Shiva first appears at the end of Streets of Rage 2, watching alongside his boss as the players dispatch the last few thugs of the final level before leaping into the fray himself. A consummate martial artist with a comprehensive range of moves mirroring the players own, Shiva not only has a repertoire of attacks comparable to the player, he also uses many of them in similar ways.
He was also granted the honor of his own theme tune, "Max Man".
He returns in Streets of Rage 3 as the boss of the first level, the final opponent of one of the game's routes, and as a playable character through use of a code(Hold B and Start after defeating him in the first level. Don't release until the second level begins).
As a playable character, Shiva is effective if somewhat incomplete.
While he is (perhaps understandably) devoid of standard skills for other characters (such as a back attack or the ability to use weapons) - moves which he has never had - he also lacks moves that his boss form retains like his flaming spin kick from SoR2.
Nevertheless, Shiva is a powerful character with advantages such as a long reach and an overhead punch that can be used repeatedly without knocking an opponent out of range.
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