Developer: SEGA/Ancient
Publisher: SEGA
Released: March 18, 1994
Completed: April 27, 2020
A while back I reviewed Streets of Rage 3, the western release of Bare Knuckle III and the final installment in the series until 2020's hotly anticipated Streets of Rage 4. I compared it quite unfavorably to the Japanese version because, well, the Japanese version is better. In fact, it's so much better, it warrants its own review, even though it's sort of redundant.
The experience of playing Bare Knuckle III is vastly different than its American counterpart. It's easier - almost too easy on the normal difficulty - by a wide margin, with the US version's default difficulty being worse than hard in Japan. Whereas the US version often feels like a slog, the lower enemy count of BK3 quickens the overall pacing, and thank god for the more modest lifebars of the Japanese bosses.
Fundamentally, it's the same game. It has the same characters with the same moves, the same levels, the same soundtrack, and the same new mechanics. Weapons still degrade and break after several hits, you can still roll up or down or dash left to right, and a meter still governs whether your special moves will cost you a small portion of your lifebar or not. The more reasonable difficulty just makes it exponentially more fun to play.
There are some minor differences, of course, many of them cosmetic. Axel's inexplicably yellow shirt is once again white, and Blaze returns in her red top and skirt. Axel again shouts "grand upper!" instead of the ironic "bare knuckle" used in the US version, despite it being the Japanese title of the series. The biggest gameplay difference, besides being more manageable to play, is the inclusion of the stage one mid-boss, Ash.
It's easy to see why Ash was dropped from the American release, though some of his data still exists on the cart and can be accessed via a Game Genie if you want to play a bugged out version of him. A raging homosexual stereotype, Ash resembles the Village People's Macho Man, wears fishnet stockings, and runs with limp wrists flung upwards. I'm not easily offended, but even I groaned. Even in 1994 when homosexuality was far less socially accepted, this would be considered outrageous. If nothing else, it's an interesting sign of cultural differences that no one at SEGA of Japan thought this should be removed.
Oddly, the American version does not replace the boss fight with Ash. His sprite driving boatloads of thugs to the dock was replaced with stage one boss Shiva's, but you don't engage with him until the end of the round.
The other big difference between the US and Japanese releases is the story. Not only was it heavily altered for the US, containing a plot that involved Mr. X replacing government officials with robot clones, it was also significantly cut down. There are additional mid-level cinematics in Bare Knuckle III that tell an entirely different story of a deadly explosive discovered by newcomer Dr. Zan that Mr. X hopes to use to start a full-scale world war. It's the discovery of this substance that leads Zan to joining the rest of the cast as a force for good. Stories in beat 'em ups are about as important as male nipples, but it's still puzzling why it was changed for the western audience.
Unfortunately, one thing that did not change was the music. Bare Knuckle III has the same spastic hard techno soundtrack as the US game. I know it has its fans, but I hate it with few exceptions.
The change in difficulty really makes all the difference, resulting in a much more fair and faster paced game. The stages are still somewhat uninspired, but you won't be bogged down by twice as many enemies in each one, allowing you to progress faster. It's generally assumed that SEGA altered the difficulty of Streets of Rage 3 to combat the rental market, where games could often be beaten over a weekend, thus eliminating the incentive to purchase them. In doing so, they highlighted the repetitive nature of beat 'em ups and stripped much of the fun out of the game. There are only so many hundreds of Galsias you can beat down before you're ready to stop playing. Taking everything into account, Bare Knuckle III is still the weakest game in the series, but it's superior to the American Streets of Rage 3.
Bare Knuckle III was completed on a real Genesis via a homebrew English translation cart with no cheats.