Streets of Rage 4

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I think the soundtrack had a lot to do with SoR3's lesser popularity too

It's funny how even though I generally really like all the music from SoR1/SoR2 my favorite tracks in the whole series are from SoR3.




These two in particular sound nasty (in a good way) and violent. It was definitely more experimental of an OST and there were a lot more misses than hits but when it does hit, then it hits real good.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Tarantulos-Eduardo-Sanchez, it turns out you're going to want to use the taser on the Bare Knuckle arcade mechines in the game.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

I think the soundtrack had a lot to do with SoR3's lesser popularity too, and I don't mean that in a demeaning way because it is my favorite OST of the series. But it's just too different from what the mainstream are used to listen and I can see how a lot of gamers would be put off

More than the soundtrack I'd say people's biggest problem with the game is it's just really fucking hard. It's too hard, they jacked up the difficulty from the Japanese release so kids wouldn't finish it off in one go when they rented it. They really fucked up Streets of Rage 3 in comparison to Bare Knuckle 3, and until recently SoR3 is probably the version of the game most people played.

There's also enemy in-fighting. When you have police officers or riot cops and street punks on the screen they'll actually start to beat the shit out of one another which is a really cool feature and it looks fun to see everyone fight at once.

This aspect, and the riot shields cops, remind me of Mother Russia Bleeds. Which is another French game. I didn't realize until this game how big France seems to be on Streets of Rage.

 

[Kruno]

What the fuck am I supposed to do against those riot shield cops as Axel?

As Blaze I simply jump up and avoid it when the guy raises his baton.

 

[Jenkem]

axel sucks, he's literally the worst character in the game. as usual.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I'm also not sure how you're supposed to play Axel. He seems pretty meh in every way. Floyd is a big damage dealer, Blaze can combo people into Killer Instinct numbers, Cherry has the best mobility, Adam is like if Axel didn't suck.

 

[Multidirectional]

Yeah I've played Blaze for a bit. She's so much easier I'm actually considering restarting on higher difficulty now. Stage 2 that gave me trouble with Axel I've finished with Blaze on first try with 2 lives left. Those cop shields break like 3 times faster with Blaze, wtf.. Is Axel punished for being white male?

 

[Kruno]

Yeah I've played Blaze for a bit. She's so much easier I'm actually considering restarting on higher difficulty now. Stage 2 that gave me trouble with Axel I've finished with Blaze on first try with 2 lives left. Those cop shields break like 3 times faster with Blaze, wtf.. Is Axel punished for being white male?

I have seen gameplay videos of people playing Axel and he is something else, in a good way. He requires more skill to play apparently. I haven't played him yet because I love choosing the sexy females in fighting games.

Go back to my post above with the review video and you will see how he plays Axel.

 

[Durandal]

You can get a lot of good damage off Axel, you just have to use your specials more often:


One thing people complaining about Axel's speed seem to forget about is his aerial special, which can send you flying over half the screen.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

This game is so close to being excellent that it actually hurts. If they removed the hyper armor on most enemies and replaced them with some other gimmick (like how Abadede in SoR2 can break out of your combos by hulking up or Jet needs specific conditions to be grappled or else he'll throw you for 1/3rd your life) as well as giving everyone runs/rolls or dashes it would be just about on par with SoR2/3 in terms of raw gameplay. There's still the personal issue that they replaced some legacy enemies with less cool iterations and missed out on having some nostalgia bosses (why not replace the double Diva fight with Abadede or R. Bear or Estel/Commissioner with Souther/Jet) and I don't like the final stage much at all especially the final fight.

I maintain the Y Twins are out of place in this game and it would have been better if they did something like have Shiva take the reins of the Syndicate after Mr. X went kaput and in cutscenes he looks like a proper cold blooded businessman dressed formally and then when it comes time to fight he goes back to his classic karate gi and headband.

If you play with the retro soundtrack there's some really dumb music choices. Shiva doesn't have his iconic theme but it's saved for the last stage. Dafuck?

 

[Jenkem]

The more I play it the more I enjoy it, which is a good sign. The old games have the benefit that we've already played them over and over and understand the mechanics. There are definitely some problems I have with the game but that is literally true of 1-3 as well. Haven't even tried the Arcade 1cc mode or boss rush yet...

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I'm also thankful they didn't make Blaze become some A-cup, rapier-shaped transvestite and went even HARDER by making her a true sex symbol because they knew us MEN got major erections over her in our childhoods. They also kept Nora hot and busty as well as the Suzie/Diamond enemies in the unzipped hot pants (actually a STEP UP from the pussy SoR3 NA/EU version that covered them up and more scantily clad than BK3).

Now there are the genderbent fatty bikers and the dyke cop but at least you beat the shit out of them.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

I'm not seeing how the Y Twins are even kind of sorta out of place in a Streets of Rage. Taking Satan from Devilman Crybaby and giving him some posh sister seems like a very Streets of Rage thing to do.

Once you get to Streets of Rage 2 enemies are basically a collection of stuff the developers liked from movies, anime, and manga. The Y Twins actually seem to fit in pretty well with Mr. X and his suit goons.

Only thing that really seems out of place in this with previous games is the tech. Stuff like Floyd's arms are meant to be made by Dr. Zan. But Zan's older robot arms are way more advanced looking. You've also got that one sub-boss with the robot legs, Koobo, who somehow has robot legs that look less advanced than the robot from SoR2. Given how he jumps around, and his legs (seemingly) are meant to look like junk it really seems like they should have given him that SoR2 robot's legs. You know, as if they're just salvaged parts from some old robot that likely isn't even made anymore. Koobo's overall zombie like appearance seems like he should have had wires coming all out of him as if they were guts.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Nah, I don't see it. Y Twins are complete anime shit that contrasts the gritty '80s/early '90s look SoR is traditionally known for where you're fighting a bunch of mohawked punks, shirtless and sunglasses thugs, whip wielding dominatrixes and Mad Max looking biker gangs. It was like this amalgamation of '80s/'90s action movie rogues gallery. Y Twins would only work as one off jokes ala Roo/Ash. Look at Mr. X and look at the Y Twins, how does a tall and rugged mob boss produce two androgynous bitches like that? Someone like Ryuji Yamazaki from Fatal Fury/King of Fighters is how I'd envision the progeny of Mr. X, not soft featured pussies that look like Max would fatality them with one atomic drop.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

I'm also thankful they didn't make Blaze become some A-cup, rapier-shaped transvestite and went even HARDER by making her a true sex symbol because they knew us MEN got major erections over her in our childhoods. They also kept Nora hot and busty as well as the Suzie/Diamond enemies in the unzipped hot pants (actually a STEP UP from the pussy SoR3 NA/EU version that covered them up and more scantily clad than BK3).

Now there are the genderbent fatty bikers and the dyke cop but at least you beat the shit out of them.

They are French. I'm actually a little surprised they didn't get crazier with some stuff.

There's a few things in this game I see that remind me of the French developed Streets of Rage-ish beat 'em up Mother Russia Bleeds. The more I think about it, and think about stuff in Lastman, and think about some of the things the developers of the original games have cited as inspirations (like Baki the Grappler & Apocalypse Zero) the more I'm just a tiny bit surprised this is pretty strait-laced.

 

[Falksi]

You can get a lot of good damage off Axel, you just have to use your specials more often:


One thing people complaining about Axel's speed seem to forget about is his aerial special, which can send you flying over half the screen.

That looks fucking stupid.

Which daft cunt thought bouncing an opponent off the side of the screen was a good idea? Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before?

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Nah, I don't see it. Y Twins are complete anime shit that contrasts the gritty '80s/early '90s look SoR is traditionally known for where you're fighting a bunch of mohawked punks, shirtless and sunglasses thugs, whip wielding dominatrixes and Mad Max looking biker gangs. It was like this amalgamation of '80s/'90s action movie rogues gallery. Y Twins would only work as one off jokes ala Roo/Ash. Look at Mr. X and look at the Y Twins, how does a tall and rugged mob boss produce two androgynous bitches like that? Someone like Ryuji Yamazaki from Fatal Fury/King of Fighters is how I'd envision the progeny of Mr. X, not soft featured pussies that look like Max would fatality them with one atomic drop.

Only the Y Twins aren't the grunts, which is what you're talking about, they're the boss like Mr. X...who is a guy wearing a suit that uses a gun. Pretty sure Mr. X is based on the villian from Midnight Eye Goku.

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Spider, tell me this. I've spent my childhood on originals, and remake melted my brain. It's the pinnacle of gaming. I don't like anime in my western comic style nor SJWism. Do I buy this or nah? My mind says nah, but my dick throbs at nostalgia impulses. I trust you to shoot me straight.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Which daft cunt thought bouncing an opponent off the side of the screen was a good idea? Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before?

Probably to prevent that aspect of beat'em up where you have to avoid the edges of the screen so you don't punch enemies offscreen and have to wait for them to return (and not stand too close to the edge or you get a disembodied fist to the face).

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Which daft cunt thought bouncing an opponent off the side of the screen was a good idea? Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before?

Probably to prevent that aspect of beat'em up where you have to avoid the edges of the screen so you don't punch enemies offscreen and have to wait for them to return (and not stand too close to the edge or you get a disembodied fist to the face).

Also wall bounce is a thing in fighting games. So to the question of: Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before? The answer is likely: Yes, and that's where they got it from.

 

[Falksi]

Which daft cunt thought bouncing an opponent off the side of the screen was a good idea? Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before?

Probably to prevent that aspect of beat'em up where you have to avoid the edges of the screen so you don't punch enemies offscreen and have to wait for them to return (and not stand too close to the edge or you get a disembodied fist to the face).

Also wall bounce is a thing in fighting games. So the to the question of: Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before? The answer is likely: Yes, and that's where they got it from.

Which ones? I can't remember any. I remember edge of screen jumps like Streets Fighter 2 with Chun Li & Vega, but can't remember you being able to bounce opponents off the walls in any of the incline era fighting games?

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Spider, tell me this. I've spent my childhood on originals, and remake melted my brain. It's the pinnacle of gaming. I don't like anime in my western comic style nor SJWism. Do I buy this or nah? My mind says nah, but my dick throbs at nostalgia impulses. I trust you to shoot me straight.

Don't think of this game as the second coming of SoR2 in terms of how SoR2 innovated the beat 'em up genre at the time of its release and don't think of this game as being able to compete with SoRR. It's too much of a lost cause for that because SoRR is so good it actually fucking destroys being able to enjoy other 2D beat 'em ups.

I went into SoR4 with LOW expectations. Right away I didn't like the art style and wasn't sure of the gameplay, but I have a deep love for this series in particular and I've always held the beat 'em up genre as one that I'd really like to see return in full force.

I have gripes with SoR4 and in the grand scheme of things I don't think it's as good as SoR2/SoR3 because they followed too much of an SoR2 blueprint but made a game that would have made more sense with an SoR3 gameplay direction. The art style is not as bad as I thought and I kind of have grown to like it, I'd still vastly prefer the old sprites/look but the most important thing is SoR4 does a great job of telling you which enemy is which and you'll never get confused in the middle of a brawl. It's one of those unseen strengths SoR as a whole always had that a lot of follow-up brawlers don't consider too much.

But if SoR2/3 are excellent games then SoR4 is a borderline great game. This isn't some horrible atrocity like I was anticipating and I'm happy as a fan to say that regardless of how you rank the games, SoR is still a series that has never had a rotten apple in it.

As for anime shit, the Y Twins are the most obvious examples of it but there's some minor stuff too. One thing that threw me off is how Axel doesn't sound much like you're used to or would expect, and Blaze in particular has a very high anime girl voice which is jarring as shit since you'd expect a more sultry tone to be in line with how she's supposed to be like 30 years old now.

SJW shit, the only real stand out is Estel which is a boss that looks like a total dyke and turns into a good guy by the end of the game if you follow the story but every time you encounter her you'll be smashing her face in. I can't think of any other overt examples and they keep faithful to designs like Nora from SoR1 and there's no dumb agenda pushing. Even with Estel she's just a hardass cop and doesn't go into any preachy rants.

I'd say to buy this if you really love SoR and want what is in my eyes a really fun beat 'em up. I can say also that my first playthrough was around 2 hours but all follow ups have been half that so it maintains that proper length where it's not too short to blow through but it's not so long each time you replay you zone out halfway. It also has online co-op and up to four players if you play locally if that's any deal breaker.

But, if you're happy with playing Remake then I don't think there's enough here to justify a buy. You won't lose out on anything if you skip this and keep to Remake unless you have a fetish for bouncing enemies around and amassing big combo scores.

So... the GOOD CODEXIAN in me says to wait for a sale if you're on the fence about it and that if you have access to SoRR you're truly not missing something unforgettable.

But... the SOR FANBOY in me says to buy it so this series doesn't go dead for 30 years again and encourage more 2D beat 'em ups to be made.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Which daft cunt thought bouncing an opponent off the side of the screen was a good idea? Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before?

Probably to prevent that aspect of beat'em up where you have to avoid the edges of the screen so you don't punch enemies offscreen and have to wait for them to return (and not stand too close to the edge or you get a disembodied fist to the face).

Also wall bounce is a thing in fighting games. So the to the question of: Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before? The answer is likely: Yes, and that's where they got it from.

Which ones? I can't remember any. I remember edge of screen jumps like Streets Fighter 2 with Chun Li & Vega, but can't remember you being able to bounce opponents off the walls in any of the incline era fighting games?

Ryu's mule kick in Street Fighter 3 can wall bounce. Hugo has a command grab that can wall bounce too. Beat 'em up have had wall bounces (and jumps) too, but they're usually done on stage walls and not the invisible wall of the screen edge like in a fighting game.

 

[Falksi]

Which daft cunt thought bouncing an opponent off the side of the screen was a good idea? Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before?

Probably to prevent that aspect of beat'em up where you have to avoid the edges of the screen so you don't punch enemies offscreen and have to wait for them to return (and not stand too close to the edge or you get a disembodied fist to the face).

Also wall bounce is a thing in fighting games. So the to the question of: Have these bellends actually ever played a fighting game before? The answer is likely: Yes, and that's where they got it from.

Which ones? I can't remember any. I remember edge of screen jumps like Streets Fighter 2 with Chun Li & Vega, but can't remember you being able to bounce opponents off the walls in any of the incline era fighting games?

Ryu's mule kick in Street Fighter 3 can wall bounce. Hugo has a command grab that can wall bounce too. Beat 'em up have had wall bounces (and jumps) too, but they're usually done on stage walls and not the invisible wall of the screen edge like in a fighting game.

Pretty rare that IMO. I think the whole mechanic is daft tbh. SOR2 didn't need it, SF2 didn't, this shouldn't.

 

[Momock]

All fighting games have wall bounce, but in general only a few things per character wall bounces (strong attacks, the strongest version of special commands, etc). Look at this magnificent double wall bounce at the very beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejX5TVS3YQM