Streets of Rage 4’s Mr X Nightmare mode arrives this month

Brawler fans looking for a new fight will be happy to know that Streets of Rage 4’s Mr X Nightmare (survival) mode is hitting this month.

Here comes a new challenge

It’s tough to argue that Streets of Rage 4 wasn’t one of the very best surprises of 2020. True, it wasn’t a great year to begin with (which is putting it mildly), but SoR4 would have been a standout in any year. After all, the team of Dotemu, Lizardcube, and Guard Crush Games pulled off quite the feat in reviving Sega’s long dormant side-scrolling series.

The game brought the same classic gameplay, though tweaked a bit, and infused it with stunning 2D visuals and an all-new storyline. It impressed us so much, we tagged it with our Action Game of the Year for 2020. And now, thanks to the above studios, it’s back for another round here in 2021.

This month, Streets of Rage 4 gets a dose of free DLC with Mr X Nightmare. A brand new mode, MXN deals pure survival gameplay to fans, letting them punch and kick their way through wave after wave of baddies. This battlin’ comes in two flavors, Random and Weekly.

Random mode will do exactly what you think, and will toss completely random waves of enemies at you. Weekly, on the other hand, is a preset “gauntlet” of bad guys to defeat. And playing each will have some awesome rewards too, some of which will affect the main game. That’s including a fantastic-sounding option for custom move-sets.

A Nightmare and more

Each completed level offers two randomized perks to choose from, granting stackable bonuses to power up combatants in unique and devastating ways until they’re defeated. Braving Survival’s onslaughts also permanently unlocks new moves for use across any of Streets of Rage 4’s modes, allowing players to personalize movelists for their favorite characters. Progress unlocks devastating new weapons within both Survival mode and an incoming training mode, as well as gallery content. The mode’s leaderboards keep track of the community’s well-fought runs too; who will be Wood Oak City’s finest fighter?

Mr. X Nightmare bundles the above with the playable debut of Estel Aguirre, fully realized playable versions of Max Thunder and Shiva, and grooving original music from Tee Lopes (Sonic Mania, League of Legends). A separate free update adding an in-depth training system, color palette options, a fiendish New Mania+ difficulty, plus a wealth of refinements and balancing changes addressing feedback from Streets of Rage 4’s passionate community, also arrives on July 15.

Dotemu