A playthough of Sega's 1994 beat 'em up game for the Sega Mega Drive, Bare Knuckle III.

Played through as Axel on the normal difficulty level. I received the "good" ending.

This video is of the original Japanese game translated into English. The patch, created by Twilight Translations, can downloaded here: [ Ссылка ]

Bare Knuckle III, or Streets of Rage 3, as it was named in the west, is a bit of a sore spot for many fans of Sega's 16-bit brawler trilogy. The official English-language version quickly became notorious for some of the "tweaks" Sega made to the game during the localization.

Here's a run-down of the biggest differences:

1. The difficulty level in the English version was ramped so much that the game became a miserable slog. It's generally thought that Sega of America, in order to increase game sales, did this to prevent people from being able to finish it during a weekend rental.

2. The plot was changed and most of the cutscenes were removed from the game.

3. Several changes were made to the graphics and sound: in many cases the voice clips were altered, characters' color palettes have been swapped, and some character sprites were censored or replaced (most notably being that of Ash, the flamboyant, prancing miniboss in Rd. 1)

If you'd like to see these differences for yourself, you can find my video of the American version of the game here: [ Ссылка ]

Streets of Rage 3 doesn't display the same creative spark as the first two games, and the presentation (in my personal opinion) has taken a stylistic nosedive from the amazing high mark set by SoR2. Though it's well animated and there are some cool effects, the graphics are grainy and the colors are dull, and the soundtrack, though impressive, tends to grate on the eardrums quite a bit. The tunes would've really benefited from something resembling a melody once in awhile, and the nonstop electronic drone of noise quickly wears thin.

The gameplay, however, is just as good as SoR 1 and 2 as long as you aren't playing the US version that insists on punishing you for trying to have fun. I *so* resented Sega for a long time after playing the American version, but it is really nice to have the far superior original game now playable in English.

(But why does Blaze have a flabby armpit pseudo-boob during the ending's text crawl? And why is Rambo Axel so damned ugly in that cinema before the title screen?)

I'd absolutely recommend anyone that loves Streets of Rage to pass over the official American release and to give this version a go, especially if you're practicing up in anticipation for Streets of Rage 4.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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