Streets of Rage 4 is retro in all the right ways

Video games get sequels all the time, but it rarely happens more than two decades after the original trilogy concluded — and it’s even rarer when that sequel is as faithful as Streets of Rage 4. The just-launched beat ‘em up comes 26 years after Streets of Rage 3 graced the Sega Genesis, and, in many ways, the experience is the same. You still wander the streets, listening to kickass Yuzo Koshiro tracks, while pummeling street punks and bad cops. But Streets of Rage 4 also manages to modernize the experience in key ways — through both its design and visuals — to make it feel unmistakably modern. This is still authentic Streets of Rage, but in a way that works for 2020.

The new game takes place a decade after Streets of Rage 3 and...

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