Streets of Rage 4 Gets April Release Date

Streets of Rage 4, the long-awaited sequel to the classic side-scrolling beat-’em-up series, will be released on April 30 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. It will cost $24.99 USD (UK and AU prices not available at time of writing), and will also launch straight onto Xbox Game Pass.The new Streets of Rage is a collaboration between French retro game specialists Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and publisher/co-developer Dotemu. It marks the first new entry in the series since Streets of Rage 3 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, released in 1994.

As an homage to those original games, playable characters from the original Streets of Rage trilogy will be available in their original pixel art form as unlockable characters in SoR4 – and you can check out some exclusive gameplay of those characters in action in the video above.

The game will also allow players to switch on the soundtracks from Streets of Rage 1 and 2 – although original composers Yūzō Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima have contributed to Olivier Derivière’s score for the new game.

A new trailer also revealed the new game’s Battle Mode, a returning PvP mode from Streets of Rage 2 and 3. “This feud-settling battleground is bound to help rivals recognize who truly is Wood Oak City’s finest alley-clearing ruffian,” reads the press release, “as well as settle grudges spurred by accidental friendly strikes during multiplayer sessions.”

For more on Streets of Rage 4, you can also learn more about the game’s music, and how the original composers got involved, and read our most recent preview, where we said it “isn’t trying to revolutionize the franchise, and that’s a good thing”.

Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.