I was a bit dismissive of Bare Knuckle III when I first played it, the flow of the game being much faster and aggresive compared to 2 caught me by suprise and I couldn't really get use to it very well. After giving it a proper play, I found stuff that I end up liking more that it's predecessor and began to apareciate it on it's own merit; more and faster enemies, a new and more flexible implementation of your desperation attack, and even the weapon pick ups have some more depths to them as they give new moves to the characters, except the Kangoroo, who can't pick them, because he's wearing boxing gloves.
I would like it more than Streets of Rage II by a fair share, but the game has a fascination for throwing worthless gimmick at you, which only become more aggravating in subsequent playthroughs. The loader segment might suprise you the first time you see it, and you'll feel good figuring it out the second, but then you gotta do it a third, fourth, and a million times, without alteration or any actual risk, it becomes a big time sink. Same could be said about the train section with the ninjas, or when rescuing that kidnaped guy, or when you end up fighting a literal claw machine for some reason. I would have preferred if the game focused more on "consider the place you're fighting in" like the level with pits or the first part of the train level, instead or "stop fighting to do this other thing."

I decided to play the Japanese version of this game because I heard many times over the years how the Western version got fucked by being really difficult. In spite of that, I'll be calling this game Streets of Rage 3 from here on, for the sake of consistency with the past two games I played.

Streets of Rage 3 is in a lot of ways better than its prequel.
Faster gameplay, the ability to run, the removal of the time limit, a more involved story, and the ability to upgrade overtime your abilites!

That last one is actually pretty awesome as, for example, Axel's Grand Upper can become even more destructive and last longer! No wonder they nerfed the base move compared to the previous game.

I also like how the Special Move button has a meter that builds up, and when that meter is full, you can do your special move without health cost, which is great!

You have a ton of options of how you wanna approach your enemies, and I really like Streets of Rage 3 for that!

I do have a few issues with the game though.
For starters, I didn't find the soundtrack to be as memorable as 1 and 2. It's not like the OST is bad or anything, I just kinda didn't care for it as much the previous two games.

Additionally, I'm not the biggest fan on some of the gimmicks that this game's stages add, like the spiked truck moving towards you in Stage 3.

And the final stage's bosses can go kick my ass.

But in terms of presentation, it's even better than Streets of Rage 2, and really goes to show how much Mega Drive graphics evolved over the years.

Overall, I did enjoy Streets of Rage 3, but not as much as its predecessor.

I've never understood the hate for Streets of Rage 3 ever since I played it for the first time around a year ago. Though I was familiar with both previous entries to the series, the status of 3 being the "black sheep" had me mostly turn away from it until I got curious and played the Megadrive Classic Collection version. Though that version is tough as nails and has some censored content compared to the Japanese original, I still think of it to be the best of the series. That opinion is only solidified with the original Bare Knuckle III.

I have a very special fondness for Streets of Rage. The first game boasts iconic characters, a sensational soundtrack, and impeccable urban atmosphere. The second game improved upon all the positive aspects of the first one, and many people consider it the franchise's best installment. It's not my personal favorite, but I won't beat around the bush here.

Now, let's talk about the black sheep of the series, Streets of Rage 3. To me, it's simply an absolute disappointment and a step backward compared to the earlier games in the series. It's hard to find any aspect of this game that hasn't been somehow ruined. Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of playing the Western version first, and I believe the vast majority made that same mistake.

What can I say? The difficulty is completely out of proportion, the enemies are frenzied and deal tons of damage, while seemingly taking none themselves. Thankfully, a friend showed me a glimmer of hope. He recommended the original Japanese version, and what a difference it made! It's a more satisfying experience, as well as being better balanced and true to the developers' original vision.

This game deserves to be analyzed from two distinct perspectives: the Western version and the Japanese version. Sega of America made significant changes when localizing the game. However, as this page is solely focused on the Japanese version, I will discuss and provide information related to that specific release. In fact, it's the version I completed anyway.

The first thing that caught my attention was the visual improvement. There's a greater level of detail in both the playable character and enemy sprites. I wouldn't call them works of art, but I liked them. The animations are very well executed and smooth. As for the backgrounds, well, they were a bit disappointing. Apart from being repetitive, in some places, it felt like an unfinished map.

Regarding the characters, they retained the three from the second game, except for Max. I missed Adam, and unfortunately, he's not playable here either for some reason. Actually, I know the reason; I just found it quite idiotic. The new character, Zan, is an old man equipped with electric weapons, and I quite liked him. He was a very fun character, and his moves were cool

The story is terribly bad. It's true that the series was never known for its deep narrative, but I liked the atmosphere and the simple plot of the first two games. Anyway, the story goes like this:

Basically, an experimental weapon called Rakushin causes a cataclysmic explosion in Wood Oak City, resulting in the death of 30,000 people and injuring over 80,000. Axel and Blaze are assigned to investigate the incident. Meanwhile, international tensions escalate in Lima, where a general disappears after being invited to a peace agreement at the White House. A mysterious inventor named Gilbert Zan enters the scene, claiming that his research was used for destructive purposes. Axel and Blaze must unravel these mysteries to prevent a global catastrophe.

The gameplay is by far the best in the trilogy. New moves like running and vertical dodging have been added, which, in my opinion, was an excellent change, making everything faster and more dynamic. Another excellent change was the "Power Meter," which, when full, allows you to use special moves without depleting your health bar. Weapons function slightly differently here; each weapon has its own health bar, and depending on the character, they gain additional moves.

The soundtrack is one of the game's major letdowns. Especially the music on the Disco Stage, which is arguably the worst in the game. At several points, it seemed like notes aligned arbitrarily without any logical foundation. Yuzo Koshiro mentioned in an interview that it was an experimental piece, and he used some kind of artificial intelligence he developed himself to help him find beats that no human would have imagined. Regardless of the method used, we already know the result.

To conclude, despite being criticized for various aspects such as bad music, an unengaging story, and uninspired backgrounds, it still has notable merits. It's worth trying to see if it suits your personal taste, especially if played with friends in cooperative mode, which was my case.

After playing this one, I can get why it is commonly known as the black sheep in the series.
...but, it doesn't mean I can just accept that so easily.

There are a fair share of characteristics that make this, perhaps, the most uninteresting entry in the SoR franchise:
1) The most blatant downside you'll immediately notice is the soundtrack. It is far from bad, but it is FAR from the great OSTs from the first two games. Whilst before I felt that Yuzo Koshiro's techno compositions were more like "real music playing on my Genesis", here it felt more like the "video game version of techno beats"; it reeks of chiptune, and most of the tracks are boring and repetitive, lacking a lot of the punch present in the sound of the previous titles, which represented the sheer mastery Koshiro had on the Mega Drive hardware.
2) It looks weird. We have seen glimpses of sci-fi near the end of SoR2, but here I think they may have gone a bit too far; everything is high-tech. On top of that, the stages don't look as colourful and diverse as before.
3) Lastly, the biggest issue: the reputation the game has got from it's US release, which unmercifully BUTCHERED the game's difficulty (making it too hard, that is) and story, and even changed the colour pallete of the main characters sprites.

Besides all of that? Streets of Rage 3, or better, Bare Knuckle III, the superior and definitive Japanese version of the game, was easily my favourite in the series so far.

Gameplay-wise, this game felt perfect. It has, by far, the best controls of the first three games, and what was previously slow and methodic is now a fast-paced adventure filled with action.
1) Every character can now dash and dodge vertically on the screen.
2) There is a bar that fills up within a few seconds, and if you perform your special move when it's full, it won't hurt your HP like it would in SoR2. If you do your special move when it's not full, however, it will take out a lot of life. A super clever way to not punish the player for performing a useful and strategical move, but also keep them from abusing the specials for invencibility frames.
3) Weapons, like pipes, planks, baseball bats and swords have their own durability bar, which depletes as you hit enemies. This can make gameplay more varied by making you experiment more with different tools instead of sticking to a particular one for as long as you can, as well as it prevents you from abusing a weapon's reach and knockback.
4) They FINALLY took advantage of the Genesis/Mega Drive's six button controller, and we FINALLY have the rear attack mapped to a specific button! There's also a button mapped with a knockback attack you would usually have to hold the B button to perform. Super useful.
5) The stages are, once again, more varied in terms of gimmicks, enemy variety and overall challenges. I felt that SoR2 left a bit to be desired on it's last stages, but the stage gimmicks from the first game are back and better than ever. The cherry on top is the final stage and boss, which will test the player's skills to the fullest with timed events.
5) Besides it's more dull colouring, the game looks phenomenal, much more detailed than the first two, and definitely one of the prettiest games from the 16-bit era.

Sure, it definitely lacks the charm of SoR2, but it's still an absolute joy to play through and through. An amazing console brawler, and a true Streets of Rage experience, with the best gameplay so far.

Originally I was just going to play for a little bit to test out the Retro-Bit Saturn controller I got for my Mister (verdict: seems good, dpad's a little spongey but suspect it'll break in, buttons feel great, cable's about a metre too long) and before I knew it I was done. Nice cooldown from another session on Nioh 2!

Since this is the Japanese version I knew it'd be easier but didn't realise how much so; the game's got practically no challenge at all up until maybe the stage 5 boss. It starts to turn the screws a little bit by stage 7 but that's the end of the game! Still didn't manage to beat the final boss in time fo the best ending but it still counts. Coming from SOR4 I was surprised to find how much it ends up expecting you to actually use your dodge up and down; in 4 just walking at normal speed up or down dodges a significant amount of even tracking enemy moves. The star moves are kind of game breaking too and having a 6 button controller lets you fire them off at will (albeit with a fiddly, Primal Rage-esque pad combo). It basically gives you control over most of the screen for most enemies.

Overall it does feel a bit half-baked; the game feels like it lacks consistency at times, and sound effects are noticeably worse and there are only 7 stages, one of which basically being three corridors with a few single-screen rooms branching off.

One note on the soundtrack - I think time's been kind to a lot of it and it definitely grows on you with some neat, complex tracks but there are still some dreadful tracks on there. The one for the ending in particular reminded me of the infamous Resident Evil Basement track, just random notes without the more progressive sounds other tracks have. Some really long tracks in there for a game like this too - there are multiple ones where it has one more bridge section or even more before looping. Cool to listen to when it's working.

Its actually insane to see how Sega turned what may be the best beat-em-up oat into a miserable slog.

My only problem with the American SOR3 is with the difficulty, enemies can drain your HP within a few seconds, and they usually circle around you so fast you can hit them.
This game is what Streets of Rage 3 should've been.

There's no bullshit, the control is amazing (something you wouldn't notice in sor3 because you spent most of your time playing getting knocked down), and, hot take, I fucking LOVE the soundtrack. It fits the visual style and tone of this game perfectly.

In my opinion, this is the definitive Streets game. The ambition paid off.

So, I decided to go for the Japanese version since I heard the Western release had a lot of censorship, and this has definitely become my favorite one yet!

Being able to run and roll either up or down by double tapping the D pad in the direction you want makes all the difference. You can even use it to avoid enemy attacks—such a fantastic new feature!. 
Even the special moves got an upgrade since you can now use them without getting hurt; all you have to do is wait for the special meter to refill overtime, which is a great idea since it doesn't let you spam them all the time. Even weapons have specials now if you try different input combinations, that's so cool!

AND you can unlock a character that's a kangaroo wearing boxing gloves?! 
All you have to do, (and the game actually gives you a hint on this) is to defeat his owner instead, since it's him who's forcing it to fight you by hitting it with a whip. I think that's a super smart design on the game's part.

The sprites are not as big and impressive as the last game, but what you get in return is more space to move, which I think is not a bad deal at all. Having more room also allows the game to have more variety in its level design, like the subway level in which you have to watch for the trains... Oh, and there's a new elevator level in which you can throw enemies off the stage!!! Streets of Rage 3, I love you so much. 

Yeah, the music is not as good and the final boss being under a timer were not very cool, but overall, I think this is the most replayable in the franchise.

Also, I almost forgot to mention it, but by using specific character combinations like Blaze and Axel or Jet and Skate, you can perform special team moves. I need to find someone to play with ;;

I'm a Streets of Rage 3 apologist (it has a kangaroo), but after repeatedly being told the unbastardized Bare Knuckle III is the superior version in every way, I figured I had to give it a try. As it happens my repro guy wholesaler of legitimate Sega products happened to have an English patched version of the game. It even lights up! Like, really bright. Looks like the cart is reaching criticality in my Genesis.

I tried to replay a bit of Streets of Rage 3 so I could have a direct point of comparison between the two versions, and some differences were immediately apparent. Take Ash, for example. He's a mini-boss appearing in the first level of Bare Knuckle III that was cut from Streets of Rage 3 due to being an offensive leather daddy stereotype. At least that's the reason that's been given and repeated for years, and I can certainly see how it holds water as Ash does read like the butt of a joke.

There's a multitude of other differences both big and small, but the majority manifest in tweaks to difficulty balancing. Bare Knuckle III seems easier overall and much faster compared to its American counterpart, which was so difficult I could only push through it with a second player and a generous amount of save states. Comparatively, Bare Knuckle III took me one credit and about 45 minutes with the majority of my deaths being to the bulldozer, which I forgot I could push back with my fists - my bare knuckles as it were. That's really on me, and even with one measly life left, I was still able to complete the rest of the game. It's just a way smoother experience overall and makes it a lot harder to recommend Streets of Rage 3 to anyone who wants to play through the trilogy.

Unfortunately, I had to forcefully remove the Bare Knuckle III cart with my bare hands before it vaporized us all, exposing me to over a 1,000 rads. It won't be much longer now before radiation poisoning ravages my body. Please take a piece of chalk and mark where you're standing. Farewell.

Fui na versão japonesa porque socorro a dificuldade de fliperama da americana.

Esse jogo é complicado, embora eu goste da trilha sonora experimental, ela não dá o gás que você precisa pra zerar esse jogo. Principalmente porque, apesar de ser de looonge o SoR do Mega Drive com o combate mais complexo, ele é definitivamente o que mais sente como "anda e bate aí, foda-se".

Quer dizer, tem umas variaçõezinhas na gameplay de vez em quando, mas ele consegue ser genérico e menos memorável que os outros dois em tudo. Não é a toa que os finais diferentes e o twist de tempo na gameplay foram introduzidos pro fim do jogo, porque realmente parece que as ideias de level design tinham esgotado.

É legal pra passar o tempo, não é tão conciso nem tem uma trilha sonora tão boa quanto o primeiro, mas eu curto muito mais jogar gameplaywise. No fim do dia eu prefiro só rejogar Streets of Rage 2 pra sempre, eu sequer sei como esse jogo existe, de tão bom que ele é.

Joguei sem o Aiden, vou esperar pra meter a versão melhorada do SoR Remake com ele, acho que vai ser muito mais divertido.