When the legend is better than the truth, print the legend
Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of Sega’s street-scrappin’ brawler,Streets of Rage. In order to mark 30 long years of great vigilante action, composer Yuzo Koshiro decided to ruin the party for everybody — revealing that we’veallbeen shouting out a legendary soundbite incorrectly for the past three decades.
As revealedin a new video by Koshiro, whose incredible music is ahugepart of bringing life and identity to theStreets of Ragefranchise, Axel Stone’s famous “GRAND UPPER!” isactually“GROUND UPPER!” and it always has been. I’ll give you a minute to come to terms with that reality before explaining how this shattering misconception came about…
…You ok now? Anyway, not only have players (including myself) been hearing “Grand Upper” for all these years due to a combination of phonetic translation and 16-bit synthesis, but Sega itself listed the maneuver as such in the manual forStreets of Rage 2, where the powerful uppercut made its debut appearance. Koshiro just simply never corrected anybody until yesterday, when he felt the need to drop said truth bomb on us, leavingSoRfans reeling like they’d just gone five rounds with Max Thunder.
Some people have since suggested that they havealwaysknown it was “Ground Upper”. No, you didn’t, stop being cool. As Koshiro notes, however, it doesn’t really matter either way. All that matters is that you enjoy the series and that you enjoy yourselves. Good thing too, as there’s no way I’m ever not screaming “GRAND UPPER!” going forward — whether gaming, shopping, in bed, or at funerals. I’m not changing the habit of a lifetime, truth be damned.
Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare DLCis now available on all platforms. It’s excellent.
Happy 30th anniversary the Streets of Rage messagepic.twitter.com/rYNpQroMJd
— 古代祐三 Yuzo Koshiro (@yuzokoshiro)July 26, 2025
