Ever since arcades began to decline, the future of their iconic beat-’em-up genre has become uncertain. Its sibling genre of fighting games had made the jump to consoles, but 3D game design trends had begun to pull away from what made brawlers resemble themselves. For a while, the genre was relegated to the rare nostalgic throwback, and classic franchises like Streets of Rage and Final Fight seemed to have retired. However, there has been a recent surge in beat-’em-ups from both the indie scene and larger publishers. Streets of Rage 4 is now a reality, something no one thought could happen for decades.