Double Dragon

The Violence of this game felt real, in fact, it felt RAW.It was the only game that I could remember that introduced two players simultaneously.

You were in the Los Angeles Ghetto from the get go, out to rescue a girl@CheekyCrissy

The kids of today will probably think 'Yeah right grandpa, BIG DEAL'

But that was my point around this time it WAS a big deal and it was also one of those games in living memory you had to stand in a LONG line, waiting to play this sucker!

Forget the arcade conversions (Which should have been easy for some of the 16 bit computers around at that time to pull off.) Forget the ill fated 'Double Dragon movie'

And lets not go there with current game Double Dragon Neon…

With THIS game, you knew where it ‘was at’. The graphics were crisp and it had that gritty feel from the get go. (Gritty as in it laid down it’s tone for other games of it’s type for years to follow, namely one of them being the Amstrad Sequel to Renegade ‘Target Renegade’ And YES Amstrad was a home Computer in the ‘80s.)

You were in the Los Angeles Ghetto from the get go, out to rescue a girl, with some knowledge that you and your Bro were being lured into a trap by a deadly street gang. (This game even had a NARRATIVE, which not many games had around this time) The Sound effects were brutal you almost felt every crunch as soon as you pulled in that gang member for a knee smash into the head! (The transvestite LINDA has the most hilarious scream) The Music was just something ‘else’, the stirring rock track of the first stage is what is still remembered by fans even today.

It was the game that introduced separate buttons of which made your 'dude' perform different offensive capabilities and jumps. It also introduced the now infamous 'Back elbow' (Which can also be used to disarm bad guys as well as take down the bigger guys).

There were many influences taken from TV and comic book culture. (There WAS a MR T lookalike & something that looked like the Incredible Hulk) It was possible to get passed the entire game on one credit alone. The only part of the game I found incredibly difficult was the infamous booby traps at the end stage that STILL catch me off guard today when playing it on an emulator. There is a trick that on the last stage, in that you can use the big guy to 'help' you up onto the platform to where 'Boss Willy' is peering down at you from, so that you could get a free hit onto him. And I also figured that if you kill all of the green bodyguard and Willy too, the game sometimes crashes.

This is still a great game despite what some critics may think. It's a shame this game is now just a distant memory in arcades of old. Otherwise I would STILL go hunt for it and play it every-time.

THE RULES

This is a two Player Simultaneous Beat em up. You and a friend can use team work to beat the bad guys (Get behind a bad guy to grab him while the other gets some hits into the enemy, it's possible to use bats & whips against them) If two players make it to the final stage of the game, you are entered into a duel, the last man standing gets the girl!

Review by Cris Christou Follow him on twitter here: @CheekyCrissy  

Double Dragon playthrough

Double Dragon Arcade Gameplay Review