Double Dragon

"Alteration...Baseball bat...Alteration...Baseball bat...hmmm..."

Double Dragon has held a place in gamers hearts as the game where beating the hell out of some thug on some city street was worth spending money on. Spawning several sequels, home system games, cartoons, comic books and even a doomed movie, Double Dragon is the stuff dreams are made of! Pitting you in a role as either Hammer or Spike, later to be known as Billy and Jimmy Lee, you take to the streets in an attempt to find the kidnapped Marion. As the game progresses in it's side scrolling fashion, you'll punch, kick, hold and chuck people with enough action to make you think you're in a martial arts flick! What the NES does with this title is to bring it to the home system and really show you that there is a place for such games on a system that really totes itself as being the kiddy console. If you can get through the different visual problems that come up from time to time through the course of the game and the sometimes stiff control that you’ll encounter here and there, you’ll find that Double Dragon is an NES gamers dream and is well worth the money to play!

Double Dragon features some of the best beat down action of any side scrolling platformer in its time. Putting you in the role of Billy Lee, you take to the streets and beat up the numerous thugs that come after you with vicious punches and kicks as well as throws and the infamous knee bash to the head throw! Through several different stages, you'll hone your skills against a computer opponent that becomes increasingly stronger and meaner as the game goes on. With that being said, you'll find challenge waiting at every corner, and different enemies that force you to learn different tactics. Now with the missing two-player option that the arcade game featured, many NES gamers will probably see this as a complete and total short coming along with the altered game play. No longer can you gang up on your opponents, and Jimmy Lee {Spike in the Arcade} is apparently a bad guy at the end of the game, so you’ll find that the modifications of the game are really strange! You’ll find that the game is very hard in certain places, especially when you go up against some of the tougher enemies in the game that require you to hit and run. These hit and run tactics are something that you wouldn’t have expected from the original version and it does leave a rather bland feeling when busting your way through a ton of bad guys.

Not quite perfect but damned close. You have a punch, kick and jump button that allows you to grab onto your enemy and beat them down. You can latch onto an enemy, knee them, punch them, and then chuck them over your shoulder. In certain areas, you can pick up weapons and use them against the onslaught of opponents with the punch button. All it takes is practice, and you'll beat them down with the best of them! The myriad of moves that Billy Lee has is extensive, but they are nothing that you can’t learn and control with enough practice. Something that does come as a rather disappointment is the fact that with some of the jumping in places, the NES controller doesn’t quite do the job that you would hope for or expect from a game that requires precise timing. There is nothing more aggravating in a game, then to work your way through, only to have to start all over again simply because your character didn’t make the right jump!

The music is rather quiet through the game, and only changes depending on what stage that you're on. It's pulse pounding, and keeps up with the flow of the game, but really is too quiet to keep tabs on! The sound effects range from grunts and groans, to the sickening thump and thud of your fists smashing against some schmuck’s face and busting out their teeth! With the title theme being something that will get you prepared for the game, the actual in game music can be a little less than desirable in some instances. That being said, the game music overall could have been tweaked, but it does suit the purpose of the game and is worth listening to when you really get into the game itself and you aren’t playing attention.

For a game of this age, it has all the trimmings, from the run down slums to the character designs and fighting attacks! With heavy hits, even though the speed isn't the fastest in video game history, it gives a certain amount of impact watching the punches land with slow, plodding accuracy! Something that does come up in the NES version though, is the fact that the visual glitches of the game come through when the action gets intense, or you happen to have the stage and screen at a certain position. There is nothing like jumping with Billy, only to have him float up the screen or disappear completely through the floor, only to cause you to die and have to start over again. The moves that you see and the characters that you face have been altered just slightly to the NES specifications, but it really isn’t much that comes clear unless you’ve been playing the arcade version for years an know all of the nuances that the game has to offer.

Double Dragon may have spawned some mishaps and failures, but those who remember where it all started will remember that this is possibly the best Double Dragon game to grace the arcades! With future sequels not fairing so well, most will be drawn back here, to where the enemies where plentiful, the story was fresh and the fighting was fast and furious! NES owners will probably see this game as a gem in the collection, and really it is, while arcade fans will see it as a butchered game that was cashed in for home gamers. Either way that you look at it, you still have the Double Dragon action that you’ve come to love, and for the price tag of two bucks, you really can’t beat it with a stick…or maybe a baseball bat.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/06/01, Updated 12/06/01