We are all excited for Streets of Rage 4, which is coming soon. I had the chance to speak with Ben Fiquet of Lizardcube, Cyrille Imbert and Jordi Ascencio of Dot Emu and Cyrille Lagarigue of Guard Crush Games about the upcoming brawler. Have a look below at our discussion.
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JB: A fourth game in the series has been wanted for a long time. How did this come about? Am I correct in assuming it was tied to the success of the Wonder Boy Remaster?
Cyrille Imbert: When finishing the production of Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, we were asking ourselves what we could do next, what we could ask SEGA. Of course, we had a ton of ideas, but what everybody had in their minds was of course Streets of Rage. And we said to ourselves: “if we’re going to ask something, let’s just ask for what we want”, and that’s what we did.
Ben: Since Dotemu and I are huge Streets of Rage fans, we started discussing the idea of making a new episode and we began working on a presentation with sketches and illustrations to show to SEGA. We built a great relationship with SEGA since Wonder Boy and naturally they were more inclined to listen to us. They really liked our pitch and what we wanted to do with this project, and they said “yes”.
JB: A question on everyone’s mind right now, is Yuzo Koshiro going to be part of this project?
Cyrille Imbert: We aren’t commenting on specifics right now but there will be more details revealed on the soundtrack soon. We know the soundtrack to the original Streets of Rage games were important to the overall world’s feel, and we hope to deliver a soundtrack worthy of the fans! For us, the soundtrack is as much important as the graphics or the gameplay, and we take it really seriously. But stay tuned, the OST will have it’s own announcements in the future.
JB: I assume you are aware of the fan projects and remakes of SoR. Will those have any impact upon SoR 4?
Jordi: We’re trying to get as much input as possible to make to best game we can. SoR fan projects (like SOR Remake) are definitely interesting prisms that make us understand how fans look at the former games. That said we’re making a brand new game in a modern gaming context, so our challenge is to make a game that stands for itself while staying true to its legacy.
Cyrille Lagarigue: Yes, we played fan projects like SOR Remake and Beats of Rage, and it is amazing that the community love Streets of Rage so much that they make great fan games! We take inspiration from them when appropriate. On our side, we want to technically push the envelope in term of graphics and gameplay.
JB: SoR 2 is considered an all time classic in the beat em up genre. Are you at all intimidated by reviving the series, knowing the legacy behind it?
Ben: It can obviously be frightening. But in the same time, we are developing a new vision for the serie which we believe is a step forward in the right direction while respecting the license and the fans in the same time. It’s always a thin line to be walking.
Jordi: We are so proud that SEGA accepted our proposal. It has been a game that I wanted to do for so much time that the excitement overcomes the intimidation. Fans are waiting for us and we won’t let them down.
Cyrille Lagarigue: To be honest it feels great to be able to work on the series. When we see all the love that people have for Streets of Rage, it is a honor and a pleasure to be able to make the game they have been waiting for a so long time. There is pressure, but it is the good kind of pressure that makes us want to do the best work that we can.
JB: What do you hope to do differently with this game than was done in previous entries?
Jordi: Length of the game will be longer. We’ll try to be generous in term of content and gameplay features. We want to modernize some mechanics too. We’re experimenting a lot of new things gameplay wise and only the best ideas will be in the final game. For example, regaining your life back after a special move if you hit an opponent without getting hit or the implementation of juggle mechanics are new features that are really fun and we’re satisfied with.
Ben: The art will obviously be upped as you’ve seen, while staying true to the original 2d vision. Since we have more resources than a megadrive game, the game is fully hand drawn animated and has beautiful backgrounds. Despite the changes, we really hope fans and newcomers alike will appreciate what we’re going to show.
Cyrille Lagarigue: Basically, we want to push everything to the next level. We are also trying to remove little frustrations that were present in the previous games. For example, enemies are now blocked from exiting the fighting arena when they are close to the left or right borders, so you don’t end up blindly hitting outside of the screen.
JB: Will SoR 3 characters be making appearances? Or perhaps the backup returning from the original game?
Ben: There are definitely more characters to be revealed as well as more details on the full game itself. We’re excited to reveal more information soon.
JB: The art direction as seen in the trailer and screenshots is a very interesting choice. What inspired you to go in that direction?
Ben: It’s a mix of different influences. It comes from my background as an animator and comic artist but also all the legacy of 2D fighting games. There’s a lot of possibilities when contemplating the wide range of style 2D is offering. Especially in terms of animation, it’s quite rare nowadays to see that much traditional animation in a beat’em up. This brings a lot of life into characters.
Before making a presentation to Sega with Dotemu, I spend months making concept art in different directions. What I ended up with is what you can see and what Sega liked.
JB: Are there any other Sega properties you would like to revive in this style? Perhaps other beat em ups like Golden Axe? I also feel the art style would fit Comix Zone perfectly.
Ben: I’m a Sega Kid all the way especially the Megadrive , I’d love to have my hand on so many licenses. I do love Golden Axe which had kind of a Conan the barbarian vibe which would be great to draw. But it could definitely be another style entirely. I love Landstalker and Shining Force for example, especially the marvelous character design by Yoshitaka Tamaki. But also the games by Dave Perry and the Disney ones as well.
Jordi: I absolutely love Golden Axe. Altered beast is also one of my favorite. I really hope that I can make new entrances to these series one day, fingers crossed. I really like to do something with the Panzer Dragoon series too, Panzer Dragoon Saga being one of my favorite games (story, gameplay and soundtrack are so sick).
Cyrille Laguarigue: Of course, there are a lot of licenses I would like to work on: maybe Beyond Oasis, or Treasures licenses like Guardian Heroes.
JB: Related to the above, how did you decided what characters and appearances to use for the game? Did you choose the most iconic ones, or the ones you felt would fit best?
Jordi: We can’t say for now, as it will give too much hints on who we have chosen. We want to keep it a surprise. We’ll have a very varied cast that hopefully suits every player personality.
Ben: Axel and Blaze were the obvious ones, since they’re so iconic of the entire series. But as Jordi said there is many more to come.
JB: Is there anything you would like to say to the fans of the series as they wait?
Everybody: Please stay tuned for more news about Streets of Rage 4 on the official Facebook page of the game @StreetsofRage4, or by following us on Twitter and Facebook: @Lizardcube, @Dotemu and @Guard_Crush!