When I tried RISC OS' own instructions to have the equivalent experience with their latest OS versions, they seemed to be missing a step, too, as I'd still boot to a desktop on a Pi 4: https://www.riscosopen.org/wiki/documentation/show/Raspberry...
Write the latest full RISC OS (through Raspberry Pi Imager or elsewhere). Edit CMDLINE.TXT per their instructions, and after it boots, on your keyboard, press F12 to open a command line at the bottom of the screen, type in the commands from their instructions, and then also type:
Unplug Desktop
Then press Ctrl-Break to reboot. You don't need to copy files to other SD cards or anything. It will boot immediately into BBC BASIC in Mode 7 (40x25, Teletext pixels, 16 colors).In swapping the SD card between a Pi 1/2 and a Pi 4, I was getting occasional misfires, though, and it wouldn't boot into BASIC, getting hung up on the wrong networking driver, or complaining about a missing desktop. Ctrl-Break to reboot should fix it.