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Survival Mode DLC from Streets of Rage 4

Survival is a game mode present in Streets of Rage 4, as part of the Mr. X Nightmare DLC, released in July 15, 2021. While Survival Mode is not part of the main storyline, it canonically takes place after Axel and his friends defeated the Mr. Y and Ms. Y in their hideout.

In addition to the normal enemies, "retro" enemies from the Genesis titles also appear. There are 4 different backgrounds (with variations), plus 8 retro backgrounds.

After each run, the player will get experience points based on their score, which will unlock alternate moves (Blitz Attacks, Special Attacks and Star Moves). These alternate moves can be use them in other modes. Additionally, when playing online, the character the other player picks will contribute to your own (i.e. other player picks Streets of Rage 2 Blaze, the host's Blaze also gains experience by the end of the run).

Story[]

After putting a stop to the Y twins' nefarious activities, our heroes realized they would need to prepare for anything.

They went to Dr. Zan for help. From the remains of Mr. X's brain, he built a machine to replicate the twisted mind behind it all, a powerful artificial intelligence able to simulate any encounter they might face.

Fearlessly, our heroes jumped into the simulation, an endless challenge ahead of them. The ultimate trial: Mr. X Nightmare.

Rules of Survival[]

In this mode, one or two players (either offline or online), fight through an infinite number of randomly generated levels of ever increasing difficulty, with enemy density becoming progressively higher, more damage scaling, as well higher chance for formidable foes to appear. After every few waves, the player(s) will face a boss wave; as the progress is made through the run, more bosses will spawn in the same boss wave (up to four). The game ends if the player is defeated (or both players in co-op).

Between each wave, the player(s) can pick up random perks to aid against the upcoming challenges. Perks vary from passive buffs that increase damage or defense, or powerful effects that imbue new properties to attacks. In co-op, only one player may pick a perk at a time, and it applies only to the one who picked it (normally).

The player only has one life; while playing on co-op, if one of the players is killed and the other one finishes the wave, the dead player can be fully revived by picking the Altruism Perk.

Accrued points do not give extra lives. Instead, every 12.000 points will grant one Power Star; the requirement will consecutively increase by 2.000 for each Power Star acquired through points (22.000, 36.000, 52.000, so on).

Enemies[]

In addition to all enemies from the Story / Arcade modes, exclusive variations appear on Survival Mode for nearly every enemy. The player can also fight retro enemies from older Streets of Rage titles, in their respective retro stages. Each enemy defeated gets added to the roster of Training Mode.

As the player progresses and the difficulty starts to scale, red colored holographic enemies will appear, starting on around wave 25. These are special versions of existing foes, boasting vastly increased health, speed and damage output. They're very dangerous (especially in groups) and should be a top priority to dispatch.

At boss waves, the main characters, depicted in a pink holographic palette, may also appear in boss form. They are often very dangerous because they can parry weapons thrown at them, as well use Blitz Attacks, Special Attacks and Star Moves, which, much like when used by the player will grant them invincibility frames. The holographic version Axel will instead be called "Break", as a reference to the robotic duplicate of the hero, fought in Streets of Rage 3.

Stages[]

There are 5 different stages (with variations), plus 8 retro backgrounds. Certain variations have stage hazards.

Sor4 survival warm-upWarm up Sor4 survival transitionTransition Sor4 survival jungle frescoJungle (fresco) Sor4 survival jungle fountainJungle (fountain)
Sor4 survival volcano lavaVolcano (lava) Sor4 survival volcano fortressVolcano (fortress) Sor4 survival volcano doorsVolcano (doors) Sor4 survival volcano altarVolcano (altar)
Sor4 survival airbase dayAirbase (day) Sor4 survival airbase nightAirbase (night) Sor4 survival airbase rainAirbase (rain) Sor4 survival airbase sunsetAirbase (sunset)
Sor4 survival factory hallFactory (hall) Sor4 survival factory robotsFactory (robots) Sor4 survival factory tubesFactory (tubes) Sor4 survival factory elevatorFactory (elevator)
Sor4 survival arena blueArena (blue) Sor4 survival arena greenArena (green) Sor4 survival arena redArena (red)
Sor4 survival retro barRetro (bar SoR2) Sor4 survival retro alleyRetro (alley SoR2) Sor4 survival retro alienRetro (alien SoR2) Sor4 survival retro boatRetro (boat SoR2)
Sor4 survival retro blue-islandRetro (blue island SoR3) Sor4 survival retro templeRetro (temple SoR3) Sor4 survival retro roofRetro (roof SoR3) Sor4 survival retro finalRetro (final SoR3)

Stage Hazards[]

Certain waves happen at zones variations that feature environmental hazards, that can affect both players and enemies alike. Multiple hazards may be featured in the same stage, with higher chances for more hazards as the difficulty scales.

Aircraft Base[]

There are three possible hazards:

  • Wind: randomly pushes the player to the right or the left at certain intervals. Doesn't deal damage.
  • Rain: makes the floor wet, similarly to the start of Stage 8, where player movement has very low traction and causes characters to slide through the floor.
  • Storm: regularly causes lightning to strike in certain parts of the stage. A build-up of the bolt will appear to telegraph where it will strike. They damage players and enemies alike.

Jungle Temple[]

There are three possible hazards:

  • Swinging Boulders: large boulders hanging on vines, that will be either static or automatically swinging like a pendulum; the player may hit them to increase the swinging speed and distance. They deal heavy damage and launches the players far away. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Arrow Trap: these appear at the sides of the stages. They can usually be triggered by stepping on pressure plates nearby, or, in certain stages, will automatically shoot every few seconds. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Vine Trap: long vines that can be attacked, causing a stone block to fall directly over it. Can only be activated once. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Pressure Plate Trap: stepping on these can have two results: either a single stone block to fall, or a bonus item to appear (food, points or even a Golden Knife or Golden Boomerang). In certain stages, triggering the trap will cause a cascade of blocks will fall from one side of the stage to the other. They damage players and enemies alike.

Volcano[]

There are two possible hazards:

  • Lava Geysers: sprout a pillar of lava upwards. Come in various patterns, most notably a X-shaped that will gush all at once. Certain stages will have lava geysers aligned at the sides of the stage that will continuosly gush lava. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Rocket Barrage: similarly to Estel's Star Move in her boss form, but randomly hitting the battleground instead of targetting the player. They damage players and enemies alike.

Factory[]

There are four possible hazards:

  • Conveyor Belt: a large conveyor belt the takes the whole width of the stage. Usually there is a large red buttons at the sides of the stage that when pushed makes the conveyor belt move the opposite way.
  • Explosive Cannisters: they drop from the sides of the stage and travel on the conveyor belt until reaching the middle of the arena, exploding. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Lasers: positioned at the center of the stage, they're either constantly activated or will disappear at small intervals. Usually appear alongside conveyor belts. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Hydraulic Press: positioned at the center of the stage, either pumping at regular intervals or can be manually activated by pressing the red buttons at the sides of the stage. They damage players and enemies alike.

Gladiator Arena[]

There are four possible hazards:

  • Swinging Balls: similarly to the boulders at the Jungle Temple, they will be either static or automatically swinging like a pendulum; the player may hit them to increase the swinging speed and distance. They deal heavy damage and launches the players far away. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Electrified Ring Ropes: the edges of the stage are electrified and will shock characters if they jump on it (walking won't inflict shock). The player can toss enemies on the ropes to deal damage and juggle. In certain stages, the ropes will periodically disappear, allowing players to throw enemies outside the ring. The ropes damage players and enemies alike. Damage is only inflicted if players / enemies touch them while in midair.
  • Flamethrower: located at the edges of the stage, they will periodically shoot long fire streams. There is an indication to warn the player when it'll shoot. They damage players and enemies alike.
  • Pits: certain arenas will have a large pit in the middle. Sometimes it'll also be combined with the swinging ball hazard. They instantly kill enemies and allied AI partners (from the perk "Hey, Buddy!"), but deal light damage to players.

Alien Nest[]

A retro stage of the boss arena in Stage 4 of Streets of Rage 2. It has only one hazard:

  • Vehelits: functions similarly to the swinging boulders / balls. Always positioned in the middle of the stage. It damages players and enemies alike.

Simulation Types[]

There are three types of survival options for players to choose:

Random Sim[]

Engage in a sequence of levels, enemies and perks that's always different.

Weekly Sim[]

Engage in a sequence of set levels, enemies and perks. It changes every week.

Custom Sim[]

Allows the player to tailor their experience and change certain fundamental rules. Playing in Custom Sim doesn't count towards progression for unlocking alternate moves, and also won't show on leaderboards.

  • Perks: allows to increase the number of perks that appear after each wave, up to four.
  • Elemental Perks: allows to enable or disable elemental perks.
  • Elemental Stacking: allows to enable or disable elemental perks to grant cumulative effects.
  • Apply Perk to All Players: allows for perks picked up to count for both players when in co-op.
  • Starting Level: allows to choose which wave to start the game on, up to 97. Level 0 will always be the warm-up level.
  • Use Weekly Seed: allows to apply the current Week Sim preset to the game.
  • Boss Levels Only: if enabled, every wave will always be a boss encounter.
  • Enemy Scaling: if disabled, enemy difficulty, health and density won't scale with each level.
  • Hazards: if disabled, obstacles like swinging boulders, lava geysers, pits, etc. won't appear.
  • Destroyables: if disabled, crates and boxes won't appear.
  • Heal: if disabled, healing items and the "Blood Thirst" perk will never appear. The player can still recover green health from Special Attacks and toxic effects, however.
  • Weapons: if disabled, no weapons will appear. Golden Weapon perks may still appear, but they will always count as the Random Perk.

Perks[]

At the end of each wave, player(s) can choose from a selection of power-ups, ranging from increased attributes (attack, defense, speed) to powerful buffs that add new properties to attacks. There are three categories of perk: White Perks, Purple Perks and Gold Perks. Except for Gold Perks, each perk is only offered a limited number of times, meaning it is impossible to pick up and max out every perk.

White Perks[]

These perks can be picked multiple times and upgraded, with stackable effects, with a cap (usually up to four or five times). Additional stacks usually have diminishing returns, granting smaller bonuses.

SOR4 SV PERK Elemental Blitz
SOR4 SV PERK Elemental Heavy Attacks
SOR4 SV PERK Elemental Special
SOR4 SV PERK Elemental Weapons

Elemental Perks[]

These perks imbue certain types of attacks with elemental properties, which not only add extra damage, but have other properties important to crowd control and disrupting enemies. Elemental Perks stack with each other, leading to devastating effects. There are three types:

  • Electric: Hitting an enemy propagates a percentage of the damage to nearby enemies while also stunning them momentarily. Each additional purchase increases the damage percentage and effect radius. This is arguably the best perk in the game for crowd control, and is key to completing higher levels where enemy density is larger.
    • The bonus damage differs from Fire and Toxic effects in that the damage calculation takes in account a percentage of individual attack damage. This means that the higher the damage of a specific attack, the higher the Electric damage will be. Characters with potent individual attacks, such as Floyd, both versions of Max and all the characters from the first Streets of Rage will greatly benefit from Electric damage.
  • Fire: Hitting an enemy creates a fire zone when they hit the ground, which will damage and knock down nearby enemies. Each additional purchase increases the damage. This fire effect is powerful for crowd control and can even interrupt enemy attacks with super armor (such as certain boss attacks).
  • Toxic: Hitting an enemy causes them to take damage over time and be slowed for a few seconds. Each additional purchase increase the duration of damage over time and the slow effect. This effect essentially function like the pools of Toxic Vials, but applied directly to the enemy. This is a powerful perk for boss fights, and will also affect enemies blocking.

Within the Elemental Perks, there are three types of attacks that can be found and imbued:

  • Blitz Attacks: forward + forward + attack. Characters from the first Streets of Rage do not have Blitz Attacks, so this perk affects their jumping attacks instead.
  • Heavy Attacks: the last hit of a full normal combo, and also the Charged Attack. This also counts for Streets of Rage 4 Shiva's last hit of his air combos.
  • Specials: affects all three types of Specials: Defensive, Offensive and Aerial. Characters from the first Streets of Rage do not have Special Attacks (only Star Moves), so this perk affects their back attacks instead.
  • Weapons: affects all weapon-types (including throwables like grenades) and attacks: weapon swings, weapon throws and weapon blitz.
SOR4 SV PERK A Little Close To The Stars

A Little Closer To The Stars[]

Increases the score bonus by +40%. Subsequent upgrades increase to +70%, +90%, +100% and +105%.

  • This perk is important during long runs as bonus Power Stars take significantly more points to earn.
  • The bonus percentage affects all forms of score awarding points, such as point pickups, health pickups at full health, as well damage and combo counter.
  • For combo counters points are awarded based on damage dealt, meaning that continuing to hit a defeated enemy won't award additional points.
SOR4 SV PERK Air Master

Air Master[]

User gains one extra jump, up to five jumps.

  • Additional jumps count as frame cancels; the player can interrupt almost any animation (except for Specials and Star Moves) into a jump.
  • Additional Jumps also grant invincibility frames.
  • This perk is particularly useful on Streets of Rage 4 Shiva due to his air combos, allowing players to perform "ladder combos" on enemies.
SOR4 SV PERK Damage Up

Damage Up[]

Increases damage dealt by +10%, up to +40%.

  • This affects all types of damage except of bonuses from "Elemental Perks".
  • This perk stacks with other damage type perks, such as "Full Of Yourself", "Last Hurrah", "Glass Cannon", etc.
  • This bonus damage affects the "Blood Thirst" Perk.
SOR4 SV PERK Defense Up

Defense Up[]

Decreases damage taken by -10% up to -25%.

  • This affects all types of damage inflicted by enemies and also from stage hazards.
  • This perk stacks with other defense type perks, such as "Survival Instinct".
SOR4 SV PERK Speed Up

Speed Up[]

Increases movement speed by +15%, up to +60%.

  • Only affects normal walking movement; doesn't affect running and dodge (for characters who can perform those actions)
  • Doesn't affect jump speed and air acceleration.
  • This perk stacks with other movement speed type perks, such as "Ground Level".
SOR4 SV PERK Full Of Yourself

Full Of Yourself[]

Increases damage dealt while at full health by +30%, up to +95%.

  • Player healthbar glows while at full health to indicate the bonus effect.
  • This affects all types of damage except, including weapon attacks and damage bonuses from Elemental Perks. This bonus damage does not affect the "Blood Thirst" Perk.
SOR4 SV PERK Last Hurrah

Last Hurrah[]

Increases damage dealt while below half health by +15%, up to +50%.

  • Player healthbar glows while below half health to indicate the bonus effect.
  • This affects all types of damage except, including weapon attacks and damage bonuses from Elemental Perks. This bonus damage affects the "Blood Thirst" Perk.
SOR4 SV PERK Survival Instinct

Survival Instinct[]

Decreases damage taken while below half health by +12%, up to +30%.

  • Player healthbar glows while below half health to indicate the bonus effect.
  • This affects all types of damage inflicted by enemies and also from stage hazards. The player doesn't necessarily needs to be below half health for the effect to take place; should the player take a huge spike damage that drops them below 50% health, said damage will still be mitigated by the perk.
SOR4 SV PERK Special Moves Reduced Health Cost

Special Moves Reduced Health Cost[]

Reduces the amount of health consumed in Special Attacks by -10%, up to -30%.

  • Affects all three types of special attacks: Defensive, Offensive and Aerial.
  • This perk stacks with the purple perk "Old School Rules".
SOR4 SV PERK Sharpen Tool

Sharpen Tool[]

Increases weapon durability by +30%, up to +150%.

  • This affects all types of weapon (including Gold Weapons).
  • Retroactively applies to weapons which had their durability reduced when picking up this perk.
SOR4 SV PERK Tactical Support

Tactical Support[]

4 rockets fall after performing a Star Move, up to 17.

  • The damage inflicted by the rockets are fixed and don't scale with other damage increasing perks.
  • The damage dealt from the rockets affects the "Blood Thirst" Perk.
SOR4 SV PERK Hey Buddy

Hey, Buddy[]

A random AI-controlled minion assists the player. Each subsequent upgrade gives a more powerful minion, up to a boss-type minion on level 4.

Minion Roster
Level 1 Galsia Donovan Cop Margaret
Level 2 Garnet Condor Queen Gold
Level 3 Koobo Big Ben Caramel Goro
Level 4 Commissioner Barbon Mr. Y Ms. Y
  • The player has no control which over minion will be summoned.
  • The player can only have one minion at a time; upgrades replace the minion with a stronger minion.
  • Minions who fall into pits instantly die. If a minion dies during a wave, they'll be revived at the start of the next wave.
  • Galsia, Donovan and the Cop minion can pick up weapons on the ground, including Golden Weapons. If they survive the wave while carrying a weapon, said weapon will be taken to the next level.
    • Galsia can pick knives, sais, tasers and halberds.
    • Donovan can pick lead pipes, baseball bats, butcher's knives, hammers, katanas, nail bats and pool cues (including broken).
    • Cop minion can pick tasers.
  • The Cop minion is a combination of Barney and Dick, as he can perform the grab attack while also being able to use tasers.
  • Boss-type minions (Level 4) can trigger their Phase 2 Special Attacks once their health drops below the specific tresholds.
  • While in co-op mode, each player can have their own minion. If playing with custom rules where perks are applied to both players, "Hey, Buddy" will give both players the same type of minion.
  • The damage from the minion affects the perk "Blood Thirst" slightly.

Purple Perks[]

These perks are "double-edged swords", offering huge boons that are offset by major drawbacks or negative effects. Each purple perk appear only once per run and can't be upgraded.

SOR4 SV PERK Blood Thirst

Blood Thirst[]

Damage dealt to enemies recover health, however health pickups no longer restore health.

  • All direct damage grants healing, scaling with the damage dealt, this includes all normal attacks, Blitz Attacks, and weapon attacks.
  • Perks that affect "Blood Thirst" include "Damage Up", "Last Hurrah", "Tactical Support", "Hey, Buddy", "Glass Cannon", "Ground Level" and "The Heat Of The Battle".
  • Damage bonus from Elemental Perks will not affect "Blood Thirst".
  • Damage dealt by Special Attacks will not affect "Blood Thirst".
  • Throwing enemies at stage hazards (lava geysers, pits, swinging boulders, etc.) will not affect "Blood Thirst".
SOR4 SV PERK Elemental Star Move

Elemental Star Move[]

The bonuses from Elemental Perks are applied to Star Moves, but their base damage is reduced by -50%.

  • The reduced Star Move damage doesn't affect the rockets spawned from "Tactical Support".
  • The reduced Star Move damage affects the healing from "Blood Thirst", essentially meaning it'll reduce its healing by half.
  • Star Moves that summon minions, namely Streets of Rage 4 Shiva's Spirit Dance and Roo's Here Comes Bruce! will be affected by this perk.
SOR4 SV PERK Glass Cannon

Glass Cannon[]

All damage done is increased by +100%, but all damage taken is increased by +60%.

  • This bonus damage affects the "Blood Thirst" Perk.
  • "Defense Up" and "Survival Instinct" can help circumvent the increased damage taken.
SOR4 SV PERK Ground Level

Ground Level[]

Increases damage by 15%, increases movement speed by +15% and decreases damage taken by -15%, however jumping height is vastly reduced.

  • This affects all types of damage except of bonuses from Elemental Perks.
  • This bonus damage affects the "Blood Thirst" Perk.
  • Picking "Air Master" will still grant extra jumps, but with very low height.
  • Streets of Rage 4 Shiva will still retain his normal jump height if jumping cancelling after his normal combo or back attack.
SOR4 SV PERK The Heat Of The Battle

The Heat Of the Battle[]

Damage increases by 2% for each hit in a combo, however starting damage is reduced by -90%.

  • This affects all types of damage except of bonuses from Elemental Perks.
  • This bonus damage affects the "Blood Thirst" Perk.
  • This perk greatly benefits characters with multi-hit moves, such as Streets of Rage 4 Shiva's Flying Kick and Roo's Handbrake and Hurricane Kick.
SOR4 SV PERK Old School Rules

Old School Rules[]

Special Attacks cost 40% less health, but can no longer restore green health by attacking enemies.

  • This effect stacks with "Special Moves Reduced Health Cost".
  • Effective when combined with "Blood Thirst".

Gold Perks[]

These perks add pick-up items, namely extra Power Stars and the powerful Golden Weapons. Gold Perks are the only types that can drop infinitely, as all other perks appear a limited number of times per wave.

SOR4 SV PERK 3 Stars

3 Stars[]

Drops 3 Power Stars on the ground.

  • If playing on co-op, the Power Stars can be picked up by any player, not just the one who selected the perk.
  • If playing on co-op with custom rules and making perks apply to both players, it'll drop six stars, but they'll be stacked in pairs.
SOR4 SV PERK Golden Weapons

Golden Weapons[]

Gives the player one of the respective golden version of existing weapons: Golden Boomerang, Golden Knife, Golden Pipe and Golden Halberd.

  • Golden Knife / Halberd and Golden Pipe can be picked up by Galsia and Donovan, respectively (both enemy and the minion from "Hey, Buddy").

Random Perks[]

Certain characters with limited abiliy will have existing perks replaced by "Random Perks". These are:

  • Shiva: "Sharpen Tool", "Golden Weapons"
  • Streets of Rage Characters: "Special Moves Reduced Cost", "Old School Rules"
  • Streets of Rage 3 Zan: "Sharpen Tool", "Golden Weapons"
  • Streets of Rage 3 Shiva: "Elemental Weapon", "Sharpen Tool", "Golden Weapons"
  • Roo: "Elemental Weapon", "Sharpen Tool", "Golden Weapons"

Random perks will always be limited to only White Perks. If said perk is already maxed and the player gets another upgrade of it, it'll provide no additional benefit.

  • A Little Closer To The Stars
  • Air Master
  • Damage Up
  • Defense Up
  • Speed Up
  • Full Of Yourself
  • Last Hurrah
  • Survival Instinct
  • Special Moves Reduced Cost
  • Tactical Support

Glitches[]

  • The Random Perk (available to certain characters, such as the characters from the first Streets of Rage and both versions of Shiva, for example) will stop awarding bonuses if the player already has reached the cap of a stackable perk (i.e. Speed Up). Extra levels to those perks will be awarded but still provide no additional bonuses.
  • When fought as a boss, Mr. Y can sometimes get stuck inside crates or boxes depending on the arena and how many breakables are. He will get unstuck if knocked down.
  • When using his alternate Star Move, Iron Will, Max will sometimes get stuck on his hurt animation when taking very high damage consecutively from multiple opponents; in this state he is unable to move or attack. This glitch doesn't happen in the other modes, and can only be fixed by using Iron Will again.

Trivia[]

  • In one of the Factory stages, mass produced X-Robots can be seen in the background.

External Links[]

  • Survival Guide, by |iG| Vertigo (who provided most of the information for this page).
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