Character and Hideouts Guide

Hello! This is my first guide, but what I'm gonna do is put up a list of characters that you have, or unlock through progress. I've got quite a few and have no clue how many characters there are anymore. There might be some colorful commentary. Now with hideouts!

Starting Story Characters

So here are the starting four:

• Glen
  
  Glen is a sort of "beginner" character, designed with quick strikes and decently damaging attacks. Essentially he's good at most things in the game.
  
  And yes, he's essentially a wholesale Ryu reference.
  
  
• Paul
  
  I think Paul is basically a character designed specifically for powerful close range attacks, and mostly punches. To my knowledge, he lacks a projectile special.
  
  He's certainly much less aggravatingly overspecialized as Rudy and Mike...
  
  
• Provie
  
  There's something about her that feels a bit similar to Glen, but a lot slower. I'm not sure how to put it. She's not really a "clone", per se. That being said, her variety of breakdancing moves makes her a very movement-oriented character, and she can double jump.
  
  My admitted overall favorite of the playable characters, even though I suck at playing as her.
  
  
• Bruno
  
  Don't ask me about Bruno. I haven't played him enough.
  
  I don't get what was so special about Bannon Belmont (his real name, according to the yearbook) here that he got five costumes instead of the standard four.

Special Cases

These two are only playable in the Tutorial stage, but can be played in the story with the help of a bug (select them upon New Game+, reach save point, exit, change chapters, you can now be Alex or Ryan so long as you don't select anyone else), or if you'd pledged enough money by being a Backer.

As of the April 2nd Patch, you can now select their Kunio and Riki skins, which were supposed to be Backer-exclusive. (Thanks for the scoop, and thanks for the addendum, respectively, Zeikar, Streetwize.)

• Alex (OG)
  
  
  
• Ryan (OG)
  
  

Unlockable Story Characters

These are characters you get from lending a hand, or just doing story tasks.

The dupe bug that plagued my existence in regards to Alex and Ryan has since been fixed. Hooray!

• Mike:
  
  Help him beat up a buncha guys in the River City High Cafeteria. He'll decide he likes you.
  
  Again, don't ask me about him; I didn't bother to level him up, especially since in a game where enemies are so overly defensive, his grabbing playstyle is almost useless, though I'll fully admit I suck at the game.
  
  Yes, his second outfit lacks a shirt.
  
  
• Rudy
  
  Help him beat up a buncha guys in the River City High Gym. He'll be brought to tears by how awesome you fought.
  
  Rudy might just be the worst character in the game, in my opinion. He doesn't even start with the stupid grappler attacks his playstyle supposedly has, and is way too slow to do any significant damage to most enemies; I've more than once seen enemies simply walk away to avoid Rudy's attacks. Not even a cool dodge. Just walking away.
  
  I like the Hulk coloration, even if I admit I rather dislike using Rudy.
  
  
• Alex
  
  Fight alongside him in beating up Purple Bee.
  
  Only played a little bit of him before I went back to Provie.
  
  Alex's general look in these avatars kinda reminds me of the Part 3 version of Joseph Joestar, of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fame.
  
  
• Ryan
  
  Same as Alex.
  
  Also didn't play him that much.
  
  I like how he wears Riki's original outfit from Kunio-Kun.
  
  
  
• Vixen Leader/Alexis
  
  After 14+ updates, she became playable outside the Arena, and the first post-launch campaign character. She isn't really all that important to the grand scheme of the game, nor is her name, but I find her real name is a pleasant surprise (that is, if you haven't figured it out yet, considering who's two spaces above her...).
  
  Have yet to play her. From what I saw of her in the Arena, she seems more projectile-oriented than the other characters.
  
  This also means that she's the second (technically first in the order of events) character in the game, after Wes, that you have to defeat before she joins your merry band of pugilists.
  
  
• Chris:
  
  Simply progress through the story, she'll decide to work alongside you.
  
  She has a "rage gauge", which, where if you hold down her attacks, she'll charge select ones. This can make her a little weird to use, to say the least. She also has a "comeback mechanic" of sort, where she's fully angry if low on health, and her rage attacks become the default and come out faster. I remember there was a period where she could respawn in that mode, and am not sure if the devs ever fixed it.
  
  I'm wondering if maybe Rene's concept was absorbed into her, considering their second, redheaded costume.
  
  
• Wes
  
  Communicate something that wasn't your fault through your fists. It's the greatest language of all. Basically, same as the last spoilered character.
  
  Didn't play enough of him to gauge.
  
  The Joker palette is a particularly nice touch, even if I admit he's one of my least favorite Batman villains.

Generic Enemies (Playable in Arena Mode Only)

A majority of the characters here and in the next section, you can unlock in Arena Mode, by what I assume to be a pretty simple way; kicking the crap out of them! As such, only special cases so far get descriptions. The names of the main antagonists and their ilk will be under spoilers, sans Slick.

I'll list your average mooks separately from the bosses, though.

Mooks

• Plague
  
  
  
• Squid
  
  
  
• Cowboy
  
  I figured I might as well start with the unremarkables.
  
  
• Nerd
  
  And yet, in spite of being generic enemies, they're all still better fighters than Calvin.
  
  
• Bomber
  
  I'm pretty sure these are Slick's new gang, since they look the most like the old River City Ransom sprites, albeit updated with new movements, along with being prominent in the old River City High.
  
  
• Roid
  
  Led by Coach Otis or Abobo (on the one hand, they're on the football field where you fight Otis, on the other hand, Abobo's office is in their turf). Given some of their remarks and their gang name, they probably didn't win any sports trophies legitimately.
  
  
• Warlock
  
  My favorite gang in the game. I think Ether is their leader.
  
  
• Lucha
  
  Led by Purple Bee and Pink Bee, obviously. Who else has a Luchador motif? Aside from (supposedly) Bruno.
  
  
• Rich Kid
  
  I hate fighting these guys. At least they're a good source of income. Probably led by Adam, since he's a spoiled rich kid(?).
  
  
• Vixen
  
  Led by Vixen Leader/Alexis. They have a lot of pocket change.
  
  
• Agent
  
  These guys have the most metal death animation. Otherwise, though, they're your average reference to the Matrix. They work for Dr. D.

Special Cases

• Zombie
  
  This one is very strange to unlock (thanks to King Dedede ). You need to buy a Blaive at the Pawn shop, take it through the river with logs, and then, at night time, approach the house covered in green near Cyndi's house with it, and he'll rise from the ground. This guy is definitely interesting, in spite of being a stupid, shambling corpse who only has two attacks. Then again, so do the other enemies. Not hating enemies that use the same annoying tactics over and over. Nope.

Boss Characters (Act 1)

Prologue Characters

I admit I didn't play the original game, but these guys, sans Simon, who gets his own special, aren't very distinct. They share the same profiles as Plague, Squid, and Cowboy, the generic enemies from earlier, so I'm not going to show it again.

• Simon
  
• Ivan
  
• Otis
  
• Tex
  
• Andy
  
• Randy

Bosses

And now, bosses, who I think you came here for! Or at the least, characters who fight who have established, unique names and fighting styles:

• Abobo
  
  I might be cheating here, admittedly, as he's a random encounter, but he's an established, recognizable character, and one of the first bosses you can face (for either being late, punching a teacher, or even just doing story stuff), so...
  
  He's pretty basic, moveset-wise, not having much in the way of complex moves at all, but otherwise really powerful, fitting his "miniboss" feel.
  
  He's one of three boss characters with different color palettes.
  
  
• Purple Bee
  
  I don't have any unfunny color commentary on this guy. He's just completely, utterly unremarkable except for his Luchador gimmick.
  
  He's got a few grappler abilities, but like his Luchador gang, also has a lot of surprisingly powerful movement-oriented abilities.
  
  You can actually have a rematch with him (and his brother) in the forest after beating all the enemies in that area after their plot purpose is more or less done, but note they're doing it because fighting you is fun. D'aw.
  
  
• Pink Bee
  
  More or less a moveset clone of Purple Bee; he's got a few differences, though, such as a few different poses, a distinct special, and his Running Corkscrew comes out faster (thanks, Streetwize). Like his brother, though, he's pretty unremarkable.
  
  As mentioned, he's got more or less the same abilities as Purple Bee, so there's not much I can really add about him, moveset wise.
  
  
• Calvin
  
  He's pretty mechanically interesting; like in his boss fight, he can only fight back in his mech suit, but once knocked out of it, can only resort to... Nervously farting (classy). He can pick up weapons and grab people, but can't hit people when doing the latter. This naturally makes him useless in a straight fight. For some reason, the Computer can't use the mech suit in Arena Mode, which makes him little more than a punching bag.
  
  
• Coach Otis
  
  I kinda wish Ivan was a boss instead, since Ivan still looked like he was fit enough to put up a fight. Otis is the least interesting of Slick's generals. Not that I hate him. Who can dislike a guy who has a special named "Haterade"?
  
  He's got a good amount of area-oriented attacks, such the aforementioned "Haterade", along with being able to summon up a squad of enemies.
  
  
• Ether
  
  I almost spelled this guy's name as my screen name. My admitted overall favorite of the bosses, if only for his creepy look and utterly bizarre fanaticism of Slick.
  
  He's got a lot of powerful, wide-range moves and projectiles, but otherwise is rather weak. He kind of suffers when he's fighting up close.
  
  
• Slick
  
  I wish the game did more with the guy, especially since the story takes the time to make fun of his ransom note with no listed demands from the first game. I like the reference to Tetsuo/Todd Ingram, with the arm attack, though, especially in how recursive it is (Todd Ingram had the same psychic attack Simon had in some versions of River City Ransom, the special that OG Simon uses in this game too).
  
  Like Ether, he's got some powerful projectiles and ranged attacks (in particular the Tetsuo-style attack), but unlike Ether, also has the strength in close range to back himself up. Fittingly, he's the first boss that could probably give you some trouble (if the spam-happy enemies aren't already).

Boss Characters (Act 2)

• Backer (Merc)
  
  These guys are Kickstarter Backers who have been immortalized as people you can punch in the face. Or ones you can have punch people in the face. Goes both ways! Come Patch 5, these guys have been given their own (7) character slots, albeit with the same picture. I'm counting these guys as bosses because of said character slots, and the fact the game treats it as a big deal to fight them (before being demoted to regular enemies who sometimes spout their plot-relevant dialogue).
  
  They're very powerful grapplers, in particular their suplex, and are pretty good close range-wise, but don't have many ranged abilities.
  
  
• Adam
  
  I thought this guy was a Backer at first, until Zeikar clarified he's most likely just another boss character due to not fitting the naming format of the Backers listed earlier. Like the Bee brothers, there's nothing I really find remarkable about him.
  
  Adam has a very slow feel to him that I can't quite describe. He's pretty weak close-range wise from what I can recall, with his only gimmick, the Power Glove (it's so bad), feeling like just that; a gimmick. There's very little that makes him stand out among the bosses.
  
  One of the few bosses you can have a rematch with; by defeating all the enemies in the area where he originally spawns (on the top of that club building), he'll come and complain you're back.

Boss Characters (Act 3)

• Me
  
  From an old Newgrounds game, Dad N' Me. He's a little weird, even for this game. Put in because Dan Paladin, one of the creators of the game, helped back this one, ala, say, Reize and Baz in Shovel Knight.
  
  Close range, powerful, yadda yadda.
  
  
• Proto
  
  This guy's got a neat, creepy science fiction feel, in my opinion. Shame his moveset is cobbled together out of other people's movesets.
  
  As mentioned, he's cobbled together from other movesets, but tends to have the best moves from them; Rudy's spinning lariat, and Glen's triple Hadouken, for example. This makes him immensely powerful in his own right.
  
  
• Dr. D
  
  I didn't care much for him being the final antagonist. The whole "realizes he might be a fictional character" thing is such a generic, boring, and overplayed gimmick.
  
  He's clearly been designed as a boss first and a playable character second; he's a bit overpowered and got a lot of attacks that don't quite work when you're the only human player around. One of them is one that scrambles the controls of players... But scrambles yours if there aren't any other human players in the game! Although there's a hilarious glitch where his Air Kick allows him to almost indefinitely fly as you keep pounding the kick button while in midair.

Special Cases

• Sentinel/William
  
  Credit to Streetwize for finding this! To get the guy, you have to get to Cyndi's house upon Act 3's start (after the fight with Wes), and start beating the crap out of William, while Cyndi is talking. Save the game afterward, and you have the guy in your Arena Mode.
  
  He plays kinda like he's from the Double Dragon games, where his punch and kick are keyed to specific directions. This makes him a little strange to use, but interesting to play as.
  
  One of the three boss characters to have different palettes, and also the only one to have different art for each palette.

The List so far

Now that that's done, let's see the characters, ordered under how they are in the Arena Mode (thanks to Zeikar).

1. Alex
   
2. Bruno
   
3. Chris
   
4. Glen
   
5. Alex OG
   
6. Mike
   
7. Paul
   
8. Provie
   
9. Ryan OG
   
10. Rudy
    
11. Ryan
    
12. Wes
    
13. Agent
    
14. Backer #1/Danny "Seizui" Henderson
    
15. Backer #2/Chris "CeoKid" Ogbah
    
16. Backer #3/John Michalik
    
17. Backer #4/Dan "0style" Lawrence
    
18. Backer #5/Kevin Clark
    
19. Backer #6/Mel Mel
    
20. Backer #7/Derrick "DQ" Quijano
    
21. Bomber
    
22. Lucha
    
23. Nerd
    
24. Rich Kid
    
25. Roid
    
26. Vixen
    
27. Squid
    
28. Cowboy
    
29. Plague
    
30. Warlock
    
31. Abobo
    
32. Ivan
    
33. Otis
    
34. Tex
    
35. Andy
    
36. Randy
    
37. Simon
    
38. Adam
    
39. Vixen Leader/Alexis
    
40. Calvin
    
41. Coach Otis
    
42. Dr. D
    
43. Ether
    
44. Me
    
45. Pink Bee
    
46. Purple Bee
    
47. Proto
    
48. Slick
    
49. Zombie
    
50. Sentinel/William

As a bonus, have the Yearbook, which I assembled (almost) painstakingly. I really appreciate how Slick/Simon is in handcuffs. I get the feeling the yearbook still needed work, as some of the prototype names are scattered around, but otherwise, it does give the castmembers last names, and it's fun trying to decipher them (like Wesley Snipe).

Hideouts!

Gonna do a bit of shark jumping here, and explain hideouts!

These are places you can go to save your game, swap characters, or just get some rest from enemies.

I'll do "reviews" of their overall usefulness, with some fun facts thrown in for flavor. Some of them are exclusive to Act 2 and beyond.

I might not get their names right, as a warning.

Have a map!

• River City High
  
  Usefulness: For the start of the game, it helps you not get killed by enemies, but is rarely useful afterwards except toward the endgame.
  Fun Facts: Beat up the teacher. Seriously. You won't regret it.
  Can be acquired in: Act 1
  
  
• A&R Auto Shop
  
  Usefulness: This place, of course, is your first hideout, and marks your entry into the city. It's also (only fairly) close to the dojo.
  Fun Facts: That bike is a reference to Akira.
  Can be acquired in: Act 1
  
  
• Flatirons Hotel
  
  Usefulness: Puts you much closer to the old River City High; if you need a place to camp before you fight Slick, this is pretty good, especially with a MERV's burgers next door. You're also fairly close to the Arcade, where you can grind for money. You're also very close to both of the Dojos in the very first Act, so if you have the dough/level for the techniques, you'll probably find this place very convenient.
  Fun Facts: You can get a poster (in a comics store in Sticksville) and a suit (in a suit store in Flatirons) here! Can't wear the latter, though.
  Can be acquired in: Act 1, 2, 3
  
  
• Sticksville Apartment
  
  Usefulness: Puts you pretty close to the woods, and is pretty integral in the Milk Run mission (in my experience). The parking meter is a decent source of income too, but you need to be very patient with it.
  Fun Facts: You can buy cats (in Flatirons) and robot parts (in a Lil' Tokyo MECH Tech shop) to make a fully functional robot! Sadly, the robot is not playable (when there's mod support, I hope it becomes playable), and if you buy all the cats they get you a pretty rad yarn sword.
  Can be acquired in: Act 1, 2, 3
  
  
• Forest Hideout
  
  Usefulness: I kinda think the place is worthless, although blackgauntlet raises good points about the place; enemies frequently respawn, and since it's a hideout, you respawn immediately, it's pretty good for leveling underleveled characters or getting money for them (like playing your strongest character and then collecting money as the weakest one), and it's fairly close to one of the Dojos. I still think Rollingwood is better positioned and its enemies offer more money, though (even if they're an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥ to fight).
  Fun Facts: It's the only hideout with enemies in it. Not really a hideout for you, is it?
  Can be acquired in: Act 2
  
  
• Rollingwood House
  
  Usefulness: useless because they don't wanna get milk themselves Pretty integral for the entire second half of the game, if only because most of the tasks are a short walk away. What tasks aren't a short walk, though, ugh (looking at you, Merville Tower).
  Fun Facts: Not really much in the way of fun facts here, honestly, except the whole "secret playable character come Act 3" thing.
  Can be acquired in: Act 2

Special Case

• Old River City High
  
  Usefulness: It's the tutorial level, so it of course doesn't play much part in the rest of the game. Sadly, you can't get this place as a hideout later in the game.
  Fun Facts: As I show here, you can revisit the tutorial level as any character you want, and they have a short conversation with Cyndi. Same with Simon, too, who either wonders who your character is, or admonishes Alex or Ryan for bringing their dads into the fight. Really, kind of neat.
  Can be acquired in: Tutorial Only

In Conclusion

Anyway, if I missed anyone, you wanna add your own commentary (or correct me), just tell me.

[Etheru]

I'm not sure I'll update this again, since I don't want go back and verify, partially due to having lost most of my interest in the game (especially since it's dead, for all intents and purposes), along with not looking at the guide as fondly as I used to.

[sonnyketsit]

thanks for the full effort to make the guide, man
i just want to add info about rudy, (it was a long time ago since the last time i play) but rudy is overpower on 1v1 and very interesting gameplay with him, you need to find infinite grapple combination with him and master it, so everytime you manage to 'touch' an enemy that means their death, for example i once fight wes with this combo i create and he is beat in one series of juggle combo. it was long ago, i dont know is it still doable today.
i just want to explain that rudy is very interesting. his weakness is in the crowd, you need to know where to lead your juggle and when you get invincible frames.

[Etheru]

No problem, Jal.

[Jal]

Thanks for not spoiling anything :]

[Etheru]

Thanks, Yeyuno!

[Etheru]

I decided to add some brief summaries of how some of the characters play, since I feel the guide isn't quite informative enough. Will probably update the ones I haven't checked out (or someone else can fill in on them).

[Etheru]

That actually probably would be pretty nice, so I'd appreciate it if you did!

[Etheru]

Oh, thanks! I should get on that. I didn't know they released an update.

Finals and stuff.

[Zeikar]

Yes, it is. I'll leave it to Etheru.

[Etheru]

Decided to create my own approximation of what Vixen Leader's recolored portraits might look like. I apologize if the first recolor looks dead.