GameGrin Interviews Cyrille Imbert - Executive Producer on Streets of Rage 4
While attending this year’s EGX Expo, GameGrin had the chance to sit down with Cyrille Imbert, the Executive Producer on the recently announced Streets of Rage 4. We spoke to Cyrille about what we can expect from the title, the buzz around the project and how he plans to meet the high expectations for the sequel.
So how did the remake of Streets of Rage 4 come to fruition?
“The success of Wonderboy gave us the confidence to go for a bigger license. I felt we had the ability to pull something really big off and I really wanted to work on another SEGA license. Having been a huge fan of Streets of Rage for the longest time I thought that I should try and go for it.
“Unfortunately, I didn't have the team yet, but I wanted to go to SEGA with the perfect plan, so I could convince them right off the bat. I started getting in touch with people, asking around to see what people thought and if they were interest.
“One night, I ended up going for a drink with Ben Fique, the artistic director at Lizard Cube. I told him about my idea for Streets of Rage 4 and he was instantly super excited about it. This was a big win for project as Ben is a really talented guy. A week later, he sends me these amazing first drafts of Axel and Blaze and they were just beautiful and super bad ass. We then started working together fulltime on the game, but I still needed a team for programming and game design.
“Our game designer at Dotemu has his own company called Guard Crush. Both he and the team have been at which he has been working on their own beat ‘em up title for around ten years now, so it made sense to me that their shared experience and passion for the genre would make them a perfect fit for Streets of Rage 4.
“So now that we have the team, it's time for me to go to Japan and meet with SEGA. I showed them a presentation, which had my dreams, the team and our vision for the project. The SEGA team were interested right away, and were really supportive and open with us from the off.”
How do you intend to modernise Streets of Rage 4, while also respecting the series’ roots?
“It's a complicated matter because we need respect the legacy of the series, so we are keeping that at the forefront of production. The good thing is that the entire team are all huge fans of the series, especially Guard Crush games who have been working on beat ‘em ups for years - they know every single beat ‘em up that has ever been released. So as fans of the genre, I think we will respect the license as we know what we would want to see in it. We are also all huge gamers, so we know what we need to do to ensure the game meets modern standards. Above all else we want to keep the spirit, the universe and the legacy of Streets of Rage while also building from there and adding something new.”
Who is working on the soundtrack? Are we likely to see a return from Yuzo Koshiro?
“I’m not allowed to say much about it right now, but we have already planned some excellent surprises for the soundtrack and we've been talking to some very talented people. We know that music is one of the most important aspects of the series, and for us that isn't a constraint, it's an opportunity to create something great.
“Koshira-san created amazing music around the limitations found on the SEGA Megadrive, but we no longer have those limitations. We now have to find new ways to innovate, and one way we thought of this is through Koshira-san and his boldness in bringing types of music into the gaming industry that weren’t popular at the time.
"He introduced myself and countless others to electronic and dance music during the 90s, and really changed the rules on what music could be in videogames. Myself and the team really want to keep that philosophy of incorporating all kinds of different genres of music into the soundtrack of Streets of Rage 4.”
How do you plan to show the progression of characters from previous titles?
“I'm not allowed to say a lot in regards to the story, but as you can see from the trailer Axel and Rose are both older than they were in the last entry. For both them, and any other characters that we have not yet announced, the character development will be a mix between their legacy and how we plan to modernise them.”
What are the plans for multiplayer?
“The team understands that multiplayer is an important part of the Streets of Rage experience. We have planned split screen local multiplayer, but we are looking into network multiplayer as well.”
What platforms are you looking to release on?
“It's too early to say, but we want to bring it to as many people as possible.”
What's the potential release window?
“We are not sure yet. The team doesn’t want to commit as we have a vision and an objective and we want to ensure we reach that. We will definitely announce a release window when we feel the time is right.”
Do you feel there's a certain amount of pressure on you and the team?
“Of course. I was not expecting such a huge amount of buzz and excitement around the announcement of Streets of Rage 4. It was honestly way bigger than I ever expected, which is obviously great for the team, for the license and for the fans. While there is pressure, we do also have a lot of feedback and can get an idea if what we're doing is what people want from a sequel. “We have our vision as fans, we have our convictions and what we are going to do with the game. There is pressure, but we are really excited about what we are doing and what Streets of Rage 4 is going to be.”
COMMENTS