For many casual gamers, the newest first shooter or online roleplaying game doesn't hold near as much interest as the chance to play a fondly remembered game of the past. Unfortunately, when picking up a game almost two decades after its release, the experience rarely lives up to the hype, and Streets of Rage for the iPhone is no exception.

The original Streets of Rage was released for the Sega Genesis in 1991. A side-scrolling beat 'em up similar to Double Dragon or Golden Axe, the game gave two players their choice of three unique playable characters, and set them loose in a city overrun with criminals. Players then fought their way through hordes of enemies and bosses with the help of power-ups and various weapons, including pipes, bats and even broken bottles.

Streets of Rage is considered a classic of the genre, spawning two sequels and numerous ports to other systems, such as the one found in the App Store. The game arrives on the iPhone in all of its 16-bit glory, including pixilated sprite characters and characteristic video game music. If you played the original back in the early 1990s, prepare to be hit with a wave of nostalgia when the words "What was once a happy, peaceful, productive city, full of life and activity, has fallen into the hands of a secret criminal syndicate" scroll across the screen.

You'll keep your rose-tinted glasses on through the character select screen, as you choose on of three fighters with slightly different strengths and weaknesses. However, Streets of Rage's retro appeal quickly goes from fun and quirky to frustrating and dull once the game actually starts.

It's not that Streets of Rage is a bad game, it's simply an antiquated one. This isn't because of the game type though, as more recent brawlers like Castle Crashers have shown that there is plenty of life left in the beat 'em up genre. But while newer games boast crisp, bright graphics, and light roleplaying elements like upgrading your character or weapons, Streets of Rage is extremely barebones.

While the decades old graphics, music and gameplay of Streets of Rage are charming in the abstract, they make for a pretty dull gaming experience. Games have evolved significantly since the early 1990s, and successful ports need to reflect that, either through updated surface elements like new graphics or music, or additional gameplay tweaks that make the experience deeper and more fulfilling.

Even if the game's dusty appearance doesn't bug you, however, there is still another major problem with Streets of Rage. As anyone familiar with the iPhone knows, there are no actual buttons to be used within games. Thus, when developers want to port a game that was originally on a system that had buttons, they are stuck with two options: Add on-screen "virtual buttons," or find a way to utilize the iPhone's accelerometer.

Streets of Rage does both and gives the user a choice of which they'd like to use. With the accelerometer turned off, players move their character with an onscreen directional pad, which suffers from problems common to most onscreen controls. Not only does your thumb end up covering some of the screen, obscuring the gameplay, but with no way to feel the button, it's too easy to slide your thumb out of the active area.

The game's accelerometer controls fare better, as gamers angle the iPhone to make their character move around the stage, with surprisingly good accuracy. However, even with the accelerometer turned on, you won't be completely free of unresponsive onscreen buttons. To attack, jump or use your special weapon, you'll still need to rely on the A, B and C buttons camped out in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

There's no question that Streets of Rage was a great game when it came out, but almost two decades later, the gaming landscape has changed significantly. In an age when it's not uncommon for developers to wrap up older games in new and improved graphics, or work in additional gameplay elements, a straight port to a new system like the iPhone just doesn't cut it. Unless you have particularly fond memories of the original game, there are much better ways to spend your $0.99 in the App Store.

Final Score: C-