Posted by Bob Mackey
While the Streets of Rage series is mostly a forgotten relic these days, Sega's answer to Final Fight is fondly remembered by many as the superior alternative to Capcom's brawler--especially since the home version of Final Fight didn't even have friggin' multiplayer. But it's recently come to my attention that the changes made in the translation from Bare Knuckle (the Japanese name for the series) to Streets of Rage are mostly unknown to the gaming public. So thank heavens we now have Twilight Translation's Bare Knuckle III translation patch in our lives to right Sega's 15 year-old wrong of inexplicably changing the game's story. Here's a brief excerpt from our friends over at Hardcore Gaming 101 to tell you just how Streets of Rage III differed from its Japanese counterpart:
The original plot from the Japanese release is completely different than what made it to the English version of the game. It begins with a place called Oak Wood City being destroyed in a nuclear explosion (!!!) by a "Rakushin" bomb. It then follows the heroes as they search for other bombs that they have been informed of, fend off Mr. X's thugs, and look for the recently kidnapped military officer General Petrof. Dr. Zan later reveals that Mr. X intends to start a war with all of the bombs that he has stolen, and that General Petrof was kidnapped because he posed a threat to this plan. Then we find out that Dr. Zan and is a former acquaintance of General Petrof from the military, and that his real name is Dr. Gilbert, the discoverer of Rakushin.
If you're a Streets of Rage fan, I'm sure most of that made sense to you. But if not, you should at least takee comfort in the fact that Bare Knuckle III is far less cheap and much more playable than Streets of Rage III, despite having such a stupid name. I mean, my knuckles are bare right now and I'm not feeling particularly tough. Maybe I'm doing it wrong?
Related Links:
Persona 2: Innocent Sin Translation Complete
The End of Time and the Beginning of Fan Drama
Do You Translate When You Emulate?
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About Bob Mackey
For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's
Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.
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