Early in the day on April 8, the European Nintendo eShop showed a release date for Streets of Rage 4 — the long-awaited follow-up to the legendary Sega Genesis series. Developer DotEmu was put in the tough spot of having to break the bad news that not only was this date not official, but they couldn’t release the full date right now. Thankfully, they did this in the coolest way possible — by releasing tons of new information on the game that is 25 years in the making for longtime belt-scrolling beat-em ‘up fans. The game’s release date is still set as coming soon, so there’s no exact ETA on release.
However, the pricing for the PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch game was announced at $24.99 — a bit lower than many would expect for a full-fledged new game in a series that’s been dormant for over two decades.
In line with Streets of Rage 3‘s genre-changing unlockables, the fourth entry will feature a ton of unlockable content including pixel art versions of characters from the first three games complete with game-accurate special attacks. Using the first game’s characters enables you to have a cop handy for some long-range help while using the third game’s characters allows you to sprint and roll through environments. There will be 12 unlockable past characters — including Street of Rage 3′s hidden characters like Shiva.
DotEmu is celebrating today’s announcements with a new trailer showing off the newly-expanded roster. Between the OG characters and their variants and the fourth game’s roster, players will have 17 different playable options in total in this game once unlocked. This is a mighty beefy roster and ensures that the game will have a long lifespan.
Another great way to extend life is to have the ability to switch to older game soundtracks, which will be an option here as well. Players can either listen to the new OST for Streets of Rage 4 or swap it out for the soundtracks to prior games — a fantastic way to please fans of the series. Streets of Rage 4 launches soon for all major gaming consoles and will be on PC via Steam on day one.
