Welcome to another edition of Retro Corner, and today I will review Double Dragon, a classic brawler for the NES. Double Dragon was initially released in 1987 by Technōs Japan as an arcade brawler. In 1988, Technōs Japan ported the game to not only the NES but other consoles like the Sega Master System. The console's 8-bit hardware could not run the 16-bit graphics, so Trade West had to downgrade it from the original game. The theme is about a gang called the Black Warriors that kidnaps Marian the love interest of Billy Lee. Billy must venture through several areas fighting the Black Warriors and rescue Marian from the leader Willy. The game would try retaining some elements from the arcade version; however, the NES game also features some content not included with the other ports. Gameplay The port was handled decently and contains most of the Arcade elements for the gameplay and level design. The NES game manages to retain that feel for the gameplay, and it’s why I continue playing this most of the time. The level system was a nice touch because this helped make the NES title different from the inaugural game. It would reward the player after earning enough points besides getting an extra life. That encouraged me to try harder to get additional attacks, so this would make it easier to fight the enemies. I do have some criticisms towards Technōs Japan's design choices and hated the platforming elements. These gameplay mechanics don't belong in a brawler of any kind as it virtually made this impossible to complete. In Mega Man or Contra, this would work much better, but it doesn't for a brawler. Any jump mechanics in a brawler should be used to perform an attack rather than cross an obstacle. In levels four and five had these the worst especially when a platform was moving. There were many times I misjudge my jump and missed the platform. You literally had to jump precisely to land on the thing properly which is downright ridiculous. I also hated the difficulty some of the levels had which made it hard to move on to the following stage. The first two levels are okay, but once you get to stage 4, that's where the challenge becomes nearly impossible. What made this more difficult was the ridiculous platforming and traps set on the backgrounds. It's like Trade West wasn't sure whether they wanted to make an action platformer or a brawler. Instead of making a unique concept for a challenge, it only caused me to throw the controller on the floor out of frustration. The lack of a two-player Co-op mode always turned me off, but yet the Sega Master System version included the feature. I personally never used Mode A2 because one my brother never took part in this with me and two it's a weak two-player feature. Once more, Double Dragon is not a platformer or a 2D side-scroller, but they treat the game like it is. Another thing about Modes B and B2 was that you could only fight against the same character you picked. Sure, it’s true that in other fighting games like Street Fighter you can just select Ryu and Ken when a second player joins in. However, if crappy license games can have the player face against a different character, then these developers could have designed it in the same way. Rating: 7.2/10 Graphics/Presentation Similar to Contra, the graphics tries its best to maintain the same feel whether it's the environment or the characters. The graphics had a good design, and the 8-bit detail didn't give me the feeling that I was playing a poor man's version.The animation for the characters was good as it surprised me that the system could let these developers design their maneuvers. My favorite ones were the jumping knee attack, hair pulling and throwing an enemy across the screen. I constantly get a good laugh at the expressions of Billy and even the enemies would make as you attacked them. It's also funny when they fall from a platform or into a pit, I mean imagine them saying "Nooooooooooo!" in a Darth Vader voice. The environments include various areas such as the city streets, a factory, the woods, and caves. The stages have equally as much detail as the last and is completely accurate for the location they represent. The special effects are in fact lacking when compared to Contra which manages to preserve that type of detail. The music in some of the levels did pump me up and encouraged me to want to continue even more. That is the reason I loved the music in the first stage and the caves. Even the introduction would get me into the theme, and I was glad they played this at the last level. The first level is an excellent example as it felt like you wanted to keep fighting your way through. The presentation was solidly done unlike in Mega Man and features an intro song when starting the game. There are addition scenes like when Marian gets kidnapped by the Black Warriors. There is even an ending scene after defeating both Willy and Jimmy. The graphics do have its flaws as the studio could have done more than just downgrade it. Some of the backgrounds like in the first stage that showed skyscrapers should have more colors. The game seems to have a dark tint of colors that makes it come off melancholy. I understand this game is supposed to have a gritty feel to it, but some additional colors would have been nice. Try comparing NES title to the Sega Master System port, and you’ll see my point. The sprites have good animation; however, their walking cycles are very stiff. In games like Mega Man and Contra, the sprites walk in a fluid motion. Why Technōs Japan didn't design fluid animation for the sprites is anyone's guess. The music in some levels could've been better and at times didn't give me the feeling of continuing forward. The factory and woods levels felt very bland and didn't match the environments. That is one of the reasons I couldn't stand these stages because the music always made me feel bored. The game does a good job offering detailed graphics even though it has issues in some areas. Rating: 7.8/10 Features/Content The port already has some content that the other versions don't have in comparison. As mentioned already there is Modes A and A2 that functions as one and two player games. The other modes are Mode B which is a fighting game that includes Billy and the enemies from Mode A. There is a total of six fighters and once a character is selected the player(s) fight the match in one area. Mode B has Player One face against a computer in a single round. Mode B2 lets two players face off and works the same way as Mode B. As mentioned in the gameplay, it was annoying to have the Two Player mode work this way. When looking on at the Arcade and the Sega Master System versions, I feel very envious towards its users. Why couldn't they just program this title with Co-op the typical way instead of in a Super Mario Bros style? However, Modes B and B2 were interesting at the time when there were limited fighting games during the 80s. Aside from Street Fighter and a few poorly made fight games, i.e., WWF, WCW, and Karate Champion, it was refreshing to have one that played well. However, the developers could have done more than design one single round mode. In Street Fight, you are given two to three rounds but in the NES title there is only one. Maybe I’m going a little too hard on this feature, after all, it was a time when fighting games weren’t popular. It does have six different fighters each with their own move set which was still good of the studio to include. Rating: 7.6/10 Final Rating The NES version of Double Dragon tried maintaining some elements from the Arcade original. Unlike the other ports, the gameplay was a little different with implementing a level system to learn additional moves. Even though there was no traditional 2 player feature with Mode A2, the level system in some way made up for it. The graphics were solid and were able to use the limitations of the system to retain some of the Arcade game. The features had a lot for a console port with both single and multiplayer modes. An interesting fighting mode featured all the characters from the main game gt included. At the time, this was a unique feature considering in the 80s finding a decent fighting game was truly rare. However, there were several mistakes made in the gameplay which was something they didn't freshen out enough. There were the platform elements as well as the traps that shouldn’t have been in this type of game. These challenges made completing the game nearly impossible because the player is giving a limited number of lives. There was no two-player Co-op that the other versions had, and it irritated me that the players had to take turns. I felt this was a step down from the Arcade experience, and even the Contra NES port included that as well. The graphics could have been done better as Technōs Japan should have put little effort then using a tint of dark colors. The game was still a decent port and at least tried a few different things from the other versions. Gameplay: 7.2/10 Graphic/Presentation: 7.8/10 Features/Content: 7.6/10 Final Rating: 7.5/10 Good
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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