This weeks UK vc games 1/6/07

Though Streets of Rage 2 plays very similar to its predecessor it improved and refined much of the gameplay. The biggest change was the replacement of the original special attack, which was calling a police car to damage all on-screen enemies, with special attacks performed by the character, that depleted some of their health. Each character's move list was expanded and edited to make them very individual to play instead of similar with different handicaps.
Enemies were also improved, all were given health bars (previously only Bosses used them) and names, and like the selectable characters, given bigger and more individual movesets. The game arguably suffers a slight drop in difficulty from the original, but had a secret near-impossible difficulty setting ("mania") that can be accessed by holding down the A-button and the B-button simultaneously on the 2nd controller while the player selects the Options screen on the main menu. Aside from unlocking "mania" difficulty, this code also allows the player to begin with up to nine lives (highly recommended for attempting "mania") instead of the usual five.
There are many new enemies, including Bikers, which speed across the screen in certain levels, running over the Player, tossing grenades and / or leaping off their bikes to attack, there are new Ninjas, which are excessively fast and sometimes deadly to fight due to their avoidant tactics, ranged weapons and special moves, kickboxers and robots.
A welcome sight from the first game are the "suicide stabbers" - weak enemies, invariably a Galsia, who hold a knife in front of themselves and literally run at the Player in the hope of impaling them. Since these "stabbers" usually arrive only when the Player is involved in mortal combat with other enemies, and their only attacks are fast strafing attacks, they can often be a lethal, but highly amusing, nuisance.
There were changes to the weapons that could be picked up also. The tear-gas grenade and the novel (but ultimately underwhelming) beer bottle from the orginal game have been removed. The knife has been tweaked, so the Player can choose to throw the knife when he or she pleases, whereas in the first game the knife could be thrown seemingly by accident by the Player, with all the hazards it implies. As a tradeoff, the knife does much less damage when thrown in Street of Rage II. A shuriken has also been added, with the same functionality as the knife.
The baseball bat from Streets of Rage is replaced by a Katana, which is the most deadly weapon in the entire game.
A much needed piece of functionality, as already hinted, is the ability to throw all weapons at will by holding down jump (C) and pressing attack (B). When not holding a weapon, this combo allows the Player to lash out behind him or her to take out an enemy sneaking up from behind.
Aside from the differences in weapons and enemies, the characters themselves are given some special abilities and handicaps. In addition to their traits and individual moves, the characters now have a "semi-special move"; a powerful, non-energy-draining attack delivered by double-tapping a direction and pressing attack (B).
Blaze has a special ability which allows her to deliver two attacks with the knife in one action, a stab and a slash. Her semi-special move is a burst of qi which knocks down all opponents affected.
Max is able to clear both in front and behind with a Drainpipe or Katana due to his huge swing. He is also unable to vault over an enemy to throw. Instead, Max jumps into the air holding his victim in a facelock/waistlock and can deliver some crippling slams. His semi-special is a sliding move which can penetrate large crowds of people and deliver several hits on each enemy in one action. His downside is his incredibly slow, lumbering pace, which is a serious problem against Ninjas, Kickboxers, Bikers and their grenades and other fast, avoidant enemies.
Skate, the lightest and most agile character, takes twice as long to muster a swing due to his small stature, leaving him open to attack. However, Skate is the only character capable of sprinting, by double-tapping a direction, and this can allow him to escape many attacks which the other characters could not. Since double-tapping skate causes him to sprint, his semi-special is a cannon-ball jump which can knock over large crowds of enemies. It is perhaps Skate's most invaluable move.
Axel, the most popular character, has remained unchanged. His semi-special is a "grand upper" uppercut, which, when done properly, connects many times with an enemy and also knocks him down, easily killing all weak enemies and draining large amounts of health from larger, tougher enemies.

Originally Posted by AndThen?

@ROB64 - The longer you spend on this forum, the more you realise that Napalmbrain knows a lot about everything.