Streets of Rage 4

[Agamon]

Just set up the remote dl for the Xbox1.  Really looking forward to this!

[Steven Pendleton]

They just announced ANOTHER variant of the physical release

 

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/limited-run-332-streets-of-rage-4-limited-edition-ps4

 

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/switch-limited-run-65-streets-of-rage-4-limited-edition

[+-^CrossBow^-]

2 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

They just announced ANOTHER variant of the physical release

 

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/limited-run-332-streets-of-rage-4-limited-edition-ps4

 

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/neo-frontpage/products/switch-limited-run-65-streets-of-rage-4-limited-edition

Crazy... I Pre-ordered for the standard PS4 release and I'm fine with that. I wouldn't have room for such a large CE version anyway to be honest.

 

I have heard some positive things about the game though from some recent reviews so that is good to hear!

 

[Agamon]

Yeah reviews have been great.  Worst thing that has been said is that it's too much like the first 3 games.  Not a negative, IMO.

[roots.genoa]

5 hours ago, Curious Sofa said:

And it doesn't deter me in my excitement either; some of the reviews are just raving.  One I read the guy basically made a case for SoR2 being the greatest video game of all time, and SoR4 being a worthy follow up.  There's a 26 minute Digital Foundry breakdown of SoR4 in which they go into the nitty gritty details while lavishing praise on nearly every aspect of SoR4, so you bet I'm psyched.  Now I just need the damned thing to show up on the Switch eShop (not there as of yet).  It's on Steam discounted by 10% right now for $22.49...but I don't really need both (do I?? :P).

 

Hey @roots.genoa, can you post a link to your review?

SoR2 is one of my favorite games ever and SoR4 is better than 1 & 3 in my opinion. Are you sure you want to read my review? It's in French... ?

[roots.genoa]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I wouldn't have room for such a large CE version anyway to be honest.

And that kind of CE gets out of stock in a few seconds anyway...

[+-^CrossBow^-]

2 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

And that kind of CE gets out of stock in a few seconds anyway...

Well, that is true although I've been pretty lucky to get most of the CE versions from LRG that I've wanted in the past. The TJ&E back in the Groove large present CE was the only one I've missed out on that I wanted at the time. So I purchased the standard PS4 version of it. Then about a month after I had received it, the local retro game shop around the corner from me actually had 2 of the large present CE versions of that game! So I bought in my standard released and traded it towards to the CE version that I literally had made room for previously LOL!

 

But yeah, LRG needs to hurry up with these releases. I've got about 3 or 4 games pre-ordered with them that I'm waiting on.

 

[+Cafeman]

I've  been playing it today on PS4. It feels exactly like SOR games on Genesis.  Control is spot on. Lots of fresh new things peppered in. It starts off on the easy side but the challenge ramps up. The visuals are superb! Like a higher rez Street Fighter 3rd Strike With shading and smoke FX. I played as 3 different characters so far and these are refreshingly different from one another!  Fun if you loved 16 bit beatem ups.

 

 

Strangely, I had to really search for it on the PS store, even a Search on its name didn't find it!  I think I might have searched on Sega and finally found it. Great way to advertise a new game, NOT! 

[DragonGrafx-16]

10 minutes ago, Cafeman said:

I've  been playing it today on PS4. It feels exactly like SOR games on Genesis.  Control is spot on. Lots of fresh new things peppered in. It starts off on the easy side but the challenge ramps up. The visuals are superb! Like a higher rez Street Fighter 3rd Strike With shading and smoke FX. I played as 3 different characters so far and these are refreshingly different from one another!  Fun if you loved 16 bit beatem ups.

 

 

Strangely, I had to really search for it on the PS store, even a Search on its name didn't find it!  I think I might have searched on Sega and finally found it. Great way to advertise a new game, NOT! 

And in contrast it's right at the top of the Steam homepage... 

[Steven Pendleton]

5 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Crazy... I Pre-ordered for the standard PS4 release and I'm fine with that. I wouldn't have room for such a large CE version anyway to be honest.

 

I have heard some positive things about the game though from some recent reviews so that is good to hear!

 

The only thing I'd really want this for is the OST. As you already know, I don't really go for LRG's limited editions, just their standard variants. Like you, wouldn't have space for this thing either.

[SegaSnatcher]

As a huge fan of this franchise I'm so playing this.   Looks like they did this franchise justice with this sequel.

[Tanooki]

15 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I think I'm just going to continue doing what I have been doing since the game's announcement, which is to completely ignore it until I have it in my hands whenever LRG decides to send me my copy. I have no idea what the game looks like, I have seen none of the gameplay videos, etc.. Yes, I totally 100% impulse purchased a random game that I know nothing about. Not the first time, won't be the last. I've been doing this for my whole life. To date, I have ended up with a total of 1 trash game (Turning Point: Fall of Liberty). It seems I'll be safe with this one!

Didn't want to double quote -- 2+ months, fair enough.  I did break down and grab SoR4 from them.  Like you I barely read up on it figuring it probably would be another let down like the poorly (outside of visuals) done wonderboy 3 was, I went blind into it and I got bored within an hour or two as it did nothing for me I didn't find more fun in the original format so I ended up having a $10 lesson after selling it. ?  After reading nothing but positive input how they did SoR4 and added a few nice new features without really changing the format which made the previous titles (in particular SoR2 over 3) fun I figured the price was fair enough to buy.  But like you I'm done reading up on it, done with the bait, if I see something on a forum oh well, but I'm not going to watch any videos of it or more images than accidentally slip by.  I'd like to have it not messed with more than I had to pick away at it to know it was worth my time.

[Steven Pendleton]

1 minute ago, Tanooki said:

Didn't want to double quote -- 2+ months, fair enough.  I did break down and grab SoR4 from them.  Like you I barely read up on it figuring it probably would be another let down like the poorly (outside of visuals) done wonderboy 3 was, I went blind into it and I got bored within an hour or two as it did nothing for me I didn't find more fun in the original format so I ended up having a $10 lesson after selling it. ?  After reading nothing but positive input how they did SoR4 and added a few nice new features without really changing the format which made the previous titles (in particular SoR2 over 3) fun I figured the price was fair enough to buy.  But like you I'm done reading up on it, done with the bait, if I see something on a forum oh well, but I'm not going to watch any videos of it or more images than accidentally slip by.  I'd like to have it not messed with more than I had to pick away at it to know it was worth my time.

I hope it's good. I literally know nothing about it. I have read zero articles about it, watched none of the gameplay, and will not be reading any reviews. I guess that's not much different from how we used to buy games, with nothing more than the game's own box art and whatever things they tell us on the back of the box to decide.

 

I feel bad for PC Engine owners back in the day. Ever seen the back of a PC Engine HuCARD game case? It's blank aside from the sticker with the title and barcode. Makes it hard for me to buy HuCARD games since I have to go home to research them since there is nothing on the back side to guide me.

[Tanooki]

11 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

I hope it's good. I literally know nothing about it. I have read zero articles about it, watched none of the gameplay, and will not be reading any reviews. I guess that's not much different from how we used to buy games, with nothing more than the game's own box art and whatever things they tell us on the back of the box to decide.

 

I feel bad for PC Engine owners back in the day. Ever seen the back of a PC Engine HuCARD game case? It's blank aside from the sticker with the title and barcode. Makes it hard for me to buy HuCARD games since I have to go home to research them since there is nothing on the back side to guide me.

I agree.  Honestly I did it with certain games up until more recent times.  A big one was all the idiotic fanboy bs online with Zelda titles ruining like 1/2 the game at least by the time it was out, so I'd go on lockdown and ignore anything I could.  Sure an image or two would pop up on a main page or a headline but that's it.  It works great for Ocarina of Time in the 90s, hurt my ability to trust Zelda permanently with Majora's Mistake though, yet Wind Waker re-earned it but I did sneak a few peeks due to MM being that bad.  Zelda went into a spiral as did a few other franchises I'd ignore upon release until I basically quit going into blind buys as I couldn't stomach it anymore.  I never really did it as a kid though, we'd talk at school, and I had the Nintendo Fun Club, then Nintendo Power magazines for their entirely life made by Nintendo at least for NP, so I'd get a feel one way or the other.  But that was NOTHING compared to the exploitation of what a game should be hiding online has caused in the last 20 years.

 

And yeah I've seen the back of HuCard cases.  I currently own 29 Hucards of which 20~ are complete and I've probably sold off about that many too that were mostly complete too.  Everything is uniformly garbage, a true mystery grab bag because the beautiful art/title on the front have zero indication of what's in there.  Even the old era 80s/90s boxes before they'd on CD try and hide behind FMV stills would have to show beta/ final game release images, usually 4+ on the back with some junk about the things going on to sell it.  Yet strangely PCE did not, and they didn't do the slip covers TG did on theirs.

[Hydro Thunder]

7 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

SoR2 is one of my favorite games ever and SoR4 is better than 1 & 3 in my opinion. Are you sure you want to read my review? It's in French... ?

I would try to read it   I took French in HS but that was another lifetime ago...and there's Google Translate.  My current level of French is basically Flight of the Conchords' Foux du Fafa    So if you're willing, lay it on me.

 

Random notes mostly stolen from watching the Digital Foundry videos:

The Xbox version doesn't have the myriad of Video options available on the other platforms for some reason.

Game runs at a solid 60 fps on all platforms.

Windows 10 non-Steam version doesn't appear to be working for some people (game loads the title screen, then ends).

My favorite silly option:  You can now change the Food, both the Small and Large health food items from the traditional Apple and Turkey respectively.  You can have pizza, tofu (?), salad, what appears to be a brisket, and some others.

 

Streets of Rage 2 nostalgic note:

Back back back in the 90's, my first experience I recall with the game was having rented it with friends.  Axel's "Grand Uppah" sounded so bad especially on TV speakers, a friend thought he was saying "Pasta Ball!" or he later determined, "Pass Da Ball!".  And then concluded that this was why Axel rages through the streets; no one passed him the basketball in high school, and now he is pummeling everyone while screaming "Pass Da Ball!", forever tormented.  I have basically thought about this during each of the thousands of times I've played SoR2.  (As do I still think of Raiden's scream as "I am a Frito-Laaaaayyy!" in MK).

 

My brief experience with the Switch version so far:

Snuck in a few plays while working (heh) from home.  Just love it.  Glad I was prepared for it to be both different in ways and difficult.  The system for super moves takes a LOT of getting used to for me as I liked to finish off large groups with a super; in the new way, you execute a Super but then need to hit guys within a few seconds to replenish the lost health.  This is fine, but does NOT work for finishing off a crowd with a super as there's no one to hit, so you lose the health for the move.

The animation is incredible, the sound effects and controls are terrific, and I like the music a lot more than I thought I would.  Can't wait to unlock Adam.  Love how the bosses actually make you think about what you do, this is way less mindless than nearly any prior brawler I have played (and I have played nearly everything from Renegade to Battle Circuit to Phantom Breaker to Ninja Baseball Batman  ).  This is a much more involved game than the genre has been accustomed to, and it's wonderful.  It feels carefully thought out and crafted.  I am now going to stop writing and go play some more.

[Steven Pendleton]

4 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I agree.  Honestly I did it with certain games up until more recent times.  A big one was all the idiotic fanboy bs online with Zelda titles ruining like 1/2 the game at least by the time it was out, so I'd go on lockdown and ignore anything I could.  Sure an image or two would pop up on a main page or a headline but that's it.  It works great for Ocarina of Time in the 90s, hurt my ability to trust Zelda permanently with Majora's Mistake though, yet Wind Waker re-earned it but I did sneak a few peeks due to MM being that bad.  Zelda went into a spiral as did a few other franchises I'd ignore upon release until I basically quit going into blind buys as I couldn't stomach it anymore.  I never really did it as a kid though, we'd talk at school, and I had the Nintendo Fun Club, then Nintendo Power magazines for their entirely life made by Nintendo at least for NP, so I'd get a feel one way or the other.  But that was NOTHING compared to the exploitation of what a game should be hiding online has caused in the last 20 years.

 

And yeah I've seen the back of HuCard cases.  I currently own 29 Hucards of which 20~ are complete and I've probably sold off about that many too that were mostly complete too.  Everything is uniformly garbage, a true mystery grab bag because the beautiful art/title on the front have zero indication of what's in there.  Even the old era 80s/90s boxes before they'd on CD try and hide behind FMV stills would have to show beta/ final game release images, usually 4+ on the back with some junk about the things going on to sell it.  Yet strangely PCE did not, and they didn't do the slip covers TG did on theirs.

Well, I do it because it's easier to judge a game for myself than to let someone else judge it and say it's good and then I still hate it or think it's average at best. Still, I haven't bought any bad games in my life aside from the ultra-terrible Turning Point. That was when I was in the Marines and didn't have internet access because I was only supposed to be at that specific base for 3 months of training, so I didn't bother with getting internet and I didn't have a way to know if it was good or not. The only other bad game I have owned is Fellowship of the Ring for GBA. Fortunately that was a gift! Man that game is terrible! The worst game I have ever played by far!

 

Yeah, the Japanese HuCARD cases are terrible. No idea if the game is good or not and there is literally nothing to go by except the art on the instruction manual. Even the outer sleeves on the SuperGrafx games have nothing on the backs! Like I see games with really cool artwork on the front all the time, but unless I know exactly what it is, I stay away from them because there is just no way to know. Someone's just going to be like "just use ur phone idiot" but I don't have a smartphone since I have no need for one, so I can't do that. Good to see that the TurboGrafx-16 did have something better than what Japan got!

 

I have recently acquired 2 random impulse purchases. One for an almost 32 year old system, and one for PS4. Here they are! Arrow Flash is decent and Sakura Wars has yet to be played. I literally bought Arrow Flash because I walked into a store and saw it, a game that I had literally never heard of before, so I bought it. Risky, especially at 8800 yen, but it turned out okay and I like the game. It's also in extremely excellent condition, almost like new! It's nothing special, but it's still fun. The back of the box has basically enough information to tell you that you fly a transforming mech and a few tiny screenshots and that's about it. Of course, if you can't read Japanese you wouldn't know that, but I can read enough to know that, so I knew at least that much.

[roots.genoa]

2 hours ago, Curious Sofa said:

I would try to read it   I took French in HS but that was another lifetime ago...and there's Google Translate.  My current level of French is basically Flight of the Conchords' Foux du Fafa    So if you're willing, lay it on me.

I think Google Translate kinda sucks for French (I always translate in English from Spanish or Japanese for instance) but here it is: http://mag.mo5.com/a-la-une/179822/test-streets-of-rage-4/

2 hours ago, Curious Sofa said:

My favorite silly option:  You can now change the Food, both the Small and Large health food items from the traditional Apple and Turkey respectively.  You can have pizza, tofu (?), salad, what appears to be a brisket, and some others.

Indeed, but some items may be harder to see hidden behind a guardrail in the ship for instance. Also, when you play online, each player sees his own versions so it can get confusing... ^^

2 hours ago, Curious Sofa said:

Streets of Rage 2 nostalgic note:

Back back back in the 90's, my first experience I recall with the game was having rented it with friends.  Axel's "Grand Uppah" sounded so bad especially on TV speakers, a friend thought he was saying "Pasta Ball!" or he later determined, "Pass Da Ball!".  And then concluded that this was why Axel rages through the streets; no one passed him the basketball in high school, and now he is pummeling everyone while screaming "Pass Da Ball!", forever tormented.  I have basically thought about this during each of the thousands of times I've played SoR2.  (As do I still think of Raiden's scream as "I am a Frito-Laaaaayyy!" in MK).

I've got similar stories, in SoR2 as well with the teleporting ninjas. My favorite example is in Mario Golf though, in which Wario sounds like he says "peau de chat" ("cat skin" in French) instead of "nice shot". Since you can play voice effets with your controller when you're not playing, we use to do some music jam combined with Yoshi's scratching voice. ^^

[Steven Pendleton]

1 minute ago, roots.genoa said:

I always translate in English from Spanish or Japanese for instance

Wait what? I'm confused. You go Spanish/Japanese -> English, but then what? Google Translate has gotten very good over the past few years. I've even used it to translate stuff for work and it generally puts out something that is salvageable at least. I do kind of miss when it put out incomprehensible nonsense because the results were almost always funny as hell, though.

 

5 minutes ago, roots.genoa said:

I've got similar stories, in SoR2 as well with the teleporting ninjas. My favorite example is in Mario Golf though, in which Wario sounds like he says "peau de chat" ("cat skin" in French) instead of "nice shot". Since you can play voice effets with your controller when you're not playing, we use to do some music jam combined with Yoshi's scratching voice. ^^

In English people generally think Axel is saying "Grandpapa!" or something instead of Grand Upper. I just started playing The King of Fighters this week so I've been recently introduced to Terry Bogard... oh man this dude's Engrish is INCREDIBLE and I love it.

[roots.genoa]

2 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Wait what? I'm confused. You go Spanish/Japanese -> English, but then what?

Then I understand English. ? But Spanish or Japanese to French is just confusing gibberish.

By the way, I thought it was "Great Upper" so I need to fix my review. ?

 

By the way Blaze Fielding's voice is a bit disappointing in SoR4. My favorite voice in a video game is King in KoF.

[Steven Pendleton]

1 minute ago, roots.genoa said:

Then I understand English. ? But Spanish or Japanese to French is just confusing gibberish.

By the way, I thought it was "Great Upper" so I need to fix my review. ?

 

By the way Blaze Fielding's voice is a bit disappointing in SoR4. My favorite voice in a video game is King in KoF.

I don't know your fluency level in English, so maybe you use another thing to help. You guys over in Europe, from my experience, actually bother to learn other languages. When I was in Sweden basically everybody could speak English. Meanwhile in the US, nobody really bothers to learn. Here in Japan the younger generations have been taught English in school for some time but lots of people don't possess the confidence to use it so they never practice.

 

Too bad Blaze's voice is not so great. I never researched it, but now that I think about it, I wonder if everyone has the same voice in every game in the series. Only Axel and Blaze are in every game so you'd think it would be relatively easy, but I highly doubt that they always have the same voices. That was fairly uncommon at the time, even if it's generally practiced now, at least in Japan. I was honestly shocked to learn that Metal Gear always kept the same voice actors for the entire series. Then MGS V and yeah.

 

As for King, I haven't really beaten her up much and I don't use her, so I haven't heard her very much. Maybe I'll pay attention to her next time! I only have KOF 96 and 98 because Neo Geo games are crazy expensive, though.

[DragonGrafx-16]

3 hours ago, Steven Pendleton said:

Well, I do it because it's easier to judge a game for myself than to let someone else judge it and say it's good and then I still hate it or think it's average at best. Still, I haven't bought any bad games in my life aside from the ultra-terrible Turning Point. That was when I was in the Marines and didn't have internet access because I was only supposed to be at that specific base for 3 months of training, so I didn't bother with getting internet and I didn't have a way to know if it was good or not. The only other bad game I have owned is Fellowship of the Ring for GBA. Fortunately that was a gift! Man that game is terrible! The worst game I have ever played by far!

 

Yeah, the Japanese HuCARD cases are terrible. No idea if the game is good or not and there is literally nothing to go by except the art on the instruction manual. Even the outer sleeves on the SuperGrafx games have nothing on the backs! Like I see games with really cool artwork on the front all the time, but unless I know exactly what it is, I stay away from them because there is just no way to know. Someone's just going to be like "just use ur phone idiot" but I don't have a smartphone since I have no need for one, so I can't do that. Good to see that the TurboGrafx-16 did have something better than what Japan got!

 

I have recently acquired 2 random impulse purchases. One for an almost 32 year old system, and one for PS4. Here they are! Arrow Flash is decent and Sakura Wars has yet to be played. I literally bought Arrow Flash because I walked into a store and saw it, a game that I had literally never heard of before, so I bought it. Risky, especially at 8800 yen, but it turned out okay and I like the game. It's also in extremely excellent condition, almost like new! It's nothing special, but it's still fun. The back of the box has basically enough information to tell you that you fly a transforming mech and a few tiny screenshots and that's about it. Of course, if you can't read Japanese you wouldn't know that, but I can read enough to know that, so I knew at least that much.

Some HuCard cases actually had info on the back... Solider Blade does.

[Steven Pendleton]

2 minutes ago, DragonGrafx-16 said:

Some HuCard cases actually had info on the back... Solider Blade does.

US or Japanese? I have never seen the game in person, either way. It's fairly uncommon, in demand, or most likely both.

 

Disregard, located!

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Steven Pendleton

[DragonGrafx-16]

37 minutes ago, Steven Pendleton said:

US or Japanese? I have never seen the game in person, either way. It's fairly uncommon, in demand, or most likely both.

 

Disregard, located!

 

I can also confirm that Bomberman '93 and PC Denjin: Punkic Cyborgs both have info + screenshots on back.

Edited May 1, 2020 by DragonGrafx-16

[digdugnate]

I haven't seen too many folks comment on playing the game in this thread- but it's early and I may have missed more than a couple. 

 

I snagged the game when it was available on the Switch eshop- it is absolutely fantastic!  (disclaimer here, it's fantastic if you like beat-em-ups and the Streets of Rage series)

 

Controls are tight and spot-on- I'm playing in 'Legacy Mode' and mapped the buttons to be identical to the control scheme for the Streets of Rage series from the Genesis Collection.  The visuals and sound are the best of the series (and I really liked SoR2)- the ability to change it to the 'Retro' soundtrack is a pretty cool one.

 

I played through an 'Easy Mode' run yesterday and the game took me roughly four hours I think off-and-on.  First 5 levels were played with Axel, which I had a lot of trouble with, then I switched to Cherry at someone's suggestion (i just don't remember who it was now, sorry guys!)- CHERRY IS FRIGGIN AWESOME.  She's super fast so doesn't hit hard, but it was a heckuva lot more fun for me to play her than Axel.

 

@roots.genoa is pretty accurate imo about the difficulty levels- Easy doesn't hand it to you, though you get seven lives for each level and it's easy to regain health when you attack.  Normal, on the other hand, proved to be pretty challenging so far (which I do like), but I kind of wish there was an Intermediate difficulty between Easy and Hard, lol.  I hate to see what 'Hardest' and 'Mania' plays at!

 

For real- if you like beat-em-ups and you like the Streets of Rage series, this is probably one of the best games out there right now.  I sunk a lot of time into River City Girls (which was my previous favorite), and this game is as good as if not better. 

[Steven Pendleton]

3 minutes ago, digdugnate said:

I sunk a lot of time into River City Girls (which was my previous favorite), and this game is as good as if not better. 

Good. That game is pretty good aside from the voice acting, which is not so great. Still, that's the least important part of the game, so it doesn't really affect anything. I liked the OST in that game, as well. I think Yuzo is not the main composer, but the guest composer for Streets of Rage 4 or something. He doesn't really do as many games as he used to, but wouldn't be the same without him so I'm glad he's here.