The Commissioner of Wood Oak City Police Department is a boss character introduced in Streets of Rage 4. He's fought on Stage 2, and later at Stage 7 as a boss minion, alongside Estel Aguirre.
Overview[]
The Commissioner is a middle-aged man of large stature and muscular build, wearing a police uniform with a gun shoulder holster, a tie and sporting a moustache.
According to Blaze's bio in Streets of Rage 4, due to an ethical disagreement between her and the Commissioner, she ended up punching him in the face, and was dishonorably discharged when she refused to take anger management classes.
Boss Fight[]
The Commissioner's boss fight takes place in Stage 2. He begins the battle by slamming and breaking his desk with an overhead punch, which drops money and food. As with all bosses, he'll always have invincibility frames when getting up from a knockdown. Feroccio, Dick and Barney reinforcements will spawn at some portions of the battle; in Mania+, the Commissioner variant, Deputy, will appear when the Commissioner reaches certain health thresholds.
In his first phase, he has 4 attacks:
- Quick Uppercut: a very fast attack that deals small damage and knocks the player down. Also used as a get-up attack. Used more often on Phase 1, signaled by the Commissioner moving faster towards the player.
- Overhead Slam: the Commissioner will freeze in place for half a second, then lunge forward with a powerful overhead punch. While being relatively slow, it has surprisingly long reach, as well super armor during its entire duration.
- Charge Grab: a grab that functions similarly to that of Dick, where the Commissioner stands still and glows red for a second, and then walks fast towards the player. If he reaches the player, he'll grapple them and forcefully slam them on the ground. He has super armor while moving towards the player.
- Flying Lunge Grab: The Commissioner's signature move. He will jump all the way to either side of the screen and charge up similarly to the Charge Grab, but he will glow white with armor instead of red. The Commissioner flies across the screen horizontally until he grabs a player or hits a wall. If he grabs a player, he will fly back across the screen and slam them into the wall. Used more often during Phase 2.
After hitting a bit under half of his health, the Commissioner will enter his second phase. When this happens, he will always lead with the Invincible Flying Lunge Grab. He also gains two new attacks and access to a Quick Uppercut - Overhead Slam combo.
- Invincible Flying Lunge Grab: The same as the Flying Lunge Grab, but the Commissioner will glow yellow signaling invincibility. All attacks will pass through the Commissioner during this move, and he can aim the move diagonally instead of just horizontally. He only does this move once, upon entering Phase 2.
- Triple Overhead Slam: The Commissioner winds up an Overhead Slam, but this variant takes about double the time to charge. After this, the Commissioner flails back and forth with three Overhead Slam attacks. If the player is very close, it's possible to get hit by all three attacks.
- Double Flying Lunge Grab: The Commissioner will do a Flying Lunge Grab, but then immediately jump back to the side of the screen and do another one. He is armored throughout this whole sequence and will stand still for a little bit after it's over.
Strategy[]
The Commissioner might seem intimidating at first, but most of his attacks are telegraphed and easy to avoid. During the first phase, the player can either bait and punish his Quick Uppercut, or put pressure by juggling him. When Ferrocio and Dick spawn, it's recommended to dispatch of them to avoid being overwhelmed; throwing the cops at the Commissioner can be useful to get breathing room. Make sure not to try to challenge the Commissioner's armor during his Overhead Slam and Flying Lunge Grab attacks and dodge them by moving vertically. For the Flying Lunge Grab, the player can jump to avoid the attack while also throwing out a jump kick to deal some damage every time he uses the move.
In his second phase, Ferrocio and Dick will no longer spawn, but a single Barney will spawn and try to tase the player. Geting rid of Barney's taser as soon as possible is recommended, while avoiding the Commissioner's attacks, particularly his Triple Overhead Slam. All of the Commissioner's attacks have high ending lag and can be easily punished. Throw Barney at the Commissioner until he goes down, then, dodge the Commissioner's attacks and keep dealing damage until the fight is completed.
In Stage 7, the Commissioner is called in as backup by Estel (two in Mania and Mania+). The Commissioner is overall much weaker here: in addition to having significantly less health than in his boss fight, he also has less super armor in his attacks. He lacks the Quick Uppercut and Triple Overhead Slam attacks, and the Flying Lunge Grab is much less threatening; it travels a much shorter distance and instead of slamming the player against the wall, he simply toss them on the ground; though this version is aimed diagonally.
Variants[]
The Commissioner has two variants, which have less health. These appear exclusively in Mania+ and Survival Mode.
- Lieutenant, with dark grey hair and wearing a grey shirt with a green tie, uses Quick Uppercut, Overhead Slam and Charge grab attacks. He can also use the Flying Lunge Grab, specifically the variant used in Stage 7 (which slams the player on the ground). His Overhead Slam is faster, but lacks armor.
- Deputy, with a dark purple hair, a darker skin complexion and wearing a pink shirt, fights exactly like the Lieutenant, in addition to the Triple Overhead Slam attack, though he will only use it after exiting hit stun or getting up from a knockdown as a get-off-me move, as well as very rarely after one of his other attacks finishes. Deputy has more health than Lieutenant.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Commissioner is considered a heavyweight opponent, since any character that isn't Cherry, Floyd and Max will have a slower throw/slam animation compared to the other enemies (this trait is shared with Big Ben, Goro, and Assassin Agents),
- His Flying Lunge Grab is reminiscent of Rugal Bernstein's Gigantic Pressure from The King of Fighters series.
- During Boss Run, only one Commissioner is summoned when fighting Estel.
- Based on his Stage 2 boss intro and Blaze's Streets of Rage 4 bio, it may be possible Blaze found out about his corruption during their disagreements.