Raymond (レイモンド Reimondo) is the leader of the Five Emperors and the seventh boss in Double Dragon Advance. He wears a purple outfit and has blond long hair tied up on the back in a ponytail. A master of the forbidden art of Gen-Satsu-Ken, he possesses all the special abilities of his subordinates.
History[]
Raymond is the leader of the Five Emperors, masters of the forbidden martial art of Gen-Satsu-Ken, which employs black arts among its teachings and which has been in conflict with the philosophy of Sou-Setsu-Ken for generations. He and his men were hired by Willy, leader of the Shadow Warriors, to protect his hideout from intruders.
After traversing a cavern, Billy and Jimmy Lee finally reach the entrance to the secret hideout. As they enter the door, a vision appears to them where Raymond and his men challenge them for an ultimate match to see once and for all which of the two fighting styles is superior. The brothers accept the challenge and set on their way to the encounter.
After traversing the trap-filled interior of the building, they reach the Grand Hall and the battle against the Five Emperors begins; first fighting against Wu and Anderson, then against David and Yáng, and finally against Raymond himself.
Even though Raymond and his men possess seemingly unworldly techniques, such as the use of a powerful spinning clothesline, disappearing into a trail of shadows, creating duplicates of themselves, and even entering their own shadows to attack their opponents at will, they are ultimately outmatched by the brothers' superior skills.
As he lies defeated on the ground, Raymond addresses the brothers' worthiness as fighters and tells them he would have liked to meet them under different circumstances. He reveals Willy's location at the hideout's inner chambers and, as he starts saying that they shall meet again, his injuries take the best of him and he dies.
Filled with a renewed rage after witnessing the nonsensical demise of such an honorable warrior, the brothers set forth to stop Willy and rescue Marian once and for all.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- While all members of the Five Emperors borrow traits from the Mysterious Warrior, the main antagonist from the NES version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Raymond is strongly implied to be the Mysterious Warrior himself (or at least his counterpart or successor). Besides using many of the Mysterious Warrior's characteristic moves, such as the spinning clothesline and the ability to become "invisible" (shadow trail), the Mysterious Warrior's theme, "The Fight Continues/Fight of Fate", starts playing when he enters the battle. Furthermore, when he is defeated, the screen briefly turns black and white and the action slows down, just as it did when the Mysterious Warrior was defeated in Double Dragon II.
- Further supporting this theory, Raymond and the PC Engine CD version of the Mysterious Warrior wear very similar garments, consisting on a sleeveless purple costume with shoulder pads (sans the cape from the latter) and both fashioning long hair in a mullet style (although Raymond has his tied in a ponytail on the back).
- Raymond's spinning clothesline move (a technique used by all members of the Five Emperors) is borrowed from the Mysterious Warrior, whereas his ability to disappear into his shadow and attack his opponents while in this form is a technique borrowed from the Double Illusion, the final bosses from the arcade version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
- It is possible that the other Emperors are either Raymond's students or fellow masters of Gen-Satsu-Ken.
- Raymond is named after Hong Kong film producer Raymond Chow, founder of Golden Harvest, a film production company that in the 1970s and 1980s played a major role in introducing Hong Kong films to the Western market, especially those by Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.