Streets of Rage 4 to get character buffs and more in new, beefy patch

One of the benefits of modern gaming is being able to update and add content as needed. This is in comparison to the cartridge-based days when what you bought was what you got. Streets of Rage might have started its franchise journey in arcades and on consoles, but, those two mediums didn’t have the flexibility of being updated at the turn of a key. And, just like that, developer Dotemu has announced a new patch and buffs available for Streets of Rage 4 in an update arriving today.

Patch ’em ups

It seems like this isn’t just a small patch and a few buffs for Streets of Rage 4. In the announcement for the update, it’s noted that there are nearly 80 items being addressed. For starters, Axel will now move faster and have “less recovery on some moves.” Cherry, too, will see increased combat skills. Her flying punch coming out of combos is now fully invincible. In Floyd’s case, he will no longer be able to “reset his grab move counter by jumping” and his Special will take away less HP.

There are a number of fixes, and honestly, too many to name here. Some other highlighted items from the update include Special and star moves being able to interrupt hit-stun in grounded combat. Additional fixes will be applied to the retro versions of characters as well. Even smaller improvements, such as damage being reduced when enemies gang up and combo players, are also part of the patch.

A winning team

Outside the patch update news, Dotemu has also revealed some numbers in regards to downloads of Streets of Rage 4. The game released on PC and many other console platforms, chalking up nearly 1.5 million downloads since its release back on April 20, 2020. Executive producer Cyrille Imbert did reveal that there are plans for future updates. However, at this time, Imbert said, “We couldn’t be happier with the reception of Streets of Rage 4. We thank the fans who have supported the game from day one—a lot of the updates in the patch enhance the replay value for folks who have been with us from the start.”

There are no details as to when the next update will drop. Imbert only stated, “Additional updates are currently in production and we’ll have more to share on that soon.” But, judging by the recent patch, the team of Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games seems invested in the game’s ongoing improvement.