Axel and Blaze had moved out of the city after the adventure, with Axel working as a part-time bodyguard and Blaze teaching dance classes. X and his criminal organization, The Syndicate, the trio of Adam Hunter, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding had met at their favorite nightspot in the city, reminiscing about both their vigilante crusade and triumphant victory from within the previous year. To celebrate the defeat of the mysterious Mr. One year has passed since the events of Streets of Rage. Along with the main campaign, two players can also fight against each other in the game's Duel mode. Replacing the police car attack from the previous game, each character can perform Special Attacks which can deal extra damage or attack enemies from all directions at the cost of the player's health. In addition to standard attacks, which have been expanded from the previous game, each character can perform a unique Blitz Attack by double tapping a direction before attacking. Along with returning characters Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding, the game introduces two new characters Max Thunder, a slow-moving but powerful wrestler, and Eddie "Skate" Hunter (known as Sammy Hunter in the Japanese release), the brother of previous game's Adam Hunter who can move around quickly with his rollerblades.
Like the previous game, Streets of Rage 2 is a side-scrolling beat-em-up in which one or two players fight against waves of enemies while picking up weapons and items along the way. The game is commonly regarded as the best entry in the series, the best beat 'em up game for the Sega Genesis, and one of the greatest video games of all time. Upon release, Streets of Rage 2 received critical acclaim and topped sales charts for months. The game was programmed by the same team as the original. Ancient's Ayano Koshiro was the lead graphic designer and one of the game design planners, while her brother Yuzo Koshiro composed the music.
Streets of Rage 2 was developed by an ad hoc team of several companies: Sega, Ancient, Shout! Designworks, MNM Software and H.I.C. A sequel to Streets of Rage (1991), the characters Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding return while the game also introduces two new characters: Max "Thunder" Hatchet and Eddie "Skate" Hunter, the younger brother of Adam Hunter from the first game.
Streets of Rage 2, known in Japan as Bare Knuckle II, is a 1992 side-scrolling beat 'em up video game published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis.