Streets of Rage has to be one of the all-time classic side-scrolling beat-em-ups, right? It had a sense of an atmosphere of menace that other games lacked. After a fan-made game was scuttled by Sega, the only activity on the old-school series has been mobile releases of the original games. So it's a real shame that the remake demonstrated above never made it out into the world.

A tweet from Ubisoft level designer Sean Noonan revealed the footage, which comes from a digital downloadable that was reportedly in development at Ruffian Games. Destructible environments, brutal takedowns, street gangs straight out of The Warriors… it's all there. Throw this one onto the pile of promising dreams that will never become reality

Video Spotlight: Cancelled Streets of Rage "Reimagining" Footage Leaks Online [Sega Driven, via Spong and NeoGAF]

The fan-made Streets of Rage homage released earlier this month after eight years in the making was recently pulled at the request of Sega. The original maker of the 16-bit Streets of Rage games says it took action to "protect our intellectual property rights." Sega's full statement is here.

Streets of Rage Remake, the exhaustive, fan-made homage to the classic Sega Genesis beat 'em up series, looks to have finally gotten the attention of Sega. The creators of that freely distributed Streets of Rage title have pulled the game after a request from Sega.

Released last week after some eight years in development, creators Bombergames pulled previously posted links to downloads for Streets of Rage Remake, asking forum members not to redistribute the game. Streets of Rage Remake is available for Windows PCs.

"SEGA have contacted regarding the download hosted on this site," writes a Bombergames forum moderator. "While this issue is being resolved, please do not upload the game for others to download. Any links posted on this site will be removed. Thank you."

Forum moderators have since locked a thread discussing the availability of Streets of Rage Remake.

The Streets of Rage Remake web site says its creators had informed Sega of the project during development via "a formal letter," but recent press of the 16-bit beat 'em up may have gotten Bombergames noticed.

Sega is still in the business of selling versions of Streets of Rage games through various means, including Steam, Wii Virtual Console and disc-based compilations for consoles.

Kotaku contacted Sega for details on its request to Bombergames, but the company has not yet officially responded.

After more than eight years in development, the most complete, perhaps the most obsessive game in Sega's Streets of Rage series has been released in its final form. The fan-made Streets of Rage Remake is finally finished and—best of all—free to download.

Streets of Rage Remake is an homage to the 16-bit beat 'em ups of old, a series that graced the Sega Genesis, Game Gear and Master System. The remake boasts impressive raw numbers: 19 playable characters from multiple Streets of Rage games; 64 types of enemies; 83 remixes of classic techno tunes; 103 stages in which to bust skulls, one kick, elbow or flaming uppercut at a time.

The Streets of Rage Remake project started way back in March 2003, according to its creators, with more than a dozen musicians and artists contributing to the project that brings the best of Streets of Rage games from the Genesis and its 8-bit ports into one title.

Interested? You can grab the 218 MB install file from the Bombergames forums, perhaps making a donation while you're there.

Thanks to Scott (and everyone else) for the tip!