Streets of Rage 4 has been Announced!
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Well here we are, after all the waiting and excitement comes the most amazing gaming reveal of the year so far….no, not that 48 min Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay video, I’m talking about Streets of Rage 4!

Finally, 24 years after the last game in Segas seminal series, the pinnacle of the genre is returning to clean up the streets once more. The game is being published and developed by the wondrous duo DotEmu and Lizardcube, who previously resurrected another long dead SEGA franchise with Wonder Boy: The Dragons Trap. Just as with Wonder Boy, Sega is onboard with this project too, which is bound to make the series purists rest a little easier. If you haven’t seen the work the teams did with WB, I highly recommend watching the trailer (here) or just buy it because it’s really good.

The stunning art work that they brought to Monster Land seems to be carrying over to the Streets of Rage 4 too with a beautifully animated, fully hand-drawn graphic style. The only real question mark I can see over the announcement is the involvement of co-developer Guard Crush Games, as I know very little about them. While you cant dismiss a developer based of one game (Naughty Dog made the truly abysmal Mortal Kombat knock off “Way of the Warrior” and look where they are now), Guard Crush’s last side scrolling title was Streets of Fury and I really wasnt impreesed by the gameplay videos I saw. However, going by the reviews, it plays better than it looks so I could be worrying over nothing. The important thing to note from their side is that they are self confessed fans of the beat-em-up genre so they will most certainly be bringing passion to the games’ development.

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With regards to actual game details, there is very little to go on. We only know of two returning characters so far, the “hasn’t aged a day” Blaze Fielding and the “maybe lay off the pies” Axel Stone. Hopefully my boy Max Thunder will make a return along with the Hunter brothers, Adam and Sammy (nobody cares about Dr Zan). We don’t know which platforms it’s coming too (*please include Switch, oh please include Switch) or when it’s aiming for release. Seriously, we know very little outside of its mere existence. Of course the biggest detail that every Streets of Rage fan really wants to know is this;

Is Yuzo Koshiro coming back to make the games soundtrack?

No official word on that yet but the game’s website does acknowledge his importance in the series’ legacy and they must know the kind of buzz having him back on board would create. Though, to be fair, that maybe the very reason why that haven’t announced anything. That little bombshell is the perfect thing to drop when the excitement from the initial reveal has started to simmer down. Fingers crossed.

As you may have gathered I’m quite a fan of the Streets of Rage titles, especially the second entry (click here for more on that), which is why I am so hyped for this reveal. The game’s official website states that the game will feature the “classic gameplay enhanced with brand new mechanics” so hopefully we can expect it to play great without feeling dated. Sure, the fanboy in me is screaming “No, if it aint broke don’t fix it! Don’t give me new mechanics!” but I’m reminded that Makin Games managed this with their brilliant genre homage Raging Justice (review here) so I’m confident Lizardcube, Guard Crush and DotEmu can do the same.

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That’s all for now but stick with us at TheLootGaming.com for more information as it’s released. Now, when’s the new Battletoads trailer due?