Keeping it old school

Another short piece for anyone who used to be into their computer games

I am an absolute Luddite when it comes to modern day games consoles. Shove a control in my hand mid-play nowadays and you’d get a reaction similar to that of someone thrust into the cockpit of a rapidly plummeting aeroplane and told to land it. This hasn’t always been the case however. As a child of the nineties, I could Street Fight and drive Micro Machines with the best of them, but as I progressed through my teenage years football, girls and alcohol appeared as a Cerberus of temptation and my gaming dexterity deteriorated rapidly. The Xboxes, the PlayStations, the Wii’s – they came and sped past me leaving me stood like a lonely hitchhiker on the side of the gaming superhighway. I longed for a return to the days of tri-buttoned simplicity and scroll-along beat-em-ups, the days when the graphics were as two dimensional as the storylines and Desert Strike was the closest we had to a war game.

The only word on any respectable kids early nineties Christmas list was Sega. Compared to the family-orientated Nintendo systems with their wholesome white colour scheme and loveable cartoony characters, Sega was the neighbourhood rebel. What 10 year old boy wants to waddle along with two fat plumbers when you can joyride with a blue haired hedgehog on speed? And for me and my best mate Vin, the Sega Mega Drive was a way of life. After school we’d race up the stairs of the estate block like Rocky on sherbet dib-dabs, burst through the door of his flat throwing our bags down on the way up the stairs and like thousands of kids across the country, settle down in front of the TV, flick the ‘on’ switch from left to right and fall like Alice into a bright flashing 16-bit Wonderland. Our game of choice: Streets of Rage 2 a classic scroll along beat-em-up set in an anonymous American city in the grip of evil crime-lord Mr X. A few frantic ‘start’ button presses to move things along and we were ready to roam the streets of the crime-ridden neon metropolis to the sound of Japanese rave music, fighting off fire breathing fat men and ninjas along the way. For two kids whose idea of adventure was getting the bus to Walthamstow Market in half-term, this was indescribable fun. Streets of Rage allowed us to be transported us into an alluring sleazy underworld which until then only existed in films our mum wouldn’t let us watch.

The characters we’d control were tough street brawlers picked straight out of a 90s action movie complete with attitudes and bandanas. They flying kicked their way into our consciousness, we’d have our favourites and we’d stick by them till the end of their four lives (and two continues). We weren’t simply guiding them on the screen, our relationship was more than just master and commander, we became one. The lines of reality blurred, I’d often desperately call out in real time to Vin to “watch my back” as I went kamikazeing into a mob of baddies, bonds were being made on screen and off.
The soundtrack, by veteran video game composer Yuzo Koshiro was heavily influenced by the UK rave scene (level 4 sounds almost identical to Move any Mountain), a retrospective listen uncovers a couple of absolute gems that wouldn’t sound out of place played in a Dalston basement (whether or not that’s a good thing is up to you). Although I was fascinated by it I was too young to be part of the acid house generation that had Conservative Britain’s knickers in a twist, but the music of Streets of Rage 2 brought me closer to it. Armed with a Mega Drive and my TV volume turned up to the max I could be there in spirit, annoying my parents in the process – perfect.

You can keep your Call of Duties and your Halos, Streets of Rage 2 has given me and my generation the opportunity for the first time in our lives to sit back in our chairs arms folded, and say.....“They don’t make ‘em like that anymore”.

very good mate

Much better than your 5am rambling's of "she's right up my street D', blonde hair, big tit's, slightly overweight, I could ruin her here, right now........if she would let me"

hahaha, mate you should of seen the bird I was into on Saturday night, the oddest looking creature I've ever seen, I think Wilks was a bit jealous if you ask me

Tommy wrote:

hahaha, mate you should of seen the bird I was into on Saturday night, the oddest looking creature I've ever seen, I think Wilks was a bit jealous if you ask me

Beer goggles.

Been the ruin of many young men.