Double Dragon
 
     

 
 
Instead of having specific kick and punch buttons like most fighting games, characters in Double Dragon have 4 basic attacks which wary depending on the character's position. A super move meter is also available (known as a "Charge" meter in this game), and fills up faster when a character has less health. Special "Charge Attacks" are performed by executing the command of a regular special move and pressing two attack buttons simultaneously at the end instead of just one.
 

  
Double Dragon is a very straight-forward 2D fighting game, offering halfway decent gameplay... but really not much we haven't seen before in other fighting games of the era. To its credit, the game does have a few entertaining characters with interesting abilities, like characters that can change costumes mid fight (Billy & Jimmy). However, a lot of the designs are typical "90s fare"... shallow and generic, with horribly translated in-game dialogue. If you could somehow get past all that, some of the characters do feature halfway interesting fighting styles, making the game "playable" at the least.

 

 
 
Visually, this incarnation of Double Dragon didn't appeal to me like other fighting games did in the mid 90s. After becoming accustomed to the smoothness of other 2D fighters, it's difficult for me to go this far "backwards" in terms of animation and gameplay quality. To put it in perspective, Double Dragon was competing with the likes of Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 3, Killer Instinct 2, Samurai Shodown 3, Darkstalkers 2... and the list goes on. Do you think this game stood out arcades with those games stealing the crowds? Not very much. At its best angle, Double Dragon is a bright and colorful fighting game with decent character sprites that are considerably large for the time period (but perhaps a bit too visibly 'flat' for their own good). Compared to other arcade / PS1 fighting games around in 1996, Double Dragon was definitely "behind the curve" in a few areas.


The PlayStation port has some differences from the original NeoGeo version. There were a few visual changes to backgrounds and characters, and the PS1 version introduces 2 new modes: Overdrive (featuring slightly faster gameplay) and Tiny 3D Mode (an obscure attempt at making the game visually appear "3D"). 

 

Page Updated: May 19th, 2024 Developer(s): Technos Publisher(s): Technos, SNK Platform(s): Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD, PlayStation, PSN Release Date(s): Mar. 31st, 1995      (/ Arcade) June 2nd, 1995       (/ Neo Geo CD) Apr. 26th, 1996      ( PS1) July 1996                   ( PS1) Jan. 14th, 2014      ( PSN) Characters:  Billy Lee, Jimmy Lee, Abobo, Marian, Burnov, Amon, Dulton, Rebecca, Cheng-Fu, Eddie, Duke, Koga Shuko Featured Video: Related Games: Rage of the Dragons, Power Instinct, Power Instinct: Matrimelee, King of Fighters '95, Samurai Shodown 3, Darkstalkers 2, Fatal Fury 3, Street Fighter Alpha, Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 3, Killer Instinct 2, Savage Reign, Golden Axe: The Duel, Galaxy Fight, Waku Waku 7    Gameplay Engine  6.0 / 10 Story / Theme  7.0 / 10 Overall Graphics  6.0 / 10 Animation  4.5 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  6.5 / 10 Innovation  5.0 / 10 Art Direction  5.5 / 10 Customization  5.0 / 10 Options / Extras  5.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  6.0 / 10 Replayability / Fun  5.0 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  5.0 / 10 Characters  4.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  5.4 / 10  Review based on Arcade version        Final Words: Double Dragon "the fighting game" was a fairly decent (yet painfully average) spin-off of the classic beat-em-up. As a player of many Capcom & SNK games in the early 90's, and a big fan of the original Double Dragon beat-em-ups since I was a kid, the Double Dragon failed to spark my interest at the time it released. In retrospect, it definitely has some uniqueness to it and even semi-decent character sprites / designs or the time.  In arcades and on my Commodore 64 / Amiga in the late 80s, I loved the original Double Dragon beat-em-up games. Super Double Dragon on the old SNES was also great. However, something about Double Dragon on NeoGeo seemed a bit sloppy visually and didn't really capture the original "cool vibe" of the original beat-em-ups. However, the later released Rage of the Dragons (2002), also based on the Double Dragon series, was the spiritual successor to this title and ended up being a more impressive 2D fighting game released for NeoGeo and arcades. ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen      Click Here for all Posters / Box Artwork! Click Here for all screenshots! FOLLOW    ON:                             TFG NEWS CHARACTERS GAMES