When we reviewed Streets of Rage 4 last year, one of our very few laments was that there were such great boss characters we kind of wished we could play them - Especially Max Thunder, who was a returning character from Streets of Rage 2. Fortunately, we won't be relegated to unlocking his retro counterpart anymore. Dotemu is expanding the game to include ol’ Max in a proper playable form in the upcoming Streets of Rage 4 Mr. X Nightmare DLC, and he’s looking as devastating as he ought to be.
Dotemu revealed Max Thunder as the next playable character in the Mr. X Nightmare DLC in a trailer on the Dotemu YouTube channel on April 30, 2021. Originally appearing as a brainwashed boss you have to knock to his senses, Max Thunder’s move set as that boss seems to translate over alongside some great now moves to round out his heavy hitter kit, including a wall-jump splash attack and ground-pounding thunder attack. All this comes alongside a fresh new track likely from the teased musical additions that are also coming to Streets of Rage 4 in the Mr. X Nightmare DLC.
Overall, the Mr. X Nightmare DLC is proving to bring every single thing to the table that players were asking for and then some. It was back in March 2021 that we saw signs of the new content coming, but soon after, Dotemu revealed the equally-requested Estel as the first playable character of the DLC. Just as well, there’s also a challenge mode coming to the game which visits new and familiar locations, new weapons to wield (like a whole dang swordfish), new moves for existing characters, new music in addition to Streets of Rage 4’s already great tracklist, and confirmation of at least one more unrevealed playable character. We’re betting on SOR4’s Shiva, but it will be interesting to see what Dotemu reveals.
The Streets of Rage 4 Mr. X Nightmare DLC doesn’t have a release date yet, but with Max Thunder and Estel Aguirre revealed playable in addition to everything else, it’s already looking like a winning extension to one of 2020’s already best games. Stay tuned as we await further details on a release date and the final playable character.
