Streets of Rage 4/Playable characters
From Sega Retro
Characters availability
Vanilla game
The first time a player launches the game, only the Story mode and 4 playable characters are available:
- SoR4 Axel Stone,
- SoR4 Blaze Fielding,
- SoR4 Cherry Hunter,
- SoR4 Floyd Iraia.
The character select screen hints at a 5th character that must be unlocked: SoR4 Adam Hunter. While all the other modes are unlocked by completing the Story mode at least once, nearly all the previous incarnations of playable characters in the franchise can be unlocked through a lifetime scoring system, the only exceptions being Roo and Ash from SoR3. Players can earn lifetime points simply by completing stages in the Story mode or the Stage Select mode.
After completing a stage, a stage score is calculated following those different criteria:
- Initial score, points cumulated during the run by hitting enemies, doing combo chains and picking bonus items up,
- Time bonus, the faster the stage gets completed, the more points the player gets rewarded with,
- Health bonus, the more health remains, the better the score,
- Star bonus, The more stars you collected without using them, the higher the score.
The run is assessed by a letter-ranking system (S, A, B, C, D) and, then, a total score is calculated:
- Score bonus, the stage score is directly added to the total score,
- Rank bonus, the better the assignment, the higher the bonus,
- First time completion bonus, when the player finishes a stage with a given character for the first time, he/she gets some additional points.
This total score is directly added to a lifetime score.
By cumulating lifetime points this way, players can unlock new characters by reaching some thresholds:
- SoR4 Adam Hunter gets unlocked after completing the stage 4 the first time in the Story mode,
- SoR1 Axel Stone at 200,000 lifetime points,
- SoR1 Adam Hunter at 250,000 lifetime points,
- SoR1 Blaze Fielding at 310,000 lifetime points,
- SoR2 Max Thunder at 390,000 lifetime points,
- SoR2 Axel Stone at 480,000 lifetime points,
- SoR2 Blaze Fielding at 570,000 lifetime points,
- SoR2 Skate Hunter at 650,000 lifetime points,
- SoR3 Axel Stone at 730,000 lifetime points,
- SoR3 Blaze Fielding at 840,000 lifetime points,
- SoR3 Skate Hunter at 940,000 lifetime points,
- SoR3 Dr. Gilbert Zan at 1,050,000 lifetime points,
- SoR3 Shiva at 1,150,000 lifetime points.
Mr. X Nightmare DLC
Purchasing the Mr. X Nightmare DLC directly unlocks new modes and 3 additional playable characters:
- SoR4 Estel Aguirre,
- SoR4 Max Thunder,
- SoR4 Shiva.
One of the new modes is the Survival mode, which allows players to unlock new alternative moves for every playable character. Unlocking new moves in the Survival mode works similarly to unlocking new characters in the Story and Stage Select modes: completing a run in the Survival mode gives the player some scoring points. If the player cumulates enough points, one or several moves will be unlocked for the character used during the run. However, contrary to the lifetime scoring system, the survival scoring system is only graphical (i.e. a progress bar is associated with each character in a dedicated screen) and no actual figures are ever showed.
As a bonus, the possession of this DLC also allows player to get access to SoR3 Roo through a cheat code. In SoR3 on Mega Drive, you had to hold 
+
then press START on the title screen. In SoR4, you have to input this code on the main screen:
- On PlayStation 4, hold
+
and press OPTIONS , - On Xbox One, hold +
and press MENU , - On Switch, hold +
and press 
.
Nothing indicates that the cheat code worked but Roo should appear on the character select screen of any modes from there on.
On PC, the cheat code is always the same: hold +Attack and press START . But the cheat code ignores any button remappings and always follows the default button assignment of input controllers. If your controller doesn't even have a start button, you can always do the cheat code by mixing button inputs with your keyboard. The cheat code by using only the keyboard is the following: hold +F1 and press Enter.
Unless going through the Survival mode and unblocking at least one alternative move with him, the cheat code must be performed each time the game gets launched to get access to him again.
Character movesets
In the vanilla game, all the characters get moves that can be split into 2 large categories: the common moveset and the advanced moveset. Advanced movesets can be further broken up into different move types, representing different kinds of special moves that have specific names for each characters. The Mr. X Nightmare DLC adds alternative advanced movesets to all the playable characters, including SoR1 incarnations.
Advanced move types
Every playable character can have as many as 7 kinds of advanced moves:
- SoR1 incarnations get a star move,
- SoR2 incarnations also get a blitz, a defensive special and an offensive special,
- SoR3 incarnations can also get up to 2 additional weapon blitz moves,
- SoR3 Roo do not have any weapon blitz but gets an air special,
- SoR4 incarnations also all get an air special but their weapon blitz moves look more like basic weapon moves,
- SoR4 Blaze's air special can be performed 2 times in a row if it hits an enemy the first time and her remaining health allows for it,
- Floyd can also perform his air special several times in a row, up to 9 times in a row, as long as his life bar is not empty,
- Floyd is the only character to get a grab special,
- SoR4 Shiva's offensive and air special attacks take each 2 different forms depending respectively on the distance to enemies and the input direction,
- Estel's offensive special is a 2-hit combo move by default but it can achieve up to 8 hits by smashing the attack button.
The Mr. X Nightmare DLC provides additional alternative moves for all those advanced move types besides weapon blitz and grab special attacks.
As SoR4 is localised into 12 languages, the names of the advanced move types in all those languages are listed in this section. For languages not using Latin characters, move names are first transliterated into the Latin script (a.k.a. romanisation) and then given in the language writing system. The transliteration systems used for each language are:
- Revised Hepburn for Japanese,
- Revised Romanisation (South) for Korean,
- GOST R 52290-2004 (street and road signs system in Russia) for Russian,
- Hanyu Pinyin for both flavours of Chinese.
Exceptions are for words that are transliterations of English words into the language writing system. In this case, the actual English words are given.
As usually done to avoid political issues in modern gaming, Simplified Chinese is meant for Chinese as written in Mainland China and Traditional Chinese for Chinese as written in Taiwan.
| Language | Move Type Name | ||||
| English | Blitz | Defensive Special | Offensive Special | Air Special | Star Move |
| Portuguese Português |
Blitz | Especial Defensivo | Especial Ofensivo | Especial Aéreo | Movimento Estrela |
| German Deutsch |
Blitz-Move | Defensiver Spezialmove | Offensiver Spezialmove | Luft-Spezialmove | Stern-Move |
| Spanish Español |
Blitz | Especial Defensivo | Especial Ofensivo | Especial Aéreo | Movimiento Estrella |
| French Français |
Attaque Blitz | Coup Spécial Défensif | Coup Spécial Offensif | Coup Spécial Aérien | Attaque Étoile |
| Italian Italiano |
Blitz | Speciale Difensiva | Speciale Offensiva | Speciale Aerea | Mossa Stella |
| Japanese 日本語 |
Ōwaza 大技 |
Special (Bōgyo) スペシャル（防御） |
Special (Kōgeki) スペシャル（攻撃） |
Special (Taikū) スペシャル（滞空） |
Super Ōgi スーパー奥義 |
| Korean 한국어 |
Blitz 블리츠 |
Bang-eo Teugsugi 방어 특수기 |
Gong-gyeog Teugsugi 공격 특수기 |
Gongjung Teugsugi 공중 특수기 |
Star Move 스타 무브 |
| Russian Русский |
Blitz-Priyem Блиц-Прием |
Oboronitel'nyy Spetspriyem Оборонительный Спецприем |
Atakuyushchiy Spetspriyem Атакующий Спецприем |
Spetspriyem V Vozdukhe Спецприем В Воздухе |
Zvezdnyy Priyem Звездный Прием |
| Ukrainian Українська |
Blitz Бліц |
Spetsudar Zakhystu Спецудар Захисту |
Spetsudar Napadu Спецудар Нападу |
Povitryanyy Spetsudar Повітряний Спецудар |
Zoryanyy Pryyom Зоряний Прийом |
| Simplified Chinese 简体中文 |
Bàojī 暴击 |
Fángyù Dàzhāo 防御大招 |
Jìngōng Dàzhāo 进攻大招 |
Fúkōng Dàzhāo 浮空大招 |
Xīng zhī Mìjì 星之秘技 |
| Traditional Chinese 繁體中文 |
Shǎndiàn 閃電 |
Fángyù Mìjì 防禦秘技 |
Gōngjí Mìjì 攻擊秘技 |
Kōngzhōng Mìjì 空中秘技 |
Xīng zhī Zhāoshù 星之招數 |
Despite those official terms, most English-speaking players would call defensive special attacks simply as special attacks and offensive special as forward special after the manipulation to be done to achieve them.
Character move names
Similarly to fighting games à la Street Fighter II, advanced moves are completely different from one character to another and are given specific names. In SoR4, the names of all the advanced moves are only available and displayed after buying the Mr. X Nightmare DLC to allow the selection between original moves and alternative moves. In most languages, the move names are simply those given in English, the exceptions being in Japanese, Korean and both flavours of Chinese.
Note: In-game star moves are activated with some zooming effects and the background turning night blue. As the below animations reproduce them without any backgrounds, those effects are replaced by a simpler night blue shadow effect.
Axel Stone
After the fall of Mr. X, Axel retired from the police force and moved out of the city. Desperate to find true strength beyond his fists, he went to live in the wilderness. He spent his days training, meditating, and studying.
However, despite his love for this simpler life, a call from Blaze was all it took for him to return to the city once more.
In non-Latin languages, his name gets rendered as close as possible to how it sounds in English:
- Akuseru Sutōn アクセル・ストーン (Japanese),
- Ākèsài'ěr Sītōng 阿克塞尔·斯通 (Simplified Chinese),
- Àikèsài'ěr Shǐdōng 艾克賽爾·史東 (Traditional Chinese).
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Blaze Fielding
Blaze was dishonorably discharged from the police force when she refused to take anger management classes after punching the commissioner in the face over an ethical disagreement.
These days she works as a dance instructor and choreographer for local musicals.
She still has a bad habit of getting into street brawls. With her ear ever to the ground, she picked up on rumblings of a new crime syndicate and immediately started calling in old favors.
Cherry Hunter
Being the daughter of Adam Hunter, the most decorated cop the force has ever known isn't easy. It comes with a lot of baggage and a lot of frustrations.
While Cherry inherited his brawling talents, she didn't inherit his desire for law and order. Choosing to devote her life to music, she spends most of her nights playing electro progressive rock in some of the most dangerous dives in the city.
Floyd Iraia
Floyd had always worked hard for the local community until a horrible work accident left him armless.
The management at the construction company decided to invest in lawyers rather than helping him with the massive medical bills.
In the end, help came from Dr. Zan, with whom Floyd spent years learning how to build, and use, his new cybernetic arms which Zan had developed.
When Blaze called on Dr. Zan for help, Floyd was the one who answered.
Adam Hunter
After the events of 10 years ago, Adam just wanted to take care of his daughter, Cherry.
But he was called on to join the special forces and infiltrate the new organisations gaining control of the city.
Having been in the shadows for too long, he finally decided to finish the fight he started.
Shiva
After the fall of Mr. X, Shiva was enlightened and started a dojo to make use of his talent and promote Buddhist teachings.
Unfortunately, many of his disciples left to join the new crime syndicate. What finally made up his mind, however, were the reports of animal cruelty at Y's secret labs.
Now he's just waiting for the moment to strike. And when he does, he'll strike hard.
Estel Aguirre
The only daughter of a Swedish-Columbian couple, both exemplary police officers, Estel grew up learning that duty, justice, and integrity were the most important things.
Strong-willed and eager to serve, she doesn't always see that her colleagues' ambitions can be less noble than her own.
Eddie "Skate" Hunter
Skate is a typical teenager. He keeps up with the latest styles and is slightly rebellious. He looks up to his big brother Adam, who is also his mentor and helps him train in martial arts.
Max Thunder
Kicked out of the Pro Wrestling association because he refused to throw a fight, he joined Axel and Blaze to get rid of the syndicate and also show his friends what a real German suplex is.
Dr. Gilbert Zan
Dr. Gilbert Zan is a scientist, former Syndicate member, and the one who discovered the element Rakushin.
After the Syndicate betrayed him, he was forced to become a cyborg. He then contacted Blaze Fielding to get payback.
Now he helps people and tries to undo what he did while in the Syndicate's employ. In particular, he built Floyd's arms.
Roo
As a throwback to SoR3, in the Mr X Nightmare DLC, Roo is only accessible through a cheat code. On Mega Drive, you had to hold + then press START on the title screen. In SoR4, you have to input this code on the main screen:
- On PlayStation 4, hold + and press OPTIONS ,
- On Xbox One, hold + and press MENU ,
- On Switch, hold + and press .
Nothing indicates that the cheat code worked but Roo should appear on the character select screen of any modes from there on.
On PC, the cheat code is always the same: hold +Attack and press START . But the cheat code ignores any button remappings and always follows the default button assignment of input controllers. If your controller doesn't even have a start button, you can always do the cheat code by mixing button inputs with your keyboard. The cheat code by using only the keyboard is the following: hold +F1 and press Enter.