In many ways, Mr. X Nightmare is the best kind of DLC. Streets of Rage 4 is already a very fun beat-'em-up, but this add-on pack just makes it even better with its various additions to the experience. If you're a fan of the game, this is a no-brainer — especially as it's at such a low price point. We've had a look first-hand at what the DLC brings to the table, and accompanied by a major update to the base game, SoR4 is in better shape than ever.
Perhaps the most obvious place to start is the trio of new playable characters. Essentially, three of the game's main bosses have been added to the roster of fighters: Estel Aguirre, Max Thunder, and Shiva. The latter two are returning characters, but Estel was introduced in this entry, and quickly became a fan favourite. In practice, she feels great to play — her standard combo ends with a big rolling kick that feels really powerful. Her offensive and defensive specials are good for clearing space around you, and her air special sees her drop a grenade at an enemy's feet. Overall, she's a neat character with some good combo potential.
Speaking of combo potential, no one is better than this new incarnation of Shiva. This character is a technical player's dream, with lots of air attacks to take advantage of that the other brawlers don't have. Meanwhile, Max is slow and powerful as you'd expect, but we found him to be the least interesting of the new fighters.
No matter who you choose to play as, the completely revamped Training mode gives you ample opportunity to grow accustomed to their moves. Free Training is excellent — you can pick and choose your situation, dropping in whichever enemies you like, setting their difficulty and health, spawning items, and lots more. It's a perfect way to explore the intricacies of each character. Lessons take you through the game's fundamentals and advanced techniques step-by-step, and even get into the nitty gritty of each of the modern fighters.
The real draw of Mr. X Nightmare, as far as we're concerned, is Survival mode. This new way to play is seriously good. Framed as a simulation, you pick your brawler and engage in randomly generated battles against increasingly tough waves of enemies and bosses until you run out of health. What makes this mode even better, though, is that a duo of random power-ups will spawn between levels, and you'll have to choose one to move forward. These can be things like increasing base damage, adding poison damage to throws, nullifying food but making attacks regenerate health, and so on. These can get pretty crazy — the developers have gotten imaginative with these, and it makes each run a lot of fun. As well as the Random Sim mode, you also have a Weekly version too, so you can compete in the leaderboards against everyone else. It's a brilliant addition.
There's also a swath of new weapons, new character colours to select, more great music to enjoy, tons of rebalancing — it's a great expansion all round. Again, anyone who's spent any significant amount of time with Streets of Rage 4 should definitely consider checking out Mr. X Nightmare.
Have you been enjoying this DLC for Streets of Rage 4? Who's your favourite new character? Discuss in the comments section below.
Comments 28
I love this game.
I'm only surprised there's no more love !
Probably cos I'm old and I loved it the first time around.
Played the survival mode, it is a ton of fun. Also, the DLC is on sale right now at a pretty low price.
If you like this game, check out Mother Russia Bleeds.
may pick this up if its on sale
@Mgene15 Do it.
It's old skool loveliness.
Ok, lovely DLC, for a Lovely game, bravo keep on keeping on and all that jazz but, can we have Ash as a playable character already?
I need to grab this. I bet it it's a lot of fun, considering how polished the base game was. I will admit I was kind of bummed when the DLC was announced and it didn't add any new stages - I was really hoping for a new mini campaign with like 3 new stages, but I'm sure that would have been a TON of work. Survival sounds like a good time though and I definitely want to support everything Lizard Cube touches.
Is there 4-player online ?
@Quintumply any new trophies?
@RudeAnimat0r exactly, I’ve been really hoping for some new stages. Outside of that though this DLC sounds about as good as possible.
@nomither6 For the regular arcade mode, I believe so, yes. I think Survival mode is single or two-player.
@gamer_since_83 Yes, there are a few new Trophies to collect with the DLC
Love streets of rage. Whats the cost of this?
@Weebleman The DLC is $8
@UnlimitedSevens I’ve never played Mother Russia Bleeds but how does it compare to Fight N Rage?
The thing about Fight N Rage is it has deeper fighting than what’s typical for a beat em up like Tekken’s wall juggle and SF3’s parry and other fighting game stuff like that.
Having said all that, SoR4 is my favorite.
Well, I know what my game-related purchase will be this weekend.
This is awesome, you even get a new set of moves for all characters.
We can finally replace that horrible Axel offensive special!
Only played Max from the new characters so far and wow... he is amazing. Swipes the floor with enemies... literally. Great defensive and offensive specials too.
Was doing a shoulder charge competition with the commisioner!
XD
All in all, this makes the game even better.
Just missing new iterations of Skate, Dr Zan and Roo. Maybe being saved for SoR5?
This is an awesome update, and max is really useful. He basically nullifies the fat ***** of thier annoying usually unblockable special moves
@UnlimitedSevens I've had MRB for years as I wanted to scratch the SOR itch but I've never even bothered to download it 😄
Truly excellent game. Excellent DLC. You forgot to mention the addition of mania+ difficulty. Which is utterly insane.
I haven't played enough of it to pick a new favourite yet, but if I had to choose, it would be Estel. I like her combos and she's a great character design too.
@hypnotoad All Hypnotoads are in agreement here. This game is fantastic. It was one of the best arguments for owning a Genesis back in the day.
@Hypnotoad107 All glory to the hypnotoad(s)
I will need to give this game another look.
Played it through when it was released originally and then 2P Co-Op with my bro but since then it has sat on the external drive unloved.
It is good to see that this genre of beat-em-ups are having some new releases (Takedown and Mayhem Brawler), it would be nice to see more old characters make a reappearance in the roster.
@Kopite
To me, it's even better than Streets of Rage 4. The soundtrack is amazing, the grungy Russia setting and characters are on point, and the bosses are amazing and very creative.
You should definitely play it!
It unseated Streets of Rage 2 as my all-time favorite beat em up game, after over 20 years of playing that game on Genesis off and on. In comparison, Streets of Rage 4 wouldn't rate in my top 5 (although SoR4 is very good).
@djdizzy
Admittedly, combat isn't all that technical but has more options than SoR4 and puts you in more varied situations to actually require them. There's a risk-reward thing where you choose to use your healing items as health or as an offensive boost.
Beyond that, the game is pure style and has an amazing soundtrack, not to mention the best bosses in any beat em up I've played.
@Nem
Played through Survival with the new Shiva. Got to level 33 just spamming the Flying Kick alternate blitz move, literally watching the 400+ combos just pop on the screen repeatedly. The invincibility frames on it let you plow through boss attacks with ease. Shiva is nuts and possibly broken, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
@ColKojakSlapheadIII
Haven't checked out Mania+ yet... the original Mania difficulty was enough for me, and that was just the first level to get the trophy 😐
More Donovans than you could shake a stick at.
@djdizzy
What you might be into if you are looking for something more technical is Double Dragon Neon. There is a parry maneuver and it is much more skill-based.
Problem is, as far as I know, that game is only on PS3 and Xbox 360 as a downloadable-only game.
My guess is it didn't do well due to its higher difficulty and never received the PS4 treatment.
@UnlimitedSevens there is a limited run games physical release of double dragon neon on PS4 and switch. It's probably hard to get hold of though, as with a lot of their releases.
Tap here to load 28 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...