Super Double Dragon

"Another Realistic Opinion Unclouded By Nostalgia"

Well, here we are. Super Double Dragon (AKA Return of Double Dragon). The 4th in what was once a proud street-fighting (beatemup) series. Today I'll take you through the basics of Double Dragon, and tell you the TRUTH behind the farce that is SDD. But first, the review.

Story (0/10):
Story? What story? Uh, apparently, Billy and Jimmy Lee go out on a quest to... beat the tobacco juice out of a bunch of punks. Where's Marion? Where's the evil gang whose name conveniently escapes me? Also notice that throughout the game no old foes make an appearance, save the recolored Lee clones.

Graphics (8/10)
Alright, so the visuals WERE good for the time. Except that the badguys were often just shaded or tinted to make new enemies. The fade-to-black-and-white effect for when a Lee dies was nice, as well. No blood, because, hey, this IS Nintendo. The backgrounds were also nice to look at while smashing punks.

Sound/Music (7/10)
Also good. So maybe the game shone in some minor departments. However, a game CANNOT, no matter what ANYONE tells you, survive on graphics and sound alone.

Gameplay (4/10)
THIS is what I mean. The level designs are almost completely linear and boring, and that's all I'll say to that. Although the Lees control very well in that they go where you tell them to when you want them to, gone is the ability to run, which has instead been replaced with blocking. Although the block adds a few new moves to the Lee brothers' arsenal, it's just not enough. Not only that, but blocking won't work against back attacks or multi-hit strikes, both of which the enemies prefer to use. Also, the game appears to be less responsive to the (simple) combos needed to pull of moves. It's even harder to simply grab someone by the hair now. That didn't hold well with me, as one of my favorite things to do in DD2 was to grab Chin by the hair and knee him in the face repeatedly. However, if you actually do manage to grab an enemy like that, you can now punch them in the face as well as knee, an added bonus. But the Twisting Typhoon Kick and Super Uppercut are missing, except that the recolored Lee clones can utilize the Typhoon Kick for some reason unbeknownst to me. Also, the totally awesome Double Dragon moves don't seem to work anymore. Now when I try to link arms with Jimmy and pull of a Double Roundhouse, I just kick him in the face. Not the best way to get along with Player 2. Also, the enemies have forgotten how to avoid your attacks, and will only sometime try to block you, which can be easily remedied by switching attacks or jumpkicking. Which brings me to the final category.

Difficulty (1/10)
This game is WAY TOO EASY. The enemies are slow, have horrible aim with thrown weapons, and don't know the meaning of thew word dodge. Their only tactic is to get on either side of you and juggle you with punches and kicks, the only thing that will ever do you in if you lack even the most basic of gameplaying skills. Also, the enemies try to get a few cheap hits in when you are trying to execute a combo on one of their buddies, something that they never used to do. That's both good and bad. Bad because it's annoying, but good because it shows a tiny bit of AI, if only the tiniest. Variety is not the enemies' strong suit, either. Often times you'll be beset upon by 3 dudes, all of whom look the same, except one is light, one is dark, and one has green pants on. There are no more traps, huge objects, or hidden passageways to interact with anymore either. Enemies almost always just come off the side of the screen, or randomly appear at the top. I'm sorry Technos, but this game isn't all it could have been.

Overall (4/10)
When I bought this game some-odd years ago, I was excited to play the latest in what was once my favorite punk-smashing series. To my horror, I found out that this game was a mere shell compared to DD3 even, and that game was HORRIBLE. (That farce DD5 did nothing to help, either, but that's a different story.) All in all, this game just doesn't live up to its potential, or its series' name. Not a good purchase, or even a rent (assuming you CAN rent it anymore), but it's okay as a download if you like it that way.

SPECIAL BONUS LEVEL!
However, that is not the end of this story. It's close, but not there yet. As I mentioned earlier, there is a story behind this game's destruction. In an interview with one of the game's creators, it was revealed that this game was rushed in its completion, and therefore several ideas were scrapped. There was to be more animation during certain sequences, story parts between levels, more moves, new (real) enemies, and even a few more levels. However, because of the evil corporations' need of their lifeblood, greenbacks, this all had to be scrapped. Bosses were cut, frames of animation were left unfinished, and some basic chracter designs were finished with shortcuts. A sad story for what should have been one of the SNES's greatest games ever. Oh well. Maybe one day the guys who made this will pick up the pieces and release it as it should have been on the GBA, like they did with DD1. This reviewer can only hope.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/05