Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Last week SEGA ordered that the Streets Of Rage remake – a faithful fan (reportedly eight years in development) recreation by Bomber Gamers that we previously reported on – be taken down by its creators. Subsequently, SEGA issued this statement:

“SEGA is committed to supporting any fans that take an interest in our games, and where possible we do so by involving them in Beta tests and other development, marketing or research opportunities. However we need to protect our intellectual property rights and this may result in us requesting that our fans remove online imagery, videos or games in some instances.”

Fairly tragic, I think. Is there any good news today?

I have only foggy memories of Sega’s 1991 side-scrolling man-thumper Streets of Rage (I was more of a Final Fight man, played on a chum’s Amiga) but I remember visiting the house of the only boy in the world to own a Mega-CD / Sega CD and playing it with him there. Though it might have been the second game, now I think of it. No matter – many buttons were bashed, many men were thumped, many naughty-swears were uttered. And yes, I do remember that thing where the police car turns up and bombs everything to death with as much fondness as the next man.

Now, a cartel of indie devs have painstakingly remade the bally thing as an elaborate, faithful but free PC game. After a remarkable eight years in development, you can play the ‘final’ version of this labour of violent love right now.
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