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Retro|Spective 168: Double Dragon

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    Retro|Spective 168: Double Dragon




    History in Games:
    1987 - Double Dragon
    1988 - Double Dragon II: The Revenge
    1990 - Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
    1991 - Double Dragon II GB
    1992 - Super Double Dragon
    1993 - Double Dragon GG
    1994 - Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls
    1995 - Double Dragon
    2003 - Double Dragon Advance
    2009 - Double Dragon Remake
    2011 - Double Dragon Remake II
    2012 - Double Dragon Neon
    2013 - Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons
    2017 - Double Dragon IV

    Overview:
    Another of gaming history's most famous walk-a-long beat-em-up franchises, Double Dragon is also one of such franchises to twist and contort itself the most having at times fully emerged as a 2D fighter. The series is led by Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight the forces of the Black Warriors who initially kidnapped the girl they're both interested in called Marian. Able to move up and down as well as left to right facing waves on oncoming enemies, the gameplay of the main most recognised entries may seem atypical of the genre but as one of the most important founding fathers of it, Double Dragon holds an important place in gaming history.






    What are your Double Dragon memories and which game/s were the franchises finest hour?

    #2
    Without a doubt, the version I've played the most is the Game Boy version.
    I've absolutely caned that and must've completed it countless times.
    To the point where you can lure enemies to sweet spots and beat them up without taking damage or knocking them off ledges.
    Even when certain sound effects need sound chip resources and the bassline of the music will drop out.

    History lesson at school, me and a schoolmate used the link cable and played the versus mode behind big history books, but we had to be careful not to reveal the cable or rattle the buttons in enthusiasm.

    Great game, great music and a lot of fun!

    Comment


      #3
      The original is still one of my all time favourite games (in quite possibly my favourite genre). There was a certain swimming pool I'd always badger my folks to take me too...they had a DD cab! And both the pool and the cab were out of sight of the cafe where the adults would chill. Let's just say the reality of 10 mins swimming and 1hr gaming was often pitched the other way!

      Arcade, Lynx, MD, SMS versions...enjoy them all. And GB. And DDA GBA.

      Never got into the fighters though.

      Edit - the intro, just gets you in the mood for dealing pain and vengeance. And seeing Abobo bust out the wall still makes me smile, every time!
      Last edited by wheelaa; 19-01-2021, 13:25.

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        #4
        Wish the remaster on GBA got a digital release on current consoles, it's an amazing version of DD!!!

        My fave is STILL SUPER DOUBLE DRAGON on the SNES. Sublime, even now.

        And nothing will compare to the feeling I had as a 12yr old me when the original DD came out in the arcades. There was nothing else like it at the time, every time I saw and heard a machine in the arcades, I got a big tingle inside. Pure badass. Still is, even with slowdown. That makes it feel even more raw, to me.

        Just don't play the MD version, don't at all. It's a very strange case of nicking defeat from the jaws of victory as its visuals are pretty damn good!!!
        Last edited by JazzFunk; 19-01-2021, 21:40. Reason: DRAGON, *not* DRAGOON

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          #5
          PS can anyone tell me - if they love NEON, that is - can anyone who loves NEON tell me why it's so loveable???

          I don't think it's a BAD game, in fact I think it's very stylish and high-quality. It's just it doesn't feel like a DD game at all, at least to me. And too much rubbery animation delaying moves.

          Nah, not DD at all. But it's very decent. But not DD at all.

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            #6
            I had very fond memories of playing DD on friends’ computers back in the day. So much so, when I started my arcade PCB collection DD1 and 2 were amongst the first games I bought. I was super excited when they arrived from Japan, popped one of them in my cabinet and it was just crap. I was so disappointed, it shows nostalgia can’t power through everything. On the subject of Neon, I tried it for the first time on game pass last week. It was just not satisfying dealing with enemies. It wasn’t bad, just after playing SoR4 the week before kind of spoiled it. The enemies take forever to beat. DD3 on the MD is also one of the worst games I’ve ever played. It has no redeeming features.

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              #7
              Love Double Dragon. It was one of the coin-ops that our school tuckshop had. I spent a load on it.

              When I got my Game Boy in 1990, for Christmas, Double Dragon was one of the first carts I got. I still play it on 3DS quite often.

              A year or so later I grabbed DD2 and 3 on Game Boy. Unfortunately they were both crap.

              After that I didn't bother with the series, until Double Dragon Advance came out, and it's fantastic. I've since picked up Return of Double Dragon, Double Dragon 4, Double Dragon Neon but none of them are much good.

              It's not bad on Lynx, bit it's too zoomed in, and doesn't seem to have the elbow punch.

              I was delighted when it came to Switch. Can't get into DD2 though.

              Have the Master System game lying around somewhere. I should give it a go.

              Comment


                #8
                Weird thing about the MD version is that it's loads smoother than the arcade. And I'm sad that it has quite nice graphics because it IS naff, as you say.

                But it's one of those weird ones, like Chelnov, where the MD got a pimped-out version that could be said to be superior to the arcade.

                I wish I liked NEON. The thing that kills it is the Abobo. It's terrible what they did to him, now he looks like an airbag, horribly hollow-feeling, just terrible, quite frankly.

                I've had turds that look more like Abobo.

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                  #9
                  Screenshots of the original arcade game looked so good. Technically I hadn't seen anime then but the main characters have that 80s look. I can clearly remember the slow down, found out later they'd released updated versions on faster hardware. Elbow all the way.

                  I had a couple of the conversions but can't remembed the MD one. Must have been scared off by magazines.

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                    #10
                    Never played the arcade version but I love the NES release. Many fond memories of playing that as a child and an adult

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                      #11
                      Funnily enough, I never played the original DD coin-op much despite obviously recognising its legendary status. My fondest memories of the original DD are the NES. SMS and GB ports. For me, the GB port was the best of the lot. The NES port was ruined IMO with the weird RPG-style levelling up for new moves mechanic and the SMS port was near-unplayable with the sprite flicker and poor controls.

                      Never played DDII much either, but what I did play of it was the coin-op and the NES port.

                      I feel like the NES version of DDIII is my favourite of the original trilogy, but by god did it have a brutal difficulty curve. I played it that much BITD that i used to be able to 1CC it but I doubt I could do so now.

                      Super Double Dragon was also a highlight in the franchise for me. Epic in terms of length but technically brilliant to play with so many moves in the Lee Brothers' repertoire (even it that moveset was at the expense of the controls not always feeling tight). Arguably the best scrolling beat-em-up on the SNES/SFC.

                      If i had to pick a favourite of the modern revival entries though, it would be Double Dragon Advance on the GBA - a brilliant remake of the original game with all-round excellence in terms of controls and graphics and audio and gameplay.

                      That said, I definitely don't rate DD Neon. Pretty much style-over-substance with stodgy gameplay, and I say that having played it originally on the 360. Not in any great hurry to revisit it on the Switch.
                      Last edited by Nu-Eclipse; 25-01-2021, 17:24.

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