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A legendary series like Double Dragon deserved better. Virgin Games somehow managed to take a fan favorite and make it almost unplayable. With all the versions out there, the Game Gear port should have been one of the best. Instead, it’s a farmed-out mess of a game. Stick with other versions… any other versions.
Genre: Beat-‘Em-Up Developer: LeLand Interactive Media Publisher: Tradewest Players: 1-2 Released: 1994 What’s the best way to ruin one of the most legendary names in the beat-’em-up genre and effectively derail an entire series? Six words: Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls. Now, I had never played this game until a couple of months ago. When I was a kid […]
See, I knew that if we looked hard enough we’d find a Double Dragon game on the Genesis that’s worth playing. It took the addition of the three Battletoads, but I think we might have a winner here. Tradewest’s aptly named Battletoads & Double Dragon pits the three action-loving amphibians and Billy and Jimmy Lee against the powerful team of the Dark Queen and the Shadow Boss.
While NES owners were relishing the awesome experience that was Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Genesis gamers were left wondering why they never got to play Technos’ long-awaited sequel. It turns out that the localization gods were looking out for us, and The Mega Drive port just plain stunk. The NES version was an incredible adaptation that made the most of the hardware, while the Pal Soft translation went out of its way to do everything wrong.
Double Dragon has been around in one form or another since it exploded onto the arcade scene in 1987, producing innumerable immitators. As time wore on, however, Technos went in all different directions with the franchise, even going so far as to team Billy and Jimmy with the Battletoads! While none of the games released over the years have been particularly bad, some have definitely been lacking. Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game is probably one of the worst offenders, and many consider it to be the dark horse of the franchise. But is it really so bad?