Map of Wood Oak City as seen in Streets of Rage 4.
Wood Oak City is the main setting of the Streets of Rage series.
History[]
Streets of Rage / Bare Knuckle[]
The Syndicate successfully took over the city with the entirety of its police being in their payroll. With Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding, and Adam Hunter having decided to turn in their badges to take to the fight to the streets itself (with only one officer assisting them in their goal) in order to restore peace and order once and for all visiting every district controlled by the Syndicate and took down their lieutenants one by one.
After fighting their way through waves of syndicate goons in each district, and the apprehension of Mr. X himself, they have succeeded in liberating the city from the Syndicate's grip and peace has somehow restored back to normal.
Streets of Rage 2 / Bare Knuckle II[]
One year later, the city plagued by the Syndicate was seemingly free and peaceful once again. Unfortunately, most of the Syndicate members still kept holdouts around the vicinity. To make things worse, Mr. X reportedly survived the encounter with the three vigilantes, and wanted his revenge. The crimelord ordered his new personal bodyguard, Shiva, to kidnap Adam in order to lure Axel and Blaze to a trap. He was kidnapped while at his home (and the police mentioning his suspicious absence).
Axel and Blaze are contacted by Eddie Hunter, Adam's younger brother, who urges them to help rescuing him. The two set on the streets to find clues about Adam, taking Eddie (who goes by the nickname "Skate") along. Axel contacts his old friend, Max Thunder, a wrestler, who agrees to help.
The four are able to reach Mr. X's lair after fighting through hordes of thugs, eventually putting an end to his plans and seemingly defeating him once and for all, while rescuing an injured Adam.
Streets of Rage 3 / Bare Knuckle III[]
Two years later, Prior to the game's events, a suburb within Wood Oak City was destroyed by a thermonuclear device known as Rakushin, which had inflicted 110,000 casualties (30,000 dead and 80,000 wounded). In an attempt to avert future disaster, the police sends Adam to find any remaining bombs, and contacts Axel and Blaze to assist in disarming the remaining Rakushin bombs. Skate tags along to help his friends.
The team is then aided by Dr. Gilbert Zan, a scientist who defected from the Syndicate, who gives them information regarding the second bomb, and afterwards aids in defusing said bombs and stop the Syndicate from manufacturing more of them. It is later revealed that Zan was the one who discovered the new element used to develop the bombs.
Once the heroes successfully save General Ivan Petrov, Adam pinpoints the Syndicate factory where the controls for the bombs are located, which must be done fast before the timer runs out and the bombs detonate. The heroes discover that Mr. X barely survived his last defeat, and all that is left of his body is his brain, now preserved in a jar. They are able to successfully defeat Mr. X once and for all and escape the collapsing factory with Adam's help, saving the city.
Streets of Rage 4 / Bare Knuckle IV[]
Ten years after, and thanks to Dr. Zan's reconstruction efforts, most of the suburbs that were destroyed by a bomb were rebuilt. Unfortunately, one area, which was spared from Wood Oak's initial bombing, became a hell hole and turned into a haven for gang violence and activity with most of its residents being gangs and criminals.
Despite Mr. X's death, the Syndicate was not completely dismantled, and reports of a new organization, called the Y Syndicate, was being led by the twins Mr. Y and Ms. Y, the offspring of Mr. X. They have set up their base of operations at their company's building, the Y Tower, where they continue their father's legacy of running criminal operations.
Unlike before though, the Wood Oak City Police Department now has mobilized itself in order to find and fight the Syndicate members (including the vigilante heroes) around the city, but unfortunately, due to the Commissioner's corruption, they only targeted small time criminals preventing them from truly stopping big time syndicate members from operating, thus ensuring the continued criminal activities.
Former detectives Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding join forces with Adam's daughter, Cherry Hunter, along with Floyd Iraia, an apprentice of Dr. Zan.
Locations[]
Streets of Rage / Bare Knuckle[]
Streets of Rage 2 / Bare Knuckle II[]
Streets of Rage 3 / Bare Knuckle III[]
Streets of Rage 4 / Bare Knuckle IV[]
Trivia[]
- Despite Wood Oak City being set in America, the ending of the third game features Adam driving his car with a steering wheel on the right side instead of on the left side, implying his car is imported from another country.
- The first stage in Streets of Rage 4 is implied to be the same streets from the first and second games.