In yesterday's Streets of Rage 4 coverage, Digital Foundry dissected the original Mega Drive trilogy, discerned the key aspects that made the original games so successful then applied the same criteria to the brand new sequel. Our verdict? It's a masterpiece, a retro modern title that stands tall alongside Sonic Mania, Mega Man 11 and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. But how do the various versions compare, and specifically, does the Switch version hold up against the other console platforms?
While we were able to cover PlayStation 4 and Steam code before launch, Xbox and Switch were not available - but the game is live now and we've been able to run the rule over every rendition of the game. The good news is that they're all brilliant, we can recommend a purchase for any given system, but there are some oddities we'd hope to see addressed in the short term via a patch.
To cut to the chase though, the number one question we've been asked since the embargo lifted concerns the quality of the Switch release - and with good reason, as this style of game would make for a brilliant handheld experience. Here, we can report that the title is totally identical to the PlayStation 4 release. Whether you're playing docked or in mobile mode, frame-rate is locked to 60 frames per second and the game's visual make-up is the same too. Even the graphics menu is fully present and correct on Nintendo's console/portable hybrid. Just like the other consoles, four-player local co-op is supported, and as you may hope, two users can each grab a single Joycon to get in on the action with no extra pads required.