Streets of Rage 4 Reveals New Playable Character at Gamescom

Cherry Hunter, a guitar-wielding brawler, is joining the roster of Streets of Rage 4.

Streets of Rage 4, the upcoming revival of the classic Sega Genesis beat ‘em up series, had a new playable character reveal at Gamescom 2019. Cherry Hunter is the daughter of Adam Hunter, a playable character from the original game. Cherry fights with an electric guitar and a set of impressive moves she learned from her old man and a returning playable character, Axel Stone.

The character trailer shows Cherry in action, putting her brawling skills to the test against waves of baddies. As a treat for the old-timers out there, she fights with a combination of moves she learned from her mentors. We also see unique abilities she made herself.

We see Cherry miming Axel’s uppercut, doing a series of chained jump kicks against a line-up of foes, and grappling an enemy’s head mid-air for a skull-pounding combo. Her most exciting moves come courtesy of her guitar, though. She can slide across the stage through enemies, perform an overhead guitar slam worthy of Jimi Hendrix, and even strike a power chord to fry nearby foes with electricity.

Cherry isn’t the only member of Adam Hunter’s family to show up in Streets of Rage. In Streets of Rage 2 and 3, Adam’s younger brother Skate took over his brawling duties.

Streets of Rage 4 features a fresh, bold art style. But it otherwise looks like it’ll play similarly to the classic games. For some fans, that’s good news. But that choice could make it harder for the game to stand out amongst the competition. The genre as a whole has moved on and built upon the foundations from the original series. Introducing new characters like Cherry could be an excellent way to breathe fresh life into the franchise. We also know that there’s at least one more unannounced character planned for release.

Streets of Rage 4 is co-developed by Guard Crush Games, Lizardcube, and Dotemu, who all bring their own experience on updates of classic games. The game is coming to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. We do not have an exact release date at this time.