How to unlock Roo in Streets of Rage 4 and his secret clown achievement

While I was playing Survival mode in my preview build of Streets of Rage 4 – Mr. X Nightmare, I unlocked a pack of concept art. Squirreled away between hand-drawn images of the cast, I saw an artistic rendering of Roo, a hidden character from the third game. Naturally, I wondered if Dotemu managed to sneak in this pugilist kangaroo as a hidden character. Well, turns out I was right on the money. Not only is Roo an unlockable character, but the community managed to figure out how to access him within hours of the DLC going live. This just goes to show that you should never doubt a group of people who want to play as a boxing kangaroo. Here’s how to unlock Roo in the Streets of Rage 4, as well as his secret clown achievement.

To unlock this latest fighter is a simple task. I believe you need the DLC, as I don’t think he came in the free update. When in the main menu of the game, highlight Story at the top of the list. Next, hold up and the attack button at the same time. You can’t do one before the other, or you’ll end up at Exit. Next, hit the options (or start) button. Head into any game mode of your choosing, and an Icon for Roo is available right above Streets of Rage 3 Shiva.

Yes, sadly, you only get the SoR 3 version of Roo. As far as I know, Dotemu and team haven’t modernized the big guy. However, just having him here, finally, in Streets of Rage 4 is pretty amazing. He’s as you may remember: a brown kangaroo with bright red boxing gloves and blue boxing trunks. Roo (or Victy as he was otherwise known) was an unwilling mini-boss in Streets of Rage 3 along with his handler, Bruce. When he was defeated, you could play as Roo in the character select area of the continue option.

My boy is back.

It’s a freaking clown fiesta

Once you unlock Roo in Streets of Rage 4, you can use him in any mode. And that includes Survival. Once again proving that Dotemu and Sega have charged too little for this massive DLC, Roo also gets his own set of five unlockable moves through Survival mode.

I’ve played Roo in the game for a little while ahead of this article. He’s a combo fan’s dream, with a toward special that hits a staggering 20 times (no, really). I was pulling in 100-hit combos casually in my runs with Roo. He’s not physically strong, but his combo potential is out of this world, allowing you to stun lock your foes with ease. Also, his back attack should not be ignored. Not only does it extend far beyond is tiny jab, but it moves him back slightly. Tapping it allows you to combo, and keeps enemies with a long reach at bay.

Roo’s star move is…something. He summons his old handler Bruce, a creepy clown with a whip. Bruce comes in as an NPC, following Roo for a surprisingly lengthy amount of time while whipping enemies. Roo also has a secret clown achievement tied to his star move. If you summon Bruce three times, you unlock Clown Wars (Lead an army of 3 clowns). If you want to get it quickly, start up a level, pause, and choose retry with assist. Pick the option that gives you two extra stars, and spam away.

(Please don’t) Send in the clowns.

What other secrets remain?

Mr. X Nightmare only launched yesterday, but I wonder what other secrets Dotemu may have added. There’s speculation that the other secret character is Shiva from Streets of Rage 2. Dotemu did tweet out a gif showing off SoR 2 Shiva zipping around. However, judging by how it looks (and how Estel just awkwardly stands there), I’m going to say it’s just a joke. But who knows if the developer was teasing something. With Roo’s inclusion, Mr. X Nightmare brings four playable characters (so long as he’s part of the DLC, of course). This brings the total to 21 characters from across the history of the franchise. One more couldn’t hurt, right?

If we hear about any other secrets hidden away in this fantastic DLC, we’ll let you know.