Beat 'em up fans are rejoicing with the recent announcement of Streets of Rage 4. Long time fans have been waiting over 25 years for a new addition to the series. Streets of Rage 4 was supposed to come out in the mid to late 90s but rivaling business practices stopped that from ever happening. Instead, we got a spiritual successor, Fighting Force.
Just hearing the words Fighting Force might make devout Streets of Rage fans grimace. The forgotten 1997 beat 'em up was originally intended to be Streets of Rage 4 and was meant to be a Sega Saturn exclusive. Instead, it came out for every major console except the Saturn. The history of Fighting Force and the Streets of Rage series has more ups and downs than a never-ending roller-coaster ride.
Fighting Force's legacy started after Sega purchased a half-completed game titled Judgement Force. This half-finished game was from the developer Core Designs, then known for its work on the classic PS1 game Tomb Raider. Sega planned to turn the game into the first 3D entry in the Streets of Rage series. As such, Sega renamed Judgement Force to Streets of Rage 4. Everything seemed to be falling into place for Sega.
Issues between Sega and Core Design started brewing during the game's development. Core Design wanted to release Streets of Rage 4 on every major console. With the company's Tomb Raider game finding massive success on the PS1, Core didn't want to limit its audience. On the contrary, Sega was dead set on making Streets of Rage 4 a Saturn exclusive. The series was always exclusive to Sega consoles and arcades, and as part of its legacy, they refused to release it on the competitor's hardware.
The disagreements continued getting worse. Sega eventually pulled out of its deal with Core Designs midway through the game's development. This forced Core Designs to change the game's name from Streets of Rage 4 to Fighting Force. Eidos replaced Sega as the game's publisher, and Fighting Force's development continued.
Core Design's 3D beat 'em up finally released in 1997 for the original PlayStation. A port of the game would later come out for Windows and the N64 in 1999. A Sega Saturn version was supposedly developed, but business politics prevented its release. A prototype of the Saturn version with different character designs leaked online in 2008.
Storywise, Fighting Force was about Dr. Zeng, a criminal mastermind who had predicted the world would end. When that prediction failed to come true, he opted to end it himself. Hawk Manson, Ben "Smasher" Jackson, Mace Daniels and Alana McKendricks all find themselves fighting for their lives, as well as the fate of the world. Fighting Force received mixed reviews upon its release. Critics praised the game's interactive environment and graphics but criticized its repetitious gameplay and unoriginality. Beat 'em up fans were a little more forgiving of the games flaws, but still found it to be a mediocre experience. Streets of Rage loyalists were probably happy the game didn't bear the franchise's name.
Fighting Force sold well enough to warrant a sequel. Fighting Force 2 released in 1999 for the PlayStation and, surprisingly, the Sega Dreamcast. Fighting Force 2 was a single-player title which only featured Hawk from the original game, recruited to investigate a cloning facility. The game received abysmal reviews by both critics and gamers, and a planned Fighting Force 3 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 was canceled. By this time, the beat 'em up genre was starting to lose its appeal, and Sega started struggling as the Saturn and Dreamcast began to flop.
Sega had to regain its footing after its two systems failed. The company decided to stop making consoles and focus on making games for other systems. It tried resurrecting the Streets of Rage series on other platforms but failed to do so. The gaming giant tried creating an online Streets of Rage for the Xbox 360 and PS3, but it was canceled almost as soon as it began.
Now, finally, Streets of Rage is making a long-overdue return. The decision to keep an arcade feel to the game while still using the power of next-gen consoles has definitely enticed fans with the spark of nostalgia. If the game does well, we might see more classic beat 'em ups coming to next-generation consoles, and that may even mean the return of Hawk and his Fighting Force.