#lizardcube

[linuxgamenews]

Streets of Rage 4 now brings more than 300 improvements

Streets of Rage 4 beat’em up game gets a free major update for Linux, Steam Deck, Mac, and Windows PC. This is once again due to the commitment of developers Dotemu, Guard Crush, and Lizardcube. Which is available on Steam, GOG, and Humble Store. Publisher and co-developer Dotemu with co-developers Lizardcube and Guard Crush Games released a new content update. Since this brings more than 300 improvements to Streets of Rage 4. The award-winning revival of the iconic beat ‘em up series on Linux, Steam Deck, Mac, and Windows PC. A rippin’ new trailer shares a first look at the update. Which also showcases a suite of eye-popping co-op moves. Since these moves empower players to take their combo-driving teamwork to the next level. All while dishing out some serious hurt to the city’s seediest criminals. It even gives an overview of the all-new Custom Survival Mode. This mode which grants brawlers full control over the innovative, outlandish roguelite beat-em-up gauntlet. This debuted as part of the Mr. X Nightmare DLC. At the same time provides a unique new way to enjoy Streets of Rage 4’s spectacular combat. Catch more details on the update’s additions and its slew of general improvements to the thug-slugging action in today’s trailer:

Streets of Rage 4 (and Mr. X Nightmare DLC) - New free update

Streets of Rage 4 is the continuation of the classic beat em’ up series. The game also released in 2020 as the long-awaited follow-up to the classic 90’s trilogy of games. After not seeing a release for 25 years, Streets of Rage 4 brought the series into the modern era. While receiving critical praise for its faithful evolution of the franchise’s signature action. And as a result, surpassing more than 2.5 million copies downloaded. The title features new and returning characters and stylish hand-drawn artwork. Along with fresh combat abilities and mechanics, with retro pixel character unlocks. Plus a soundtrack crafted in homage to the sound and style that made the original games so popular. Streets of Rage 4’s perfectly reimagined sidescrolling action was further enhanced through 2021’s acclaimed Mr. X Nightmare. A hefty offering of DLC which adds three more fighters to the game’s playable roster. An inventive and immensely replayable Survival Mode. Devastating new attacks, an imaginative arsenal of weaponry, kickass new music from Tee Lopes, and much more. Mr X. Nightmare earned praise as a stellar example of Streets of Rage 4 DLC done right. Standing as one of the all-around best reviewed releases of the year on all platforms despite its arrival as add-on content. Full patch notes are available here. The free major update coincides with a sale on Streets of Rage 4 on Steam. Priced at $12.49 USD / £11.24 / 12,49€ , including the 50% discount until March 16th. Supporting Linux, Steam Deck, Mac, and Windows PC. Also available on GOG and Humble Store. Priced at $24.99 USD / £19.49 / 20,99€. The Mr. X Nightmare DLC is also discounted by 50% on Steam priced at $3.99 USD / £2.89 / 3,99€.

[blazehedgehog]

So for those of you who don't know, I've opened a second Youtube channel. I have finally decided to stop treating my main Youtube channel as a dumping ground for everything, since I'm pretty sure low-view gameplay clips are probably hurting how the algorithm distributes my content.

So I've made a "Game Dump" channel for just random junk that I want to post to Youtube but isn't necessarily #content. Like I used to post way, way, way back in the day!

Anyway, today I finally posted this: a full, first-time, 2 player co-op playthrough of Shredder's Revenge from back when the game originally came out. I had a couple months of cheap PC Game Pass, so it was freely available to me.

I'd intended to maybe do something with this. Like a video review, or something. But it never manifested and now I just don't have the interest. Nor do I have access to the game anymore.

So here's our entire playthrough. We swap around the roster of characters until we find ones we're comfortable with and then finish the game. At the end, when I unlock a new playable character, I repeat one level with them. There's no commentary and I went through a small amount of effort to blur out my Xbox friends list/email/etc. when they pop up.

One minor annoyance I didn't realize until I went to upload this is how sort of bad it looks? I mean it's not unwatchable, but this monitor is like 13 years old and its native resolution is 1600x900, which is what the video captured at. But the game to renders at some bizarre resolution (1440x810), which I don't entirely understand. This leads to a bit of non-square pixels that is slightly annoying, but you do get used to (it's only really noticeable in the slow pans during cutscenes).

On top of that, even at 1600x900, Youtube drops the video down to 720p, because despite supporting tons of arbitrary resolutions above 1080p, it doesn't support anything between 720 and 1080. I could have bumped it up to 1080p myself, but re-rendering this to blur out my email/etc. already took five and a half hours. Scaling it up to 1080p would have doubled or tripled this render time.

So either it's a little blurry because Youtube downscaled to 720p, or it would be a little blurry because I upscaled it to 1080p. It's pixel art, so the result would always basically be the same.

Don't worry about it, I say.

Rewatching this, I find myself wanting to play this again. I should pick up a real copy some day...

[jayextee]

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap (2017)

The original Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap is, without a doubt, the SEGA Master System game ever. It looks, sounds, and plays every bit like the distilled very best of SEGA's 8-bit offerings and is arguably (both by myself and many other fans of the system) the best game available for the console.

Having opened this review with such high praise, I probably don't have to say that if any remake of that game were anything less than absolutely stellar and amazing work, I would not be kind to it. I would hold nothing back, show no quarter, take the gloves off, let rip, and tear it a new one. Luckily, it's absolutely amazing and stellar work.

Essentially that's because this is an emulation of the original Master System ROM with a pretty new skin running over the top of it. Okay, maybe a bit more complex than that, but the game logic running here is basically 1:1 with the SMS version even if, and this includes the game with retro visuals and sounds enabled, there are some changes elsewhere.

Good changes, mind you -- what the kiddies like to call 'quality of life' stuff. Really though, how quality do you need your life if your biggest worries are what creature comforts and conveniences a videogame offers you? But I digress here, there's a whole-ass separate button for special weapon usage and the equipment menu is a much more pleasant-to-navigate affair. And, mercifully, they've got rid of that fucking 'charm point' system that I personally felt was an idea that didn't service this game style as well as it would a more-conventional RPG. And, in essence, all it meant was exiting a shop to remove the Goblin Mail, re-entering, seeing the stuff for sale that should've been for sale anyway. Yeah, that tedium's gone.

There are some small layout changes as well, presumably to even-out the challenge a little. But this is all piecemeal stuff compared to the aesthetic overhaul. Oh, wow, the aesthetic overhaul. Let me, frankly, gush.

Imagine a retro game not just upscaled, not just redrawn, but completely reimagined with the utmost passion, respect, and care for the source material. That's The Dragon's Trap right here.

It. Is. Fucking. Beautiful.

Featureless flat areas with naught but trees are now expansive meadows featuring a memorial to a battle long-since passed, continuing onto a valley with a tower hidden inside a forest by the lake. Standard platform gauntlets across a body of water are now a set of tropical islets in a luxurious ocean that culminates in a shipwreck telling a tale of caution and intrigue before the great offscreen unknown. And there's a little stool outside a hut by a lava lake where the owner has carelessly left some impaled marshmallows to toast in the heat. There is so much attention to detail here, and cute little touches, and visual storytelling, it's tough not to fall in love all over again. The game that was my adventurous escape in childhood, is equally so if not more in adulthood.

Music's amazing, too. Not a single piece feels wrong or updated without the full knowledge of what made the original tunes 'pop'. Particular favourites of mine are the desert and jungle themes, both of which have instrumentation that perfectly encapsulates their host environments and makes the adventure connect on an even deeper level.

I am, however, overlooking some of-its-time "flaws" in this game. I don't care. I even put "flaws" in those scare-quotes because, fuck it, they don't make games like this anymore so there's no reason to change it to be more like games they do make. That one Steam reviewer who says the controls are slippery and the coins bounce over the player's head, you're wrong mate. Couldn't be wronger. Maybe a dragon cursed that guy and he's typing with tiny mouse hands that can barely reach the controller buttons?

Anyway, my recent 2.5 hour afternoon playthrough of this game made me fall in love with it for like the hundredth time. Here's to a hundred more.

5/5

[fridge-reviews]

Wonder Boy: The Dragons Trap - Blast Review

Developer: Lizardcube Rrp: £14.99 (Humblebundle, Steam and Epic) and £17.39 (Gog.com)

I remember when I was a kid watching a friend play the original of this game on his Sega Master System. He never let me have a go, though to be honest I can see why, I was a heavy handed child who was quick to anger when thwarted so he likely feared for his control pad's safety. It's now many years later and I finally got to have my go! Hurray!

This game is essentially a metroidvania though, due to some technicalities I hesitate to truly give it that label. The thing with metroidvania's is that when you gain a power you can easily switch to a different power. In this game that isn't the case, when you defeat a boss you turn into a monster version of yourself, you can't change out of this form into another one until you kill another boss or find an altar. However, altars are uncommon and seem to change you somewhat at random.

What this game is though is beautifully animated, it has been entirely drawn by hand giving every character a wonderful sense of personality. I spent ages just watching how the mouse-man's ears wiggle. Of course, if you want to relive those old days of 8-bit you can quickly change the game to retro mode in the options menu or with the trigger buttons on your control pad. I thought that was quite a nice feature to add especially because you can choose to just change the music or just the sound effects.

Is this game worth £14.99, honestly to me no. Thankfully I didn't have to pay that, I picked it up when Epic made it free. It's just a bit too short to justify that cost to me (as I completed it in just under 5 hours), but perhaps your mileage will vary.

----

If you’d like to support me I have a Ko-fi, the reviews will continue to be posted donation or not.

[ercdouken]

Streets or Rage 4 (PC/Steam) - Adam Hunter Arcade Playthrough

[doamarierose-honoka]

While we can only speculate that developer Lizardcube (Streets of Rage 4 and The Dragon’s Trap remake) is behind the upcoming 2D Shinobi game, new key art utilized in a SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc. report screams Lizardcube aesthetics. Little else is revealed, aside from the player taking up the Oborozuki sword to slay evil. It also appears that the game will stick with the title Shinobi, unless they tack on some more words or some numbers. Personally, I think it has been long enough since the last Shinobi game to use the same title again. The artwork also looks great, and we can’t wait to learn more about the upcoming title!

[gamesinorbit]

10 must-play indie games on Nintendo Switch

Discover hidden indie treasures on the Nintendo Switch! These games may have slipped past your radar, but they're as deserving of attention as the all-time favorites.

Some indie games become so famous that they end up appearing on every list of best games for a console—Shovel Knight, Rocket League, Hollow Knight, among others, are already etched in the memory of any gamer. With this list, we aim to introduce some games that may have flown under the radar or that you may not know have been released for the Nintendo Switch, but deserve as much attention as any…

[gaminghearts1-blog]

Greatest 2D beat ‘em up game ever?

Greatest 2D beat ‘em up game ever?

[kappa-artz]

Still in a Monster World mood, so just for fun here's Asha in the Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap remake style.

Lizardcube still lives rent free in my head.

[takikats]

new jet set radio, crazy taxi, shinobi, and streets of rage game??? looks like lizardcube's working on the shinobi game?? im set for life. thank you sega. this time

[gmlocg]

3,185.) Streets of Rage 4

Release: April 30th, 2020 | GGF: Action-Adventure, Beat 'Em Up, Fighting | Developer(s): DotEmu, Guard Crush Games, Lizardcube | Publisher(s): DotEmu, Yooreka Studio, H2 Interactive Co., Ltd., Chengdu Joystick IP Service Ltd., Playdigious | Platform(s): Linux (2020), Macintosh (2020), Nintendo Switch (2020), PlayStation 4 (2020), Windows (2020), Windows Apps (2020), Xbox Cloud Gaming (2020), Xbox One (2020), Android (2021), iPad (2021), iPhone (2021), Stadia (2021)

[kosodragon]

Streets of Rage 4 V08 patch is officially available! I think on all consoles and PC. And Jordi, the main sor4 developer said there would be a trailer of some sort. It's now available to see on YouTube. (Update: Trailer has been released, check link below) https://youtu.be/QNBCJUijhdM The official v08 patch notes have been released: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/985890/view/3642886460574936108?l=english Source: Guard Crush Games Discord: https://discord.gg/d5q9ZF6EGc For latest news & more: Subscribe to Streets of Rage LEGION: https://youtube.com/@sorlegion Join The Streets of Rage LEGION Discord: https://discord.gg/cJRDCwzrNv @lizardcube @dotemugames @streets4rage @streets.of.rage.4 @streets_of_rage_4 @streetsofrage4 @streetofrage4.lover @sor4_nightmare_dlc @streets_of_rage_online @streetsofragebrasil @streetsofragefrance @major_playerz @ragefanfilm @xrdesports #streetsofrage4 #streetsofrage #sorlegion #kosodragon #dotemu https://www.instagram.com/p/CpnRFUNrBgb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[demifiendrsa]

Streets of Rage 4 - Mr. X Nightmare DLC reveal

“Mr. X Nightmare” DLC will add three new playable characters and a special “Survival” game mode when it launches later in 2021. A separate free update will launch alongside the downloadable content with additional content.

Key visual

screenshots

Overview

Mr. X Nightmare

Today’s announcement trailer showcases officer Estel Aguirre, one of “Mr. X Nightmare”‘s three included fighters, as she goes off duty to join forces with the heroes of Streets of Rage 4 for the first time. Formerly appearing in the game as an intimidating, boss fight-style foe, Estel’s powerful slugs and spin kicks dish out serious damage to anyone foolish enough to get in her way. Witness Estel in action and spot a hint at the downloadable content’s two other characters still to be revealed.

“Mr. X Nightmare” also introduces a unique Survival mode, which challenges players to elevate and prove their true capabilities through special tests of skill; more details on this mode’s design and gameplay will be shared soon. Players can additionally build their own personalized fighting style with new moves via incoming character customization, while extra weapons and enemies are sure to keep the battles ahead interesting. “Mr. X Nightmare” includes lively new original music from Tee Lopes, a composer and arranger previously featured in Sonic Mania, League of Legends, and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, among other titles.

Free Update

Separately, the free update serves up a brutal challenge for Streets of Rage 4‘s most formidable players via the “New Mania+” difficulty. An in-depth training system is arriving to help brawlers perfect their strategies and alley-clearing combos, and fresh color palette options keep Wood Oak City’s most dangerous fighters looking sharp.

[shaucatcosplay]

@shaucatcosplay as Blaze Fielding, Streets of Rage 4.

📷 @dannyryba

This game series will always be near and dear to my heart.

[pehesse]

Today’s heroine is Cherry Hunter, from Streets of Rage 4 by Lizardcube, releasing today!