The Streets of Rage trilogy from the 90’s is considered to be legendary within gaming community and they are still among the greatest beat em up video game of all-time. While Streets of Rage 1 & 2 from ’91-’92 are classics that casual players could easily enjoy SOR 3 from ’94 was quite possibly one of the most difficult beat em up video games in history. Originally, when SOR 3 was released in Japan it was called Bare Knuckle III and the difficultly for the Japanese version of the game was slightly easier than the American version. However, the American version of Bare Knuckle III known as SOR 3 was damn near impossible for the average player to complete. Streets of Rage 3 has gained a notorious reputation within the past three decades of being so hard to a point where its almost unfair to players. Streets of Rage 3 rivaled the likes of Battletoads in terms of difficulty and the soundtrack for the music was uninspiring in comparison to its predecessors. The soundtracks in Streets of Rage 2 including “Go Straight”, “Dreamer”, “Under Logic” and “Slow Moon” were all memorable 16-bit gems as it related to VGM.

Streets of Rage 3 hardly had any memorable soundtracks because it produced a more serious and intense atmosphere which focused more on hard techno. Despite, the soundtrack for Streets of Rage 3 forgettable it did have improved gameplay mechanics along with cutscenes and multiple endings. The inclusion of Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding and Skate were also considered positives in SOR 3 mainly because new characters like Zen and Roo did not connect with a lot players and their inclusion felt random. While Streets of Rage 3 might possibly be the most unpopular entry within its own series the gameplay was more advanced than anyone would have expected before its release in 1994. Streets of Rage 3 was also a game that looked like it could have been ten times better if were made into a live action movie. In 2024, Streets of Rage 3 is still one of the hardest beat em up video games of all-time but unfortunately it has recently been overshadowed by the critically acclaimed SOR 4 game from 2020.