Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. I love beat-em-ups. Nothing is honestly more satisfying that laying some serious whooping on to dozens of thugs. And the NES has had its fair share of great bashers and smashers. I’ve of course talked about the two Ninja Turtle beat-em-ups, and how they were both top quality titles. Now it’s time to take the first look into another beloved series on the NES. But does this game bring the pain, or is has this dragon lost its flame? well, let’s not waste any more time and look at the first Double Dragon game.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1988
PUBLISHER: Tradewest
GENRE: Beat-Em-Up
Double Dragon started off like most NES games of the time as an arcade game. The game was created by Technos Japan, and was in many ways a spritual successor to their earlier title Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun (Or as we know it, Renegade). The game proved to be a massive hit for the arcades, and with the increasing momentum that home console gaming was making once more, it wouldn’t take long for Double Dragon to make it there.
Double Dragon was ported to nearly every home console on the market. There were ports for the Master System, the ZX Spectrum, the Atari 7800, even the Atari 2600 if you can believe that. But despite for the most part being more faithful to the original arcade game, none of them were as massive a success as the NES version.
The NES port of Double Dragon was released in 1988, and was one of the console’s best sellers. The game sold out in a mere two weeks at many Toys R Us stores. And despite many changes to the original game format (most notably the lack of a co-op function), it has held it’s own with NES fans as one of the best games to come out of the great grey box. There would be multiple sequels to the series, and in the mid-90’s there would be a terrible live action movie, as well as a forgettable animated series. And even while the franchise for the most part laid dormant for years, it’s seen a comeback among retro crowds with the release of Double Dragon Neon, a pseudo remake for Xbox Live and Playstation Network.
So clearly the Double Dragon franchise has had a lasting legacy. But with all that said, has the original Double Dragon truly stood the test of time? Or has time given it one too many dragon kicks to the head?
COVER STORY
I love this cover. You get to see Billy and Jimmy in full force, showing off weapons, and laying boot to some bad guys. The Double Dragon logo is a classic with that badass dragon on top. And despite being busy, it’s not too cluttered, even with the “#1 Arcade Smash” on the side. It’s one of the nicer covers of the early NES days.
STORY
The evil Black Warriors have kidnapped Marian, the girlfriend of Billy Lee. It’s up to him and his twin brother Jimmy to brave through the rough terrain, deal with the hordes of deadly enemies along the way, and defeat the evil Shadow Boss to rescue Marian. But will this adventure bring these two brothers closer together tear them apart?
GAMEPLAY
Double Dragon is a 1-2 player beat-em-up. You control either Billy or Jimmy Lee as you head through four dangerous missions in order to save Billy’s girlfriend Marian from the evil black warriors. You move your Lee brother with the D-Pad, punch with the A button, Kick with the B button, and jump with a combined A+B press.
The object of each level is your standard beat-em-up fare. Move from left to right (sometimes right to left), defeat the enemies in front of you, and make it to the boss at the end. As you advance, you’ll face waves of enemies (due to console limitations, only two enemies will appear at a time), and must beat them all to continue on in the level. You foes are the standard fare. Identical looking thugs that often carry weapons.
You can actually knock the weapons out of the hands of your enemies with a well placed strike. You can then use the weapon by picking it up with the A button. These include baseball bats, whips, daggers, and TNT sticks. However, once you defeat the enemies in that area, the weapon will vanish, even if you still have it in your possession.
Another interesting thing about the NES double dragon is that it actually works in an RPG level up system. That’s right, when you earn a certain number of points, you will gain an extra heart. These hearts will represent a new move that your Lee brother can now use. You start with uppercuts and roundhouse kicks, to jump kicks, grapples, and back elbow strikes. And with some of the tricky foes in the game, these come in handy.
Now while the game actually puts emphasis on the two player experience (the end of the game changes if you play it 2 players), the downside is that it’s not co-op. This of course has to do with limitations at the time. They’d fix this in later NES Double Dragon titles, but for the original, the 2nd player has to wait until player 1 loses a life before they can begin their adventure.
The most interesting thing about this game is its infamous twist at the end. In the one player mode, if you get to the final boss, you’ll learn that the shadow boss of the Black Shadow is your brother Jimmy Lee. And it becomes a fight between brothers to prove who truly is superior.
The controls for the game work great. It feels satisfying to lay strikes into your foes. My only issue is the jumping. It feels awkward to control at times, and in perilous areas, sometimes you’ll screw up easier than expected. The game transitions into a platformer in some areas, and for this setup, it doesn’t feel as tight as it should. Also, some mild hit detection issues, but nothing that breaks the game.
You have two lives in the whole game. There are no ways to get extra ones, and the biggest kicker is no continues, saves, or level selects. It’s definitely a game that will take a bit to get through, but if you’re up for the challenge, then it’s worth it.
And that pretty much all of game mode A covered. Yes, this game actually has two different modes. The first is the main game, while the 2nd will let you pick from one of six characters to go into a one on one fight. Now it’s nowhere as deep as most fighting games as it just breaks down to mashing your buttons hoping to land the first strikes. Also, no matter what character you pick, you will just face your doppleganger. But hey, if you always wanted to be the beloved villain Abobo, and kick the ass of another Abobo, well this is the game for you.
POWER TIP
This game is tough, so you’ll want to get those hearts filled as fast as you can. And luckily, there’s a cheat in the game that can help you do that. In Mission 2, there will be an area where you climb up a fence, where two enemies (known as Williams) will await. When one passes the red girder, climb back up the fence and go all the way to the other side. Then go back. The enemies will be gone, but you can still strike the area they inhabited, earning you points and hearts early in the game.
Also, don’t feel like fighting certain bosses? For the first boss Abobo, you can actually lure him into the conveyor belt, and to his doom. The 2nd boss, Chintai, can be avoided entirely. Once you climb up to meet him, just climb down. The game will recognize it as defeating him, and you’ll move on to the next level.
One more trick is the weapon change trick. Some enemy weapons can actually turn into other weapons, and be kept even after their death. In the last level of the game, have the enemy knock the weapon out of your hand. Kill them, and pick the weapon up on the last blink. The weapon changes, and even deforms a bit depending on how often it’s used.
GRAPHICS
The graphics for this game are excellent, especially for a game from 1988. Sprites all are designed great and have lots of character to them. Even Abobo, who I always thought kind’ve looked like a muscled up angry gingerbread man. Levels are all well designed with lots of nice touches put into them. This is definitely a sign of just how great an NES game could look.
MUSIC
This game has an excellent soundtrack. All of Technos Japan ‘s NES titles were chock full of catchy, memorable tunes, and this one is no exception. The best tracks in my opinion are the 2nd mission tune and the title screen. These will be songs that you’ll want to listen to over and over for just how top quality they truly are.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Double Dragon is a solid beat-em-up with great graphics, music, and gameplay. It’s a short, yet challenging game that does have some mild issues with control and hit detection, but they can be easily dealt with. This is definitely one of the games that set the building blocks to the far greater beat-em-ups to come like Streets of Rage 2 and Final Fight. It’s an easy game to find, so quit dragon time around, and give it a play.
RATING: Thumbs Up