Absolutely agreeing with you but with the total opposite opinion. ;)
Luckily, it's all optional. So, now all the pixel art fanboys&gals and us people who believe progress is a perfectly normal occurrence & that things should look pretty(ier) if they can, we both can play this hopefully awesome game like we want to.

I did not expect this game to release on GOG, this is great news !

Ew. I've got nothing against pixel graphics, but those "retro" fighters look completely out of place in the worst way.

I still don't get what people dislike about the new art style. Looks good to me. *shrug*

The only Streets of Rage I liked was 3 and even then I only really liked it because I'd hang out with a friend I had in high school and we'd play it and Gunstar Heroes on his Genesis on occasion.

This looks... interesting though. At the very least, it will be good to see something from Dotemu that isn't a sad SNK port or a Final Fantasy VIII up-rez.

Our reactions to this retro trailer are 100% the same. xD

Boss Fights BGM; Loved them, they could add extra bass into it so it's ON!!!

This thread confuses me. An unedited post from February 2020, followed by 2 unedited posts from November 2019.

But, as a fan of the original Streets of Rage games, I'm happy that this didn't go the crappily modelled 3D route. The comic book look is not how I saw the original games, but it is definitely better than that. Hope the gameplay is good too!

Launch trailer has been posted. Release is less than 2 weeks from now: the 30th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92SliupSIek

This looks like an interesting game. Wishlisted.

As has a 5 minutes of gameplay video:

https://youtu.be/Rga1vqmSBEo

I have mixed feelings about friendly fire not being a thing any more.
Those situations when you (accidentally) take that last inch of your teammate's life were somewhat frustrating but also kind of funny. xD

Dredges up some mixed memories for me - bad ones concerning games with my father because of his abominable temper and others like the times I played Streets of Rage 3 with my old high school friend where we'd work out ways to abuse it to avoid things or just mess around in general.

Now though, I mostly focus on the singleplayer aspect, so it not being present doesn't really impact me too much.

They should make those unlockable, pixelated characters available in modern, polished variants in the settings menu, in order to fit with the spirit of the game, which is polished, modern and good looking. An option to choose a skin for those characters: retro pixelated and fresh, mosernized would have been amazing, and a right thing to do.

At least i hope Roo, Ash, Shiva, Elle and Mr.X are playable.