofty standards but it was still a corking brawler. Sadly, it would also prove to be the final entry in the short-lived series which has gone on to become one of the most revered and best-loved game trilogies of all time. Pretty much any gamers around during the time of their releases will speak excitedly about them but some fans have taken their passion for the games to new heights by creating their own live-action tributes!

I could scarcely believe my eyes when I first stumbled upon one of them, probably while looking for a SOR soundtrack to listen to at work. Instead I found the video below which is, for all intents and purposes, Streets of Rage: The Movie! It features just Axel at first but he is soon joined by Adam then Blaze as they run around various locations in what is presumably their home city duffing in various friends posing as hoodlums and bosses from the SOR games, and the results are truly wonderful for any fans of the games. These aren't just a bunch of idiots trying to become the next internet sensation; they are clearly huge fans of the games themselves and it shows.

Their video features music and sound effects from the games and some well-chosen locations, and even some special effects on the boss attacks, but it's the attention to detail that made me smile the most - the special moves, repeatedly punching enemies in the face, trying to punch an enemy when standing near a weapon pick-up; even the bazooka-wielding policemen from the first game make an appearance, as do the annoying motorcycle goons from the second game. It really is brilliant stuff and left me grinning from ear to ear throughout, leaving my work colleagues to wonder just what the frickin' frack I was laughing at so much!

The guys clearly had a lot of fun making it too, oafing all over the place as confused bystanders look on. It always makes me happy to see how much love and passion people have for the classic games I and so many others grew up with and still have such fond memories of. Of course, I might once again be late to the party, as I seemingly am so often - perhaps most of you have seen this already, long ago. If that's the case I'm afraid you'll have to humour me, but if you haven't, do yourself a favour and watch this right now!

There are some other fan-made videos along the same lines here and here but my favorite one had to be this one uploaded by YouTube user Dogger StreetStupid - all credit to him/her/them and all the friends that joined them in this fantastic video :)