Double Dragon (Neo Geo)

For other uses, see Double Dragon (disambiguation).

Double Dragon is a 1995 one-on-one fighting game spinoff of the Double Dragon series developed and published by Technōs Japan. It is based on the 1994 Double Dragon live-action film, which in turn was based on the original arcade game. It was originally released for the Neo Geo (in AES and MVS formats) and later released for the Neo Geo CD and PlayStation (ported by Urban Plant). It was Technōs Japan's last Double Dragon game before the company went out of business, and the very last game to be compatible for arcades.

Plot[]

Billy and Jimmy, the Lee brothers, received a letter from their martial arts master. They have returned to the city where they were born and raised for the first time in 10 years. However, the city has been transformed into a world of weak meat and strong food dominated by violent organizations. Their purpose was to find and defeat the dark ruler who polluted the city. The Lee brothers were not the only ones who stood up. Some were looking for the ruler of darkness, some to heal the scars of the past, some to rescue their loved ones, and some to their own justice. The fierce men who have been drawn to Bloody Town by invisible power. Their battle was about to begin.

Overview[]

The characters and stages are inspired by the 1994 Double Dragon live-action film (featured prominently in the game's intro). This includes the appearances of a submerged Hollywood, the Dragon Wagon vehicle, Billy and Jimmy's ability to transform themselves and the inclusion of Koga Shuko as the game's final boss. However, the game's characters are depicted in a more anime-like style and only six of the game's twelve fighters are actually featured in the film; Burnov and Duke are from previous Double Dragon games and the rest were created specifically for this game.

Gameplay[]

The game plays like a conventional fighting game of its time - that is, battles are one-on-one and conducted on best two-out-of-three matches. One of the unique aspects of Double Dragon is the lack of specific punch and kick buttons like most fighting games. Instead, there are four attack buttons of varying strength and speed, which can perform punches or kicks depending on the character's position. The player's character and their opponent have a super move meter called the "charge meter", which is overlaid on the character's remaining health. The less health the character has, the quicker it will fill up. "Charge moves" are usually performed by executing the command of a regular special move and pressing two attack buttons simultaneously at the end instead of just one.

Characters[]

There are ten regularly selectable characters in the game and two boss characters, for a total of twelve characters. In the single-player mode, the player competes against all ten of the regular characters (including a clone of their own) before facing against Duke and Shuko in the game's last two matches. The first opponent can be chosen by the player.

In the home versions, both Duke and Shuko are playable by entering a secret code.

• Billy Lee (voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa)
  The younger Lee brother, Billy is a master of the Sousetsuken martial arts style, a combination of numerous martial arts learned by Billy and his brother, Jimmy. Billy has blond hair and wears a blue and red casual outfit in his default form, with his alternate color palette being navy and orange. In his transformed form, he wears a blue martial arts gi, with his alternate color palette being teal. Billy has faster attacks than his brother, Jimmy. He was the first player's character in the original Double Dragon, although his character design and ability to transform is taken from the film.
• Jimmy Lee (voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa)
  The elder Lee brother. Jimmy has brown hair and wears an orange and black outfit in his default form, with his alternate color palette being gold and dark blue. He wears a red martial arts gi in his transformed form, with his alternate color palette being orange. He has a second alternate color palette being dark gray and violet from his default form and his martial arts gi being green. Jimmy has stronger attacks than his brother, Billy. He was the second player's character in the original Double Dragon. Like Billy, his design and transformation ability is based on his film counterpart.
• Marian Delario (voiced by Yuka Koyama)
  A childhood friend of the Lee brothers and female gang leader at Bloody Town. Fights using a street fighting style with techniques based on figure skating. Marian was the damsel in distress of the earlier Double Dragon games, although her depiction as a gang leader was based on the film as well.
• Bo Abobo (voiced by Daisuke Gōri)
  A former pro-wrestler from New York who works for Shuko. Abobo was the first stage boss in the original Double Dragon. In one of his super moves, he briefly turns into a bloated freak similar to the mutation he undergoes in the Double Dragon film.
• Burnov (voiced by Daisuke Gōri)
  An obese pro-wrestler from Detroit feared as the "human bomb". He has a rivalry with Abobo. Burnov was the first stage boss in Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
• Amon (voiced by Kaneto Shiozawa)
  A master of the fictional ninjutsu form of "Ryuganinpoh". He looks for the whereabouts of his missing family and believes Shuko might know something. His design is based on the Yagyu Ranzou character from Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone.
• Patrick Dulton (voiced by Yusaku Yara)
  A street brawler from Italy who is looking to take down Shuko.
• Rebecca Brielle (voiced by Keiko Han)
  A tonfa-wielding female martial artist from Holland. She was once romantically involved with a man named Eric, who turned out to be a spy for Shuko, and now seeks to get revenge.
• Eddie Jenkins (voiced by Yukimasa Kishino)
  A kickboxer from Venezuela who trains Shuko's henchmen.
• Cheng-Fu (voiced by Hisao Egawa)
  A master of the "Drunken Fist" from Hong Kong.
• Duke (voiced by Hisao Egawa)
  Shuko's bodyguard and the last opponent before fighting Shuko himself. A master of the assassination style "Moukohisouken" from San Francisco. Duke was the final boss in the Super NES game Super Double Dragon.
• Koga Shuko (voiced by Osamu Saka)
  The final boss, Shuko is the evil dictator of Bloody Town. A powerful master of kobujutsu and ninpō. Shuko was the main antagonist in the Double Dragon film.

Credits[]

• Voice: Miyako Endo (Narration), Hikaru Midorikawa (Billy), Kaneto Shiozawa (Jimmy and Amon), Yuka Koyama (Marian), Daisuke Gōri (Abobo and Burnov), Yukimasa Kishino (Eddie), Keiko Han (Rebecca), Yusaku Yara (Dalton), Hisao Egawa (Cheng-Fu and Duke), and Osamu Saka (Shuko)
• Boss: Kunio Taki
• Leader: Kazuyuki Kurata
• Planner: Muneki Ebinuma and Minoru Yamaguchi
• Aoni Production: Yasuaki Sumi
• Program: Tadamichi Obinata, Naoki Kashiwabara, Shinji Hirao, and Yasuhiro Matsumoto
• Graphic: Hideki Hoshiya, Seiichiro Ishiguro, Takumi Ishikawa, Satoshi Kazato, Takahide Koizumi, Chihiro Kushibe, Akiko Maruyama, Kazumi Minagawa, Katsuhiro Nakamura, Koji Ogata, Kazutaka Ōhashi, Fujimi Ōnishi, Takeyoshi Suzuki, and Kōji Yamada
• Illustration: Tsuguyuki Kubo
• Sound Program & Tools: Robert C. Ashworth
• Composer: Chiaki Iizuka, Kiyomi Kataoka, Fumio Suzuki, and Reiko Uehara,
• Sound Effects: Taku Urabe (as Taku)
• Guitar: Osamu Sakai
• Sound Produce (Neo Geo CD): Akira Horie
• Guitar (Neo Geo CD): Keizo Numata
• Genic: Keinosuke Akichi, Akira Kitsuno, and Norihiko Yonesaka
• Espo Corp.: Daisuke Hatakeyama, Seiji Kawakatsu, and Kei Tamura
• Madhouse: Yuji Takae
• J.C. Staff: Eiichi Endō, Tomoko Kawasaki, and Nobuko Ogino
• Special Thanks: Teruo Ichimura, Kouji Matsuyama, Kensuke Nishi, Makoto Shigenobu, Toshiaki Tsugane, Yukiko Yamashita, and S. Yasuraoka (as Yasuraoka Special)

PlayStation credits[]

• Director: Koji Kai and Tabo
• Producer: Technōs Japan Corp.
• Programmers: H. Abe, T. Kondo, and M. Takahashi
• Assistant Programmers: Takeshi Hosono, Takahiro Takenouchi, and Hiroe Tsuchida
• Graphic Designers: T. Maruyama, Haruyuki Watanabe
• Assistant Graphic Designers: K. Malta, Toru Tsuboya, Tetsuya Wahira
• Game Designers: D. Canada, Kemomo, and T. Kurata
• Special Thanks: BMG Victor Inc., Imperial Entertainment, F. Sofue, and S. Yasuraoka

Reception[]

Double Dragon obtained a mixed reception from critics on Neo Geo, Neo Geo CD, and Playstation.

On April 15, 1995, Japanese publication Game Machine ranked Double Dragon for Neo Geo at #13 in their "Best Hit Games 25" with a score of 6.27 out of 10.^[1] with Famitsu citing the CD version selling over 3,851 copies within its first week on the market.

German magazine Mega Fun reviewed the AES iteration, praising the game's graphics, technical speed, zoom effects, and appealing selection of fighters. With a score of 69%, Stefan Hellert wrote, "Despite all the positive approaches, Double Dragon still falls short of the NG showpiece brawling games and is only really indispensable for real fans."^[2] Play Time (DE) April issue gave the arcade 73%, with Ul Schneider highlighting the zoom effects, impressive backgrounds, and special moves.^[3] Christophe Delpierre of French publication Player One rewarded the title with an overall 80%, applauding its accomplished graphics, decomposition of movements, fitting music and voices, and special moves. ^[4] GamePro's July issue scored Double Dragon with 2.5 out of 5, commending the controls, special moves, and zooming effects while calling it an average game with subdued graphics, a silly announcer, and goofy characters.^[5]

Bruno Sol of Superjuegos covered the Neo Geo CD version of Double Dragon on August 1995,^[6] rewarding it with a high score of 92%.^[7] For his assessment, Sol said, "If last month SNK surprised us all with a masterpiece like FATAL FURY 3, Technos returns the ball with its debut feature, the reunion of the legendary DOUBLE DRAGON saga. After some really unfortunate episodes like DOUBLE DRAGON V, Billy and Jimmy get back on the right path. A more than recommended, essential title." Ação Games of Brazil also gave the CD title huge praise with their 4.5 out of 5 rating. The reviewer states, "The sound and visuals are stunning, including zoom in and out effects in fights. The slow access to the screens is compensated by the beautiful scenery and the very good definition of the graphics."^[8] On December 2, 1995, Victor Lucas of The Electric Playground (now EP Daily) gave Double Dragon a rating of 8.5 of 10. In his quick review, Lucas summarized, "Imagine my surprise! I was expecting a remake of a fighter long past it's prime, what I got was a wholly entertaining, immediately accessible, quite brilliant, two player festival of punishment. The people at Technos really got it together for this one, which raises the level of the Double Dragon legacy forever."^[9]

On June 1996, Marc Menier and Gia To reviewed the Playstation port for Consoles + (FR), scoring it high with 91% for its visual presentation, audio design, longevity and playability. ^[10] Computer and Video Games from the UK were far less impressed on the port, with Ed Lomas giving it 1 point of 5 for its overall poor execution and terribly flat use of the Tiny 3D mode.^[11] One month later, Por Lord Mathias rated the title 3.8 points out of 5 for SuperGamePower (BR). Mathias complimented the easy combo system and well-rounded fighters, although he did cite the game's slow movements.^[12]

Soundtrack[]

Main article: Double Dragon (Neo Geo soundtrack)

The soundtrack for the game was released by Pony Canyon on March 17, 1995. It contains the game's original music recorded from the actual Neo Geo hardware with no arranged tracks. The soundtrack was composed and performed by VÄVID.

Trivia[]

• The game is dedicated to Kaneto Shiozawa, who died in 2000, and Daisuke Gōri, who died in 2010.
• Jimmy's overall appearance in the game is based on Mark Dacascos, who portrayed his counterpart in the 1994 live-action film.
  • Both also share their orange color scheme from both, his main outfit, as well as from their transformed state.
  • His basic attacks are also taken from his film counterpart where Billy is forced to fight him in a brainwashed state before being freed.
• Both Billy and Jimmy's gi in their transformed state had minor changes. They now have gold trimmings within their gi, as well as their matching wristbands, and wear brown boots with the same color laces as their gi which are now tucked inside their pants, instead of the black shoes worn by their film counterparts.
• In one of the characters' match victory voice lines, Rebecca, Abubo, Burnov, Eddie and Shuko's speak in Japanese in the Japanese version, while in the Western version, they speak in English. The only exceptions are Marian and Duke, who only speak in English in both versions. Billy, Jimmy, Amon and Cheng-Fu only speak in Japanese, while Dulton only has grunts.

See also[]

• Rage of the Dragons - A game initially intended to be the sequel of this title.
• Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer - Technōs Japan's other Neo Geo one-on-one fighting game.

References[]

External links[]

Double Dragon at the SNK Wiki Double Dragon (Neo Geo) at Double Dragon Dojo Double Dragon (PlayStation) at Double Dragon Dojo Double Dragon at Moby Games Double Dragon at Gaming History

Double Dragon at Killer List of Video Games Double Dragon at GameFAQs Double Dragon (Neo Geo) at Strategy wiki Double Dragon (Neo Geo) at Hardcore Gaming 101 Double Dragon (Neo Geo) at The Cutting Room Floor