Streets of Rage 4 features several characters from the previous instalments who are playable in the latest release. In this guide, we will walk you through everything you need to know about how to unlock all the retro characters from Streets of Rage 1, 2, and 3 in Streets of Rage 4.
If you are interested in unlocking all retro levels, we have a guide for that too!
Streets of Rage 4 Unlock Retro Characters
You can unlock 13 characters in Streets of Rage 4 and unlocking all of them requires a bit of legwork. Unlocking retro characters in Streets of Rage 4 is tied to performing good in levels and increasing your lifetime points.
Everything you do in Streets of Rage 4 will increase your lifetime points. It can be defeating enemies, performing combos, completing levels with new characters, playing on high difficulty settings, and earning high grades for completing levels.
Once you manage to hit 200,000 lifetime points, you will unlock your first retro character. From this point onward, continue to grind and you will continue to add more characters to your roster.
When it comes to accumulating more lifetime points, everything is straightforward except scoring a high grade at the end of a stage. There are a few things that relate to that:
- Your HP at the end of a stage
- Time taken to complete a stage
- Remaining stars at the end
After unlocking a retro character, you should be able to select him or her from the character select screen. The following table shows you the lifetime points needed to unlock all the characters in Streets of Rage 4:
| Character | How to Unlock | Original Game |
| Axel Stone | Have 200,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage |
| Adam Hunter | Have 250,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage |
| Blaze Fielding | Have 310,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage |
| Max Thunder | Have 390,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 2 |
| Axel Stone | Have 480,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 2 |
| Blaze Fielding | Have 570,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 2 |
| Skate Hunter | Have 650,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 2 |
| Axel Stone | Have 730,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 3 |
| Blaze Fielding | Have 840,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 3 |
| Skate Hunter | Have 940,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 3 |
| Dr. Gilbert Zan | Have 1,050,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 3 |
| Shiva | Have 1,150,000 lifetime points | Streets of Rage 3 |
| Adam Hunter | At the end of Chapter #4 of the campaign | Streets of Rage 4 |
This is how you can unlock all the retro characters in Streets of Rage 4. For more help on the game, you can check out our Streets of Rage 4 wiki guides.