Hi everyone, I'm Cyrille Imbert, Executive Producer of Rage Stamps 4. It's been 26 years since the last episode of the Stage series, but today I'm excited to announce that we will be launching this new chapter on April 30! Everyone in Dotemu, the Lizardcube, and the Guard Crush Guard is so excited to finally make this dream come true. Like the big spears of Rage fans ourselves, we can't wait for you to play and enjoy the game.
This blog is just about the release date. We are also excited to unveil the return of Battle Mode, a game mode that will help you and your friends decide who you really are in the Wood Oak City community.
But enough talk – check it out in the trailer above!
Battle Mode allows you to pick your favorite characters and test your skills against one to three characters at all unforgettable levels. While it's true that Star of Rage 4 is all about collaboration, we thought it would be fun to let you guys play around with the characters and find out which one is the most powerful, and which best fits your style of play. Whether you want to train your combos and specials, or just have fun, Battle Mode is the place to do it – and it will be available from scratch.
As mentioned in the trailer above, you can try Battle Mode with the titles of Rage 4 characters, as well as the full list of twelve retro characters we announced last week (if you ever opened them, of course!).
These retro features have made us very happy, and I want to take this opportunity to give you more details:
In Stitution of Rage 4, you'll be able to use characters from previous Rage Installation references. We brought it back to just about everyone (sorry Roo) – finished with their pixel-art costumes and unique features, with a total of 17 characters.
You may know this, but you will also be able to choose between two different sounds of Street of Rage 4. One whole new soundtrack compiled by all-star artists (including Olivier Deriviere, Yuzo Koshiro, Motohiro Kawashima, Yoko Shimomura, Das Mörtal, Scattle… ). This contains tracks selected from Street of Rage 1 and 2 – for those looking for a complete nostalgic tour! Also, you can change the soundtracks in the game whenever you want.
Go straight
Bringing these pixel characters back to life was never an easy task, but as fans it was something we were committed to and wanted to surprise you guys.
It all started right away in the growth phase. We don't have the Stage of Rage 4 characters ready at the time, so to start exploring things and using gameplay, Jordi Asensio, our game designer, ripped some seedlings from previous Rage game guides and attached them to the Guard Crush engine. As progress progressed, we saw that these muscles looked really good – with lightning effects and everything – and that playing them was something we knew their fans would love.
The same is true of music. We didn't have any new tracks to work with initially, but we knew we wanted something in the same spirit as the previous soundtracks. We used old Rage 2 track tracks like "Go Straight" as point guard to maintain the "Stords of Rage" flavor while testing the game. What ended up was a mix between some new sounds and old 16bit-era music, and it felt right that we decided to put all our energy into integrating this as part of the final game.
Street fighting
As mentioned above, returning all these characters was not easy. First, our team had to rip each character, one by one, frame by frame. This has been a daunting process because we have managed nearly 1,500 frames. But the next phase was a bit more complicated because we had to rebuild all the images at the right rate from the first games. Because of the complexity of the process, everything had to be done manually.
When the images felt believable, it was a time of real fun: game Because all characters come from different games and because Star of Rage 4 is a new title, Jordi and the Guard Crush team had to adapt everything to Street. of the Rage program 4. This meant passing all the characters and reproducing all their structures, one by one. This process requires a lot of research and rescue, because our aim has been to be very honest. Therefore, the team had to spend all the time and all the boxing, frame by frame.
Hitbox comparison with the same navigation: left, Street Rage 4; on the right, Roads of Corruption 2
At one point, reproducing the original structures didn't work because Street of Rage 4 worked differently from the previous episode and the old player didn't feel as good as expected. So, for some characters or movements, we had to practice and make the best adjustments to make their moves work in a way that felt fun and on point, which also means adding some new features. I don't want to spoil yours here though – I'll let you find yourself on April 30th!
After months of intense workouts, voilà: 12 newly installed fighters and 5 new broadcasters, totaling 17 characters in play! We hope you enjoy playing Street of Rage 4 the way we enjoyed it. Thank you for your support since we first announced this game. It’s been a very long, very rewarding journey for us, and you can’t imagine how excited we are for you to enjoy the finished product.
Do not hesitate to continue sharing with us on social media your love and thoughts for this wonderful series. Reading your feedback, ideas, and encouragement was so much fun, and really helped us deliver the best of all time.
Grand Upper!
