Streets of Rage 4 on Nintendo Switch
For a Genesis-kid that has been following the Streets of Rage series for decades, it’s kind of hard to believe that Streets of Rage 4 is actually real. If you thought the wait for Final Fantasy VII Remake was bad, Streets of Rage stans have been waiting around since 1994 for a new game. It was cut off for no reason other than 2D games were kind of thrown aside while developers and publishers experimented with 3D after the release of the Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, and PlayStation.
Even in recent years with 2D games enjoying a renaissance, thanks largely in part to great indie developers, there was still no word on Streets of Rage 4.
I thought for sure after Sonic Mania that maybe this was the beginning of a 2D Sega resurgence but nope, still nothing after that. It’s easy to see why someone could lose hope as time continued to pass.
Sega though did eventually give Dotemu, Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games the green light to take a stab at one of the most beloved Genesis franchises of all-time.
Developer and publisher Dotemu may not be a household name in the U.S. but they have proven themselves capable of handling work on important franchises such as Metal Slug, Final Fantasy, and more in the past.
I’m thrilled to say that Dotemu once again has proven why they should be trusted, as they have delivered a fantastic and faithful follow-up in Streets of Rage 4.
When I spoke to members of the Dotemu staff last year after Streets of Rage 4 was unveiled, it was clear that they were true fans of the original and that they understood that working on Streets of Rage 4 massive privilege that they took very seriously. Their knowledge of what made the original games so good shines throughout their game.
Combat, the most important aspect of course in any beat-em-up brawler, feels exactly like what I imagined a modern Streets of Rage game would. Its pace is extremely similar to Streets of Rage 2. You can perform simple ground and air combos using your basic attacks and move in basic directions (up, down, left, right) to try and maneuver your character in for a grapple attack if you get close enough.
I was very pleased to find out that all of my old tricks still worked. In fact, a lot of the enemies are returning from previous games, so I was beating them up exactly the same way I did years ago.
My old ways only got me so far though. In fact, I was struggling at first a little bit even in the first few stages. That’s until I started to get a feel for how the new special attack system worked.
Unlike later Streets of Rage games where special attacks could only be used in exchange for a loss of health, in Streets of Rage 4, the health can be refunded under the condition that you continue to combo attacks without getting hit.
This dynamic allows you to actually use your fun special attacks more often and use them to create a very satisfying and powerful flurry of attacks that will have enemies bouncing all over the stage. As long as you can keep the combo going without getting touched, you’ll get all the health you traded back over time.
Coupled with new heavy attacks and ultimate Star Attacks, Streets of Rage 4 adds just enough new content to feel like a true sequel, without going overboard redoing everything and creating something unfamiliar for fans that have been waiting a long time.
That said, I would have loved to see the developers go one extra step and add another layer of complexity. Something like unlocking new special attacks that you can swap in and customize your favorite characters with would have definitely put Streets of Rage 4’s gameplay over the top.
Regardless, you’ll need all of these tricks that you do have because even at normal difficulty Streets of Rage 4 can be challenging. New and returning enemies will work together to punish any mistakes you make.
For example, there is a tricky Judo enemy that will counter almost any punch you throw at it. You need to grapple to chip away at his health. This can be hard to do though if you’re surrounded by other enemies that are also trying to get in your face.
As you get to the later stages you’ll have to start contending with the environment as well. You’ll have to deal with issues like getting knocked off buildings, blasted by steam from the background, sliding around a slippery steam room while trying to fight, and avoiding stepping in poison puddles.
When the above challenges get mixed with the right (read: annoying) enemies, there are points where Streets of Rage 4 can feel a bit cheap. There were times where I made one false move and then between the environment and the enemies around me, I was locked into a death combo which took off nearly my entire health bar.
There are no checkpoints during a stage and you’re expected to complete it from start to finish with the health and lives you’re provided with at the start of each stage. So losing a life from something that feels a bit cheap will annoy you at some point.
That said, if the game is too hard, you can increase the amount of lives and Star Attacks that you have in exchange for a reduction in points. This creates a nice balance of allowing people to get through the game, but still giving the edge to players who play as the developers intended when it comes to high scores and grinding for unlocks (more on that later).
The core cast of five characters all are very distinct from each other and feature different play styles with special attacks that complement their combo style.
I took my old pal Blaze for a spin on my first playthrough and she’s once again the balanced member of the crew. She can do a little bit of everything, mixing in ranged specials with average strength, speed and jumping ability.
Next, I tried Cherry Hunter who gave me Skate vibes. She’s extremely quick and hard-hitting. She excels at close combat and her specials are powerful, but she doesn’t want to stay too close for too long as she can’t take a beating as well as the others.
As in the originals, Streets of Rage 4 does a nice job of giving each character their own flavor and integrates them into the story very well. Which in case you weren’t aware already, Streets of Rage is not Red Dead Redemption, so don’t go in expecting a masterpiece of storytelling. But for those that are interested, yes it picks up about a decade after the last game and follows a new crime spree led by the twin children of Mr. X.