Customer Reviews

Streets of Rage 2 (Original Soundtrack)

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SOR2 OST marks the first ever US release of the music of Yuzo Koshiro, who's works in the SOR series of the old Sega 16 bit era made him one of the most well respected japanese game music composers, other of his works included Super Shinobi, Actraiser, and Super Adventure island, but never made it here and have been out of print since the mid 1990's, Mars Colony Music and Ancient Corp Japan makes a birthmark by re-releasing this powerful soundtrack (originally named Bare Knuckle II, the japanese name of S.O.R 2) Yuzo's amazing techno beats fill this soundtrack with much bass and jams that bring back memories of the popular game and mimics some of the hottest in trance and underground mixes of today, there are talk about a new SOR game coming to any of the new generation game systems, and we hope that Yuzo Koshiro, Ancient Corp and SEGA can follow up to their infamous series like they did in the 1990's

After playing Streets of Rage 2 for the Sega Genesis the first time, it instantly became a favorite, and I went to the store to buy the game not long after renting it the first time. One of the numerous things that REALLY stands out from playing that great game is its GREAT soundtrack.

The majority of the tracks are upbeat, techno rockers (no singing included, just unbelievable music). Yuzo Koshiro proves that he really knows his stuff when it comes to music. The music on this CD is great for music in itself, and spectacular for it to be from a video game.

The tracks are all straight from the classic side scrolling beat 'em up. Most of the tracks last for 2-4 minutes, with some being a bit shorter, and some being longer. Take it from me, not only is the music memorable and just as great as ever, it also brings back memories and colorful pictures of playing through the game's many enticing stages.

If you've ever liked the music from your plays through the classic game of Streets of Rage 2, or if you just like great techno music, get this soundtrack right now! Often times while playing the actual game, I would stop for awhile and just listen to the music; now I don't have to anymore after getting this must-have soundtrack!

...tho no longer available. Yuzo Koshiro's score for this 1992 Sega Genesis game had a lot of rave and techno plus jazzed-up mixes of themes from the first game. This CD contains all tracks played through-out each level. As you probably know the tracks just loop after about 2 minutes in the game and that's what they do here too. The tracks is looped twice before fading out so that they aren't too short. My fave track is 'The Revenge of Mr X' which cranks the original 'final boss' theme all they way up to 11.

Plus having these cool beats on CD and playing it through your home sound system is so much cooler than hearing it through the Genesis. Though I wouldn't have minded if Mars Colony had juiced it up a little to prevent them sounding like rather basic midi-files.

It's a shame this wasn't in print for very long because it would have been very popular. The fact that they sold out so quickly only proves this.

This is SO cool. Streets of Rage 2 was the first 'modern' video game I ever played, when I purchased the Sega Genesis set and got the video game packaged with it. Back then, it was a huge step up from the original Nintendo, which I felt had mostly lackluster games.

Although I enjoyed (and still do enjoy) the fighting in Streets of Rage 2 and 3, I also like the music in both video games. I was absolutely elated when I discovered that Mars Colony Music had released the soundtrack for SoR 2.

The music has the simple nature that you'd expect for a soundtrack to a 16-bit game. It's pretty easy to follow. But it one-ups the game in one respect; this is digital, and much clearer, thus allowing all the subtle nuances and complexities to come out.

Some of the music has a trance-based formula, although not as complex or fast as today's stuff. For example, there's the music that heralds the arrival of all the level bosses. "Never Return" still has a heavy beat, but the hyper phaser effects are now noticeable. In addition, "Under Logic," the soundtrack for Level 4 (at the baseball park) retains all its energetic pep.

On the other hand, "Alien," which is played in the last stage of Level 3 (in the carny house, just before Zamza arrives), has all its slow, dark synth work, with new horn effects fleshing it out.

However, the majority of this soundtrack has an energetic, dancy sound to it. Most of the album is enjoyable, even if it gets a little boring after listening to it for too long. I generally listen to it just once through, instead of putting it on Repeat (but some of the better tracks stand up to that challenge).

I'm glad I purchased this disc, since I have enjoyed the music in Streets of Rage 2 for years. If you have that level of attraction to it, go for it. But if you are apathetic toward the music, then this will hold no interest for you.

I'm surprised Amazon has gotten a hold of some copies. I bought my through a seller from here for 7 bucks I do believe. They called it used because there was no shrink wrap but it was still new. So on to the review.

During the height of the arcade era I guess there were a plethora of 2D side scrolling multiple plane beat'em ups. They ate up quarters fast and to cash in on the arcade beat'em up sucess, Sega, being the arcade geniuses that they were, made there own new series for their 16 bit console Genesis. Streets of Rage took it by storm and had a huge fan base. The graphics were excellent at the time and the gameplay was better than Final Fight (the beat'em up god). But something else huge stood out, its music. Streets of Rage featured some of the best techno and house beats. The music stood out amongst all games on any console. Composed by Yuzo Koshiro with some new technology he worked masterpieces out of the 16 bit machine.

So when the sequel Streets of Rage 2 rolled around, Yuzo stepped up to the plate again and dazzeld everyone with the series best soundtrack. Yuzo took the club sound of the time and put it in a game. Every track had its on distintive feel. From the jazzy club sound of In The Bar. To the industrial techno used for the songs Expander and Back to Industry. To the somber sounds of Slow Moon. Every song reflected the stage that it was in (especialy Alien Power). Only drawback to this whole soundtrack is that the songs are short. This was a beat em'up and you are never in a stage too long enough and never too far away from sound effects for the repeation to get to you. On a stand alone soundtrack it can be a little annoying. But it still finds a place in my cd player anyway.

Don't pass up on a chance to buy a classic. This is one of the greatest video game soundtracks of any genre and of any era.

Streets of Rage 2 had one of the best video game soundtracks on the Sega Genesis, which is why it was the first or second game soundtrack I actually recorded from the game itself and burned onto a CD, way back in the mid-late '90s. (I'm so glad I got the Genesis with a headphone jack for Christmas and not the compact model which was already on the market!) The music was so awesome that I still listen to that CD often while working on the computer.

What surprises me about the official soundtrack here is that, according to Amazon's samples, it's a straight recording from the original game's music renderer, whereas most game soundtracks released in the 21st Century (regardless of how old the original game is) are remixes either performed live or rendered with modern music synthesis software. But that's okay, because it's so good it's still worth listening to! It looks like the only thing missing from this soundtrack is the short "Stage Clear" tune.

I love this game and its bgm/sfx.

I feel like there is some EQing that doesn't sound right to me, but it does sound like it was recorded straight from the game. I wonder if it was ripped from a rom...

Anyway, if you dig it, check a remix i made to give tribute (it's the "alien power" level)

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Some of the best music ever recorded for a video game. I always thought SNES outmatched Sega when it came to both music and sound effects, but this was one of the few game soundtracks that changed that. SOR always had great game play but what made these games so addicting was the energetic and multi layered complex instrumental beats that accompanied you as you punched your way through hordes of punks and leather jacket thugs and larger than life bosses!

Great Game, and Great music! Will always hold a place in the world of video games and to me in music as well. A lot of these tracks are very similar to tracks I've heard getting bumped in night clubs and such!