Ha, I knew it. After the Estel reveal trailer teased a square-faced silhouette, I had a strong inclination that it belonged to none other than the body-slamming wrestler himself, Max Thunder. And I was right. Today, Dotemu confirmed my frightening powers of clairvoyance by revealing that Max Thunder is indeed playable in the Streets of Rage 4 – Mr. X Nightmare DLC. Okay, it wasn’t a hard guess, so the surprise has been softened. However, it does feel damn good to see our ol’ boy body slamming street punks once again.
For those unfamiliar, Max Thunder was one of four playable characters in Streets of Rage 2 (1992). However, he was brainwashed by the nefarious Y twins in Streets 4 and turned against his old allies. You knock the sense back into him, sure, but after that he’s left behind while you face off against Mr. X’s progeny once and for all.
In Mr. X Nightmare, Max returns to the streets to throw some hands, feet, and other people. It’s clear the developers are going literal with the name, considering his new abilities. Max does still have a lot of his signature moves, such as shoulder charge, twirl, and body slam. However, he can now charge up his attacks with lightning for his Special Moves. His Star Attack sees him slamming the ground, calling forth a torrent of lighting bolts to attack surrounding enemies. It also appears he can jump off walls to crash down on foes, creating an area of effect (AoE) attack that knocks enemies away.
Welcome back, old friend
I was never much of a Max player in my youth, but I’m still excited to try him in Streets of Rage 4. The new abilities and mobility options for the game should make the slower, but powerful character a treat to play. Knocking people around like ping pong balls is something I don’t feel will ever get old. We don’t know when the Mr. X Nightmare DLC will be available, but it may be soon. We only have one more character reveal left.
There will be three new playable characters in the DLC. The first was revealed to be Estel Aguirre earlier in April. And both Max and Estel had nearly a full moveset in the actual game. Judging by the trend, it would make sense that the final character will be Shiva. Also appearing in Streets 4 as a boss, Shiva, like the other two, had his moves and animation fully fleshed out. Considering he and the final silhouette share the same wild hair, I can see him being in the next reveal. We’ll know for sure when Dotemu comes out with another unveiling.
