Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare DLC – How to Unlock Roo

When Streets of Rage 4 was released over a year ago, it was met with a lot of joy from the people who’ve grown up with the series. Not only did it stay true to the original formula, but it also added a wealth of quality of life upgrades, incredible graphic updates and the ability to unlock a ton of characters from previous games. This is why when you look for complaints there isn’t a lot. But there is one thing that bothered me and a lot of other Streets of Rage 4 fans. Where is Roo?

Roo was introduced in the excellent Streets of Rage 3 as a boss. A lot of people were in for a shock when you got to the end of a stage only to encounter a kangaroo with boxing gloves being whipped about by what appeared to be a robotic-looking clown named Bruce. If you managed to defeat Bruce first, the next time you used a continue you could actually PLAY as Roo which was an absolute joy. When Streets of Rage 4 came out, Roo appeared in a cameo in stage 5, cleaning cups behind the bar. Everyone thought that meant that Roo was a hidden character… but never was. Until now. So here’s how to unlock the masterful marsupial.

How to unlock Roo in Streets of Rage 4: Mr. X Nightmare

At the title screen, you’re going to want to hold Up + Y (on Switch or whatever your western button is). While holding those down, press Start.

You know you did it when all the bizarre sounds start playing in rhythm for a couple of seconds. You’ll know but in case you’re worried you might miss it, somehow, here’s what it sounds like.

From there Roo will be selectable over on the far right, just note that this isn’t a redrawn Roo and his Streets of Rage 3 counterpart. Though, that’s not to say he isn’t an absolute powerhouse and combo machine because, oh my god he is.

While he cannot interact with weapons in any way, he has a ton of moves that stack hits which is awesome if you’re going for giant combos. In fact, his dash attack scrapes the ground and does a ton of hits on downed opponents which is great for making sure that combo stays going.

The other cool thing is Roo’s Star Attack. Instead of some room clearing flashy thing, Roo poses and then Bruce, the aforementioned robotic-looking clown, appears next to him. For the rest of that part of the stage (until you go to a new area or he gets defeated) Bruce will run along with you, controlled by an AI and whipping enemies. If you have multiple stars you can have multiple Bruce.

Here’s me using two Bruces and Roo’s ridiculous spinning attacks to get one of the biggest combos I’ve ever seen against a boss.

Also, I haven’t unlocked them all yet but Roo has more unlockable new moves than any other character in the game so I can’t wait to see what all I can do with him once I get that done. Now all I need is for Dotemu to do one more DLC where they add the really cool characters like the Roller Derby Girl and the Super Hero that they show in the concept art for the game.