Current Events > Double Dragon is probably the most important franchise to be forgotten

(+) Yeah! (+)

It had like, 2 good games. Then a TON of really bad ports, remakes, or weirdo sequels. Battletoads crossover was good. Apparently there is a good remake on some obscure Brazilian console called the Zeeobo. I actually love DD Neon. DD Advance is good too.

Considering how influential and huge this series was, its weird how bad it was for most of its life.

DD Gaiden is pretty good. That just came out last year.

BlueAnnihilator posted...

DD Gaiden is pretty good. That just came out last year.

Never heard of this one. Is it a fan game, or official?

And rightfully so as it has been surpassed by others in its genre a thousand times over.

TheSavageDragon posted...

And rightfully so as it has been surpassed by others in its genre a thousand times over.

I think there is still a place for it. It focuses on multiplayer, and i feel the theme of Neon and the parody angle fits it perfectly..

I feel like a lot of people tend to forget is Kunio Kun (what would become the River City Ransom series) precedes it, and Double Dragon was the spin-off of the series.

BlueAnnihilator posted...

DD Gaiden is pretty good. That just came out last year.

Yeah the ad for this game comes up on my feed sometimes.

Hayame_Zero posted...

I feel like a lot of people tend to forget is Kunio Kun (what would become the River City Ransom series) precedes it, and Double Dragon was the spin-off of the series.

Kunio-kun has had a huge revival recently though.

They are so different from eachother though, aside from the janky controls in the nes games.

_____Cait posted...

I think there is still a place for it.

Sure, but that would require them to do something you can't get in a dozen other games at this point. Why play DD for the style when Streets Of Rage 4 oozes it? Why play it for the multiplayer when every single game in the genre has that? Why play it for difficulty when you can play Fight 'N Rage?
Granted, I haven't really tried any of the newer ones as they all looked as basic in gameplay as the old ones.

_____Cait posted...

Never heard of this one. Is it a fan game, or official?

It's an official game but it doesn't play like the older DD games, but closer to the developer's other game Streets of Red, where you can take on the stages in any order and the bosses you leave for later gets stronger. You can also use money for upgrades every playthrough or cash them out to unlock new characters.

I enjoy it but the chibi characters aren't to everyone's liking. I still think Streets of stage 4 and TMNT Shredder's Revenge are better.

Fenriswolf posted...

It's an official game but it doesn't play like the older DD games, but closer to the developer's other game Streets of Red, where you can take on the stages in any order and the bosses you leave for later gets stronger. You can also use money for upgrades every playthrough or cash them out to unlock new characters.

I enjoy it but the chibi characters aren't to everyone's liking. I still think Streets of stage 4 and TMNT Shredder's Revenge are better.

I'd say streets of rage is better, but Shredder's revenge has too many cruddy bosses for me to say it's better than DD gaiden unfortunately.

I wasn't a fan of the roguelite style for DD Gaiden and didn't play it as much as I thought I would. I was expecting it to be more in a style like Shredder's Revenge, SoR4, etc.

_____Cait posted...

It had like, 2 good games.

Eh, It'd say 4.

Double dragon 2 NES, super double dragon, double dragon advance and double dragon neon are all pretty good. I will say there was other beat'em ups around during their time periods that did the genre better, but still....these 4 were the real good ones.

When it comes to these modern beat'em up revivals imo double dragon got kinda' screwed, lol. Double dragon gaiden is basically a clone of that indie dev's own previous beat'em up roguelike game, and wayforward's river city girls 1 and 2 is way, way better in comparison.

Speaking of river city girls, billy and jimmy is getting added to river city girls 2 so they are going to be in a better game then the modern one for their actual series, lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3aHIuKxDXs

Super Double Dragon isn't that good IMO, especially with everything that got cut from the game, and the game is too slow and doesn't even use the DD theme. The Japanese Return of DD is a little better.

Fenriswolf posted...

Super Double Dragon isn't that good IMO, especially with everything that got cut from the game, and the game is too slow and doesn't even use the DD theme. The Japanese Return of DD is a little better.

Yeah, its slow, but the hits were meaty, lol. Like POW. Its kind of why my household also like the combatribes despite this game also being pretty slow with the 3 player characters being chonker cyborg dudes.

It is a shame super double dragon got such a weird release. I think both the localized version actually existed first and then they cleaned up a few things for the japanese release. It was just weird.

But yeah the SNES had much better beat'em ups to get into. Battletoads and double dragons, brawl brothers (damn shame this is another series where it's 3rd game just got shit on for it's localization), final fight 3 and whatnot.

Double Dragon on the GBA is an awesome remake.

Hayame_Zero posted...

I feel like a lot of people tend to forget is Kunio Kun (what would become the River City Ransom series) precedes it, and Double Dragon was the spin-off of the series.

But also River City Ransom is way better than Double Dragon. I remember playing them back to back somewhat recently when they were released on Switch online and it's pretty clear that Double Dragon is just straight inferior.

I don't think I've ever played a standalone Double Dragon game, but I did play the Battletoads/Double Dragon crossover game on SNES back in the day. Think my mom must have rented it.

Oh man, the amount of quarters I dropped on that game as an 8 year old.

Jupiter posted...

I don't think I've ever played a standalone Double Dragon game, but I did play the Battletoads/Double Dragon crossover game on SNES back in the day. Think my mom must have rented it.

1 and 2 on the nes are okay. 3 is just awful. Super double is kinda fun. And I like neon far more than I should.

I dunno how important I'd really say it is tbh, in 2024.

I did really like DD1, and a lot of people remember it and others in the series fondly. And sure, while it wasn't technically the first, it did a lot to define the genre.

Thing is, the genre peaked in the 90's and was pretty much dead for the two or so decades after that, unless you count Dynasty Warriors, I guess. We're just now seeing a small resurgence this decade.

You could argue it's an ancestor to the fighting genre, but that's just about the only way you could call it influential today.

Still, I always had a good time with it on NES. I actually thought the NES version was better than the arcade version, which almost never happens.

Jupiter posted...

I don't think I've ever played a standalone Double Dragon game, but I did play the Battletoads/Double Dragon crossover game on SNES back in the day. Think my mom must have rented it.

This is pretty much a Battletoads game that just has playable Billy and Jimmy. Was kinda disappointing since I was always more into DD than BT.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

Still, I always had a good time with it on NES. I actually thought the NES version was better than the arcade version, which almost never happens.

To be honest with you, I think there is a good bit of us beat'em up fans that would consider double dragon 1 better on the NES compared to it's arcade version. While it lacks the co-op, the learning new moves as you got exp was pretty entertaining. All we were doin' in the arcade version of part 1 since the AI was so busted was elbowing everything to death anyway.

Double dragon 2 could go either way, but my family did play the hell out of the NES port, and the extra levels was fun (who all remembers wiping out those continues on the stage with the gears before we got the hang of jumping, lol). Double dragon 3 was straight up garbage in the arcade, and while the NES version also was pretty jank you can at least say it was better than the arcade's pure trash.

Yeah it really was one of those rare beat'em ups in the late 80s/early 90s that had better home versions.

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

I dunno how important I'd really say it is tbh, in 2024.

I did really like DD1, and a lot of people remember it and others in the series fondly. And sure, while it wasn't technically the first, it did a lot to define the genre.

Thing is, the genre peaked in the 90's and was pretty much dead for the two or so decades after that, unless you count Dynasty Warriors, I guess. We're just now seeing a small resurgence this decade.

You could argue it's an ancestor to the fighting genre, but that's just about the only way you could call it influential today.

Still, I always had a good time with it on NES. I actually thought the NES version was better than the arcade version, which almost never happens.

Not just dynasty warriors...

DMC, God of War have similarities.
Then there are games like "The Bouncer" "Odin Sphere" and "Castle Crashers"

there was streets of rage 4
gun star heros on GBA
double dragon on GBA
God Hand
Final Fight (PS2)
River City Girls
River City Ransom EX (GBA)

ive always felt like there were tons of beat em ups.

GBA and PS2 have a lot.

Robot2600 posted...

Not just dynasty warriors...

DMC, God of War have similarities.

Yeah, good point. I had always thought of those more of the descent of action platformers (think SotN minus exploration or Mega Man), but I can definitely see how the golden age of 2D Beatemups could be in their DNA.

Actually, now that I think about it, the platforming in DMC is a total afterthought, so yeah, beatemup is definitely closer mechanically.

Mortal kombat shaolin monks and namco's urban reign (uses the same engine for tekken so it has a lot of that tekken feel when it comes to launching people, lol) is also among the best 3D beat'em ups that came out on the PS2. Played the hell out of both of'em with my brother.

Always wanted urban reign to get one of those PS2 to PS4 ports.
https://youtu.be/ELsVHfbg3Z0?t=2401

It also had those cool co-op moves. Game sadly got overlooked during the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULitqjE5ox0