Streets of Rage 4 (Official Thread)

[Silanda]

I'm playing of Streets of Rage 3 on my Mega Drive right now just to get in the mood. Although, I must admit to using the cheat to get 9 lives for the first time ever. I have never used this cheat previously but as a game it's just too hard, and this comes from me, a guy who can complete Streets of Rage II on mania difficulty! They really fucked up the difficulty balance in SOR3 during the localization process.

Yeah, been messing with the PAL version's ROM to knock out the region check and correct the speed for playing at 60Hz, and I'd forgotten how hard it was. I'm used to BK3, so playing SoR3 required a bit of adjustment. Oh, and damn Jet straight to hell! The final boss can be cheesed pretty easily, but I can't find a similar tactic for Jet.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

Yeah, been messing with the PAL version's ROM to knock out the region check and correct the speed for playing at 60Hz, and I'd forgotten how hard it was. I'm used to BK3, so playing SoR3 required a bit of adjustment. Oh, and damn Jet straight to hell! The final boss can be cheesed pretty easily, but I can't find a similar tactic for Jet.

Tell me about it! I just lost three lives to that flying prick. Standard punch combos work well when Jet's flying low, but the best tactic is to wait until he does his flying punch against you and then counter it with a flying kick. It takes awhile but it does work. Easier said than done however when he's surrounded by his flying goons! If this was a one on one fight it would be much more straight forward.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

I did it! For the first time in over ten years I saved the police chief, and destroyed Mr. X's robot factory in time (just!) to get SOR3's good ending! It makes me quite nostalgic to think that, twenty four years later, this game is finally getting a sequel (wipes tear away). Here's hoping that SOR4 can live up to the name of the greatest beat-'em-up series of all time!

[zyrobs]

I'm going to guess the special bars is going to get as divisive as it always does. Personally, when the only way to use the specials is by losing health the only thing it manages to do is to get me to completely avoid using them altogether. The times where I could make the most use of the specials are precisely when I happen to be low on health, and no, I'm not gonna spend a shitton of time figuring out how to minmax the mechanics just to figure out where it's most optimal to use specials outside a rush, I'm not playing like I'm a professional making money off sponsorships on Twitch >_>

So to me the special bars are more useful. Bonus points for also having taken away the timer (anybody noticed that the bars took the place of the timer? :​v)


That said, more specifically on SOR4: does anybody hope that attack-attack-jump-attack when holding an enemy will still work?

EDIT: I swear I'm typoing more over time x_X

You don't have to minmax anything. There are two specials, one used for defense which makes you invulnerable and clears enemies around you, and one used for offence that does huge damage but leaves you wide open.
You use the defense one when you get surrounded or held down, in order to prevent enemies doing a large combo on you. You can also use it to dodge projectiles indefinitely (Jack, the robots, Mr. X, or if someone gets thrown at you) - if you don't hit anyone, it doesn't use your life, but you are still invulnerable.
For the offense one, you use it to quickly dish out huge damage and KO some enemies, in order to thin the heard, to prevent them from overwhelming you with numbers. Or just when you catch so many enemies at the same time, that the amount of damage you do is too good to pass up.

This is a concept I could understood when I was 6 years old.

By comparison, the super bars are useless for anything but casual play, because on high difficulties you do need to use specials more frequently than the bar recharges. Sometimes 2-3 times in a row, even. In BK3, that empties half your life bar.

A simple fix would be is to keep the SOR2 mechanic (same amount of life loss as you have there), with the super bars merely acting as a buffer for the life loss. This also means they only trigger on the life loss, not when you use the special, so for ex. you can spam standing A and not lose life as long as you don't hit anyone. Easy peasy.

[Sik]

A simple fix would be is to keep the SOR2 mechanic (same amount of life loss as you have there), with the super bars merely acting as a buffer for the life loss. This also means they only trigger on the life loss, not when you use the special, so for ex. you can spam standing A and not lose life as long as you don't hit anyone. Easy peasy.

So wait, are you in favor or against the special bar?

Though yeah, I can see that one working if I'm reading correctly. It's actually not that different from what SOR3 does, seems to be more of a tweak to it. Especially since SOR3 already does the buffering part (the life loss is proportional to how much of the bar was left to fill), just not the "don't waste it" part.

[Rapha7]

There's no mention of running, rolling, upgradeable blitz attacks, use of more than 3 buttons or anything else unique to SOR3, but hopefully that's only a reflection of how early a build this is.

It'll be a huge let down if these improvements aren't in the final build, including the weapon specific attacks.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

It'll be a huge let down if these improvements aren't in the final build, including the blitz weapon attacks. I'd also like to see a special weapon attack. It'd be a welcomed improvement for the series, I believe.

Agreed. I get that there are elements to SOR3 that people didn't like, but gameplay improvements like the ability to run, roll and do blitz attacks were very welcome and I hope that they're added to SOR4.

[miru]

Agreed. I get that there are elements to SOR3 that people didn't like, but gameplay improvements like the ability to run, roll and do blitz attacks were very welcome and I hope that they're added to SOR4.

I agree. Maybe there could be more on top of that, based on Capcom games from the mid 90s?

[steve]

While I'm thrilled it's getting revitalized, I have to admit I am not a fan of the art style. I guess it's wait and see for me. I wish they did it more like Sonic Mania. Hell, look at the recently released tease for Ninja Warriors: Once Again. That's how you do it IMHO.

[QuickSciFi]

I do prefer the cleaner look of remakes like Duck tales or Wonderboy III. I'm personally exhausted of the need to make everything look artificially pixelated.

That being said, Sonic Mania was very aesthetically pleasing. It looks gorgeous on a 4K TV. SoR4 does have the look of a budget title. But I am pleased thus far with the series' return and am very hopefully optimistic. At the end of the day, I just want to experience great gameplay. If they get that aspect right, you might even catch me saying things like ..."and the graphics aren't too shabby either".

[Leynos]

One reason I avoided Double Dragon IV before release was the stupid NES aesthetic. Double Dragon Neon was perfect. I am so sick of sequels and follow-ups to old franchises looking like 30-year-old games. yes, I get it games once looked pixelated. What if Konami made a new Silent Hill but in PS1 graphics. GET IT GUYS CUZ NOSTALGIA!...fuck off. Even tho Yooka sucks at least they tried to make it with modern visuals vs that one Wii U platformer I forget the name of on the Eshop that was trying so hard to have N64 graphics.

I like what Capcom has done with Mega Man 11. Glad they didn't make another NES game. In fact, I love the look of 11. MM11 IMO reminds me of the days when I looked at the art in a manual and thought I hope one day this series can look as good as the art. So it can still be nostalgic but not in a cheap way like OMG IT'S AND NES GAME DUR! MEMBER NES GAMEZ!?

[zyrobs]

So wait, are you in favor or against the special bar?

Though yeah, I can see that one working if I'm reading correctly. It's actually not that different from what SOR3 does, seems to be more of a tweak to it. Especially since SOR3 already does the buffering part (the life loss is proportional to how much of the bar was left to fill), just not the "don't waste it" part.

I'm against it the way BK3 implements it. There, it forces you to only use it occasionally, because if the bar is not maxed, you lose a fourth of your health (even if you do a standing super and don't hit anything). Which makes it utterly useless for defensive purposes in higher difficulties.

Tweak that so it only loses as much health as in SOR2, and so it doesn't empty the bar if you do a standing super that doesn't hit anything (which would not lose health anyway). That way it benefits casual gameplay and doesn't obstruct high level gameplay.

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

An interview with the creative director of Streets of Rage 4:

[Leynos]

If anyone wants another game like SOR there is The Takeover. Different aesthetic but very much SOR with some Afterburner? Some have asked why are the animations so jerky. I'm fairly sure they are aiming for that pre-rendered feel some early 90s consoles games had with fewer frames of animation like Killer Instinct.

[NeoVamp]

If anyone wants another game like SOR there is The Takeover.

Fuck that guy, he screwed over all his kickstarter backers by taking money for The 90s Arcade Racer and then making a shady deal with Nicalis.
And in the end the backers and everybody else got nothing. I will never buy anything by that guy ever.