Games We Never Knew: Streets of Rage 3D

My thumbnail for the cancelled Streets of Rage 3D

Streets of Rage was one of the nest side scrolling fighters of my generation. Blasting on to the Sega Mega Drive in 1991, Streets of Rage had me and my friends lodged in a frenzy of gaming euphoria. Fast forward to 2014 when I decided to take my Youtube channel in a new direction by starting a playlist entitled Games We Never Knew, I thought I'd delve in to the mystery of the cancelled Streets of Rage 3D. It was at the end of 2012 when someone leaked just over two minutes worth of gameplay. Gameplay that was never meant for the public eye!

A screenshot from the Streets of Rage Reboot 2012

Click to enlarge this quote from Sean Noonan. Ubisoft Level Designer

The prototype gameplay that is shown in this video is the only known evidence that the 3D Streets of Rage reboot existed. It was great to see some of the familiar backdrops we saw in the original such as the 'Pine Pot' arcade. The same arcade that gave off a neon glow in the background of Stage one on the original Mega Drive game. Personally I feel that that it's a shame this game never came to full fruition and I wanted to know why? I contacted Ruffian Games, the dev team in charge of Streets of Rage 3D reboot and asked them to comment. I got an answer but it was not the answer I was hoping for. Ruffian games said "Obviously we'd like to do more but our obligations to respect the wishes of our development partners are important to us". Conclusively leading me to state that we know nothing! Despite that, I was treated to view the prototype gameplay which was known to "represent pre-pre-pre-pre (lots of pres) pre-Alpha quality" according to Gaz Liddon, Studio Head of Ruffian Games.

For more from Games We Never Knew subscribe to my Youtube channel and join us on Facebook. Check out my Youtube video below to view the prototype gameplay. I'm keen to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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