World’s First – Streets of Rage 2 – Deathless Mania

For the first time ever Streets of Rage 2 has been beaten on Mania mode deathless! A no death mania has never been achieved in this game. By anyone. With any character. Ever.

Until now.

Twitch streamer Anthopants has accomplished what, only a year ago, was thought to be impossible! Antho has many accomplishments on the Sega Genesis, including personal bests in Gunstar Heroes, The Adventures of Batman and Robin (my personal favorite Genesis game), Golden Axe, and of course world records in Streets of Rage 2 and 3 — but this monstrous feat is just next level!

I know you want me to get to the point, so check out the run here from Antho’s YouTube channel!


“Not just a year ago, everyone; including me, thought a no death was impossible.”

– Anthopants

Now, we need to establish something here. Mania mode isn’t just challenging — it’s brutal! I feel lucky just finishing the game on normal mode. Then there’s hard mode, which is probably where most sane people cap out. However, if you’re really hardcore, you can take on Hardest mode. This is the hardest mode in the game, which you can tell by the name.
wait a second.

The Mania difficulty setting isn’t even in the game! That is, unless you’re a complete masochist and input a code on your controller. Playing through this without dying is like finding a hot sauce which is so hot it’s illegal to purchase — then drinking it every day, over and over, until you can finish the entire bottle without your eyes watering. Dude, are you crazy?

According to Anthopants, his journey to this victory began as 9+ attempts while playing on the Mania Difficulty. This is when you finish the game with 9 or more lives, since 9 is the maximum number of lives visible on the screen.

You gain lives by gathering points through collecting literal bars of gold and money bags, killin’ the baddies, and end of level bonuses. There are also some extra lives just hanging out in crates and stuff — just like in real life. And you lose lives in Mania mode by simply not being a human TAS.

But seriously… you’ll be getting swarmed, tag teamed, and tossed around like an old sack of moldy tangerines. You’ll be chewed out by Buffet and dominated by Donavans.

“I began this journey with 9+ attempts with every character and once that was achieved I had no where left to go but to get a no death.”

– Anthopants

While he was working up to the world’s first ever no death Mania, he also provided endless entertainment.

Since Antho’s no death mania run, he’s been going for challenge runs of Streets of Rage 1, going for a no death mania mode with Max (and I honestly think he’ll be getting it very soon!), and dabbling in some romhacks — 
Please try out The Tick + Streets of Rage 2 patch, Antho!

And finally, if you want some more insight and just can’t get enough of the No Death Mania, much like us at Speed Gaming News, here’s his commentary on the run.

Technically, being that nobody has ever finished this mode deathless before, this makes for a remarkable world record!

Antho is a really great guy, and an awesome live streamer. If you’d like to watch more of his content, please go check out his stream at https://www.twitch.tv/anthopants!


When I was a kid, I would travel to my grandparent’s house a few states away. I’ll always remember driving through the mountains, listening to the bumps in the road, as I tried to get just the right amount of sunlight to see my Game Boy screen. When we got to my grandparent’s we’d meet up with other family members, drink a couple cans of soda before I ever cared or worried about what every ingredient could be doing to my body.

We’d all just hang out and chat, with the aroma of holiday foods filling the air. During the commotion of family members coming in and out, pausing to give hugs, the fears of someone bumping the Sega Genesis, and the sugar buzz, me and my brother would be glued to the TV playing Streets of Rage 2. The quiet hiss of a CRT, the various scenic environments in the game, Axel’s bad-ass style, my brother not staying on his portion of the screen and accidentally punching me then stealing the turkey when he already had full health… Ahh, there was no time like the ’90s!

Leave a comment below about your Streets of Rage 2 memories.


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