Nice run! And seeing someone who's actually good at the game struggle with the poison gas section kind of confirmed something I've been thinking that the timer for the poison gas is too short. I had the exact same trouble of not knowing where I was supposed to go and having to defeat enemies every single time you mess up and go the wrong way. It's impossible to complete on your first run without bleeding lives until you memorize exactly where you have to go, and even then you don't really have enough time to do all 4 rooms without running out the poison gas timer, especically if you're playing low-damage characters like Skate and Blaze. It makes me not want to even play that route. I hated that part in SoR 3 too though to be fair so maybe I just don't like SoR 3 ;D
I'm really looking forward to Streets of Rage 1 levels, and more playable characters/versions though. With the current roster I can only really play and have fun with Blaze, Skate and Adam and it's starting to feel a bit stale and boring so definitely looking forward to more characters. Rebellion Mode can be fun but there's only a tiny handful of characters that it really feels enjoyable with (who wants to play as a character with only 2 moves like Galsia? lol). It will be better once the playable enemies/bosses have full movesets. My favourites to play in that mode are Zamza and Monalisa. Once Monalisa has a full moveset and basic combos and stuff she's gonna be tons of fun.
I still feel like the difficulty in some areas is a little much for Normal. The SoR 2 Stage 7 elevator for example has a Ninja and Haukyo wave that is insane and an almost guaranteed life loss unless you're really on your game. The Ninjas in general in this game are way too annoying and dodgy. They spam the shadow dodge thing like crazy and it just makes fighting them tedious. They were already the hardest enemy in SoR 2 and 3 so I don't think they needed to be made any harder, lol.
There's also a real issue with enemies evading the player, particularly the Electra's. They have a habit of running off screen and just camping there for ages. It takes forever to kill them 'cause they just play keep-away all the time and it makes them really tedious to deal with and I get bored of having to deal with them most of the time ^_^"
I still feel like jump attacks from enemies come out too quickly, not just with Bongo as mentioned before but enemies like Hakuyo and Tiger too. It's kind of hard to explain really, it's just a feeling when playing that the enemy jumps just don't feel quite right. The Tigers in SoR 3 are some of the scariest enemies in the game because of this.
Also noticed that grabbing enemies seems weirdly hard sometimes? Like you try to walk into them and you walk right past them. Doesn't always happen but it happens often enough to kinda ruin your gameplay and end up taking unecessary hits just 'cause your character wouldn't connect with the enemy.
A couple of fun suggestions too:
- It would be cool to see Weapon types as an option in Extra Menu, as well as more options to make the game feel like other SoR games. For example being able to turn blocking, running and dodging off to make it feel more like SoR 4 (gotta get that practice in!)
- It would be awesome to see Adam get updated with some of his SoR 4 moves, especially his 'Power Fang' special.
I'm loving this game though, been playing it a ton lately
