It has been 26 years since the last instalment of the classic Sega beat em up ‘Streets of Rage’. The next instalment of the franchise will return in January, with all the action that we know, love and remember, plus a few little updates. But what do we know about it so far?
The game has been created by French studio Lizard Cube games, responsible for the recent Wonderboy: The Dragons Trap. If this is anything to go by, the studio have shown real care and attention when updating retro games, staying true to the classics but adding a twist of modernism. They have been assisted by Guard Crush Games, who will bring their game engine designed for Streets of Fury Ex. The game will be published by Dotemu.
Adam, Blaze and Axel will return with a new character named Cherry Hunter. Cherry will join the cast as a playable character. An angsty teenager who wields a guitar as a weapon, Cherry is the daughter of Adam Hunter and has been trained by her father and Axel. Her love of fighting is eclipsed only by her love for progressive rock!
As well as the original cast, a whole host of bad guys, thugs and general villainy return from the original franchise. The neon glamour of Wood Oak City is back and is still infected by crazy dominatrix whip ladies, punks in yellow macs and the fat guy in bracers that loves to run. Let’s hope annoying lanky boomerang guy is well and truly dead!
The original game was well known for it’s brooding, pumping nineties soundtrack. It has been confirmed that original composers Yuzo Koshiro and Motohira Kawashima will be scoring the game, meaning that the polyphonic genius that watermarked the earlier instalments will undoubtedly be a hallmark here !If this could not get better, they will be joined by Yoko Shimomura, the iconic videogame composer responsible for such classics as Guile’s Theme in Street Fighter.
Although we have had three instalments already, the game will be mostly linked to Streets of Rage II. Jordi Asensio, game designer for Dotemu and the founder of Guard Crush Games, has said he believes II is the greatest instalment of the franchise so far. In an interview he explained how although the game was simple, the right sounds, music and gameplay created the sum of it’s parts and that this is what made Streets of Rage flow so well.