Dotemu is pretty much the king of the beat 'em up hill nowadays. The French publisher has released two of the most beloved beat 'em ups of all time in recent years: TMNT: Shredder's Revenge and Streets of Rage 4. Both games have received numerous updates since their launches, with a new update for Streets of Rage 4 arriving within the last week. This patch consists of mostly balance adjustments for numerous characters and enemies, but it also adds co-op moves and custom options for Survival Mode.

Streets of Rage 4 is a fantastic revival of Sega's classic beat 'em up series, with gorgeous hand-drawn artwork, a memorable soundtrack, challenging gameplay, and both local and online co-op. The only less than stellar thing about the game has been the long wait for new post-release content. Today, Streets of Rage 4 fans can finally take on new challenges as both a free update and the premium 'Mr. X Nightmare' DLC have arrived on consoles and PC.

Streets of Rage 4 floored classic gaming fans with its tight gameplay and amazing graphics and soundtrack when it arrived back in early 2020, but things have been quiet for DotEmu's beat 'em up since then. That will finally change when the 'Mr. X Nightmare' DLC and a separate, free title update arrive later this month. Not only do we have a release date and price for the DLC now, but we've also got a fresh trailer that showcases the new content.

Most people will agree that one of the things about Streets of Rage 4 is that it did not have playable boss characters. You can play as a lot of fighters, especially if we count the classic versions, but not bosses. That will change when the premium 'Mr. X Nightmare' arrives in the near future, adding former bosses Max, Shiva, and Estel to ...

Combo Co-Op, if you didn't know, is the ability to mix a co-op game with both local and online players at the same time. It's one of the only features Streets of Rage 4 doesn't support out of the box. Thanks to Twitter user @SolKeizer26 though - we've found a workaround to at least get 3 players going in remote play on PS4.

Streets of Rage 4 is out today, the first true Streets game in 26 years. You can read our review of Streets of Rage 4 right here, needless to say, we've been thrilled. If you prefer more of the visual review though, we've got that below. Last night Mike and Nick jumped into the two player co-op online action taking the game for a spin in Arcade, Boss Rush and even Battle modes. 

The synths kick in as the neon lights reflect off the city streets, slowly the drums add to the atmosphere. From off screen strolls a a gruff man with long blond hair and an ere of anger in his stride. Soon the screen is filled with a gang intent on being served justice...with your fists. It's a familiar scene for gamers who grew up in the 90s ...

Streets of Rage 4 is still schedule to launch this Spring, and with it the continuation of one of the greatest co-op series of all time. While the game was famous for its overall gameplay, lasting visuals, and co-op goodness - it's the music that has stuck with the series over the years. Today the game's publisher has unveiled all that is going into the soundtrack.

Let's be real with each other right now.  Punching bad dudes?  That's pretty dang fun.  Punching bad dudes into your buddy, who then slams them into the ground with a sweet kick move?  That's so much fun it should be illegal.  Luckily, we don't have to test the legality of having a good time, as Streets of Rage 4 is bringing it right to your favorite gaming platform.

At this year's Gamescom, Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and Dotemu showed off some new footage of the forthcoming Streets of Rage 4, including a look at a new character, Cherry Hunter. The trailer also included a little bonus at the very end: the newest entry in the Streets of Rage franchise will be released on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.

There have been plenty of new beat-em-ups over the years, and some of them have been quite good.  Let's be real, though.  Nothing beats the originals (or at least our collective nostalgia for them).