Double Dragon: The Complete History - SGR

first off let me just say I'm a tad biased towards one particular side-scrolling be tonight but I have covered that to death on my channel in fact it's my most popular video and let's face it other games aren't dulled an axon alien storm have also just had as much love from me now as a kid it wasn't Streets of Rage that grabs my attention originally in fact there was another game that I was very very much into before I even got my Mega Drive and that game was renegade but not for long because shortly after when the new kids on the block turned up with this newfangled machine there was one game that we played over and over and over and over and over again you know what's great about retro gaming now that I'm a grown-up the ability to check out the games you grew up with to then discover that you just scratch the tip of the iceberg with that particular memory double dragon for the mosque system is far from the only game in the series and even further from being the best spoiler alert I had a kick-ass time making this video so join me as I venture down the dragon hull with Billy and Jimmy Lee to save that girl that's always getting punched in the gut as we look into the complete history of Double Dragon welcome to slopes game room welcome to the arcades of the 80s a place that just feels a little more lonely without this game show high in the ketsu cool kunio-kun well this game was actually made by yoshihisa kishimoto who had been with the company Technos for literally four months up to this point and well you know the score we're in fact getting a little ahead of ourselves so let's go back to the beginning he started life working as a designer at data East in the early 80s straight from school in the laserdisc Department games such as dragon there were all the rage in the arcades a young kashimoto worked on both Cobra command also known as thunderstorm and Road blaster also known as Road Avenger in other words if you had one of these then there is a 99.9% chance that you owned one of his games that's where Technos came in it was time for yoshihisa to move on and he was headhunted by the company to work on these flashy FMV type games but for them so he went to the interview and so I just said no instead of taking him up on their offer he had something else in mind a game based on himself you see back in his early school days mr. kishimoto remembers getting into fights every single day mainly due to a rough breakup even goes on record to say that there were family reasons as well but there was a girl and she dumped me which pulled the trigger he pitched this idea of himself in the interview and spiced it up a bit by mixing in a bit of love of his favorite film of the time Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon now for anyone out there that has not seen this movie I demand you pause this video right now and go and watch it if you haven't anyway slightly longer story short they accepted his idea and Enter the Dragon slash retrospective look at his bug ish youth game and the single-player experience show high in the ketsu ku whole kunio-kun was released and if it looks familiar which it should well that's probably because when it was translated for European and American audiences it was named renegade slightly changed and looks more like the 1979 movie warriors rather than Enter the Dragon and it became probably my first truly loved 2d beat him up now about going into the series too much and it may possibly end up as his own complete history video in the future and could possibly be even longer than this video the kunio-kun games or renegade whatever you want to call him one massive well they were massive in Japan and sadly they received sort of okay just sort of good reviews everywhere else in fact renegade playing back now San Lee isn't the great game that my younger self thought it was but the original game in Japan resulted in a crazy amount of sequels and spin-offs however for this story we'll just be mentioning this version the arcade original released in 1986 the game was so popular that it wasn't long before the request for a sequel was put forward hmmm what could he improve the first obvious idea was the game to become a two-player game cuz you know two players twice the earning for arcade owners but there was one more condition put in place by teknoaxe and that was to make the game more appealing to a Western audience and with his love of Bruce Lee's into the Dragon which you've all seen now right yep good good well from his love of that international hit of a movie still fresh in his mind Double Dragon was born even is the sort of but not really sequel to this double dragon a tried and tested formula with better graphics gameplay and mechanics made to appeal to a worldwide audience resulting in pure 80s nostalgia something that his first game was not able to pull off no matter how street buggy the characters looked on the Box are the game appeared in the right place and at the right time it's just enough elements of new involved to make it its own thing for instance rather than starting and playing the game there was a whole story well as much of a story as this bad guy punches go in the stomach kidnaps eff and you guys hammer and spike are the two brothers that are here to save the day you got your three main buttons punch kick and jump which can be fine to help you traverse all the levels to savor one of the fondest memories I have of the game is screaming at the second player to stop getting in my way as I accidentally kick them in the face or vice versa something that although frustrating at the time pointing the seed of one of the most fondest gaming memories of all time however nothing is more nostalgia ducing for me than the last level yet fight the final boss and all of a sudden nothing what are you supposed to do well you quickly find out that menage tois is off the table probably because your brothers and instead a fight to the death until you are literally the last man standing to get yourself a kiss and a bit of ass from the damsel in distress the end so it's pretty safe to say I've gone back and played the game and it was great I suppose we should probably look at the other ports and other than the Master System version the game also came out on the Atari ST Amiga IBM PC AM show T PC is NX Spectrum Commodore 64 MSX Atari 2600 Atari 7800 the Genesis Lynx on your mobile Xbox 360 Windows iOS Android and how can we forget the greatest console and most underrated console all time the Ouya only joking it's crap I'm not going to cover every single version it will be here all day if you want an in-depth look I suggest going to check out the let's compare series from gaming history source not just for Double Dragon 1 but all of them but until then let me just point out a few worth mentioning the version I played on the mast system is actually quite a damn fine port of that original arcade game and you'll be surprised to hear that the classic nez port which is what most people would likely remember actually changes from the arcade quite a bit it's got far more platforming and this far closer to the original kunio-kun games and although the mass system game featured the classic two-player co-op option on the nez they've sadly gone for the tape turns option similar to games like Super Mario Brothers but hey you do get a one-on-one fighting game which is actually quite a nice touch the levels start off the same as the arcade version but however changed drastically most of the time and strangely enough the gamers sort of RPG elements added basically you start with a punch a kick and a headbutt perform these moves and you get experience which then changes to hearts this gives you the ability to do roundhouse kicks and uppercuts a very strange turnaround for the series in my opinion but looking back I actually really really like it if there's a nice varied version of the game you also have the immensely popular gameboy version this one is sort of a mix between the changed up version on the nez and that original arcade game the levels feel a lot more neighs with a few slight variations on the design but the RPG elements are now missing there is deaf fund 1/2 of this version in my opinion it stands on its own two feet compared to the obviously far superior mass system and nez version but for now let's end on this the Atari 2600 version yeah gone laughs away even though they all look like they've got boners this is actually a damn impressive game for the system and with that I think we've covered the first game enough so moving on so it's established you are forced to be reckoned with you save the girl nobody punching your girl in the gun gets away with it right well what about being shot several times instead oh yes they've gone and done it this time hence the name dv2 only has absolutely kick-ass cover art but also in my opinion is an all-round better game sure you still with your typical go right and beat up bad guys over four stages it just doesn't add will refine this time although a lot of people think that the game is possibly too similar to the original and if that's the case you'll not be surprised to hear that the game was planned to literally just be an upgrade of the original before it became his own arcade board entirely the graphics are slightly improved I adore the classic music and although the controls which have really changed to assign buttons for hitting bad guys in front and behind you take a little getting used to in all honesty it doesn't affect the game badly at all it's just well it's different just like the last time after beating up the Batman forever looking bad guys you go up against this cyborg looking boss who has seen shooting your ladyfriend at the beginning kill him and well for anyone that has played the game before you'll notice there it has a far more futuristic robot feel about it and this continues as the light gets darker eerie sounds news out of the arcade cabinet a shadow creeps from your character sprite and you end up going against a spooky purple version of yourself defeat and yourself and the end god I love that mullet obviously endless amounts of ports were made for the game from the crappy ZX Spectrum 48k version of the game to the Japan exclusive Mega Drive version by powersoft this version is just okay they tried to emulate the arcade as best they could but obviously with the Mega Drive not being as powerful was the arcade is sadly results in quite a lot of slowdown and obviously reduced graphics it's still great fun to play then it'd be wrong it's just not as good as the game is copying plus considering this game is a crazy rarity now just begs the question why would you bother the Ness port however is a tad better and this time has that two-player co-op option what makes this game stand out and weirdly something I didn't pick up on as a kid is the jump between different styles of side-scrolling you obviously have the standard side-scrolling like this where you can go up and down on the playing field but you also have this sort of Zelda to gameplay style here which forces you to get up close and personal to the enemy it all makes the game bloody hard and similar to games like a supposed to Novi in the platforming department which sadly do not work too well in this instance a lot of time it's just more frustrating than anything else and again without going into every single port all end on the pc engine version if that doesn't get you going well why are you watching this video double dragon just isn't for you animated cutscenes give you an in-depth look at the story the actual game players also had a bit of an upgrade over the arcade version as this game actually has nine missions in the game making it feel like a far more complete experience the arcade game is good but in my opinion the ultimate version of the game is this one and Double Dragon Suites from a flame keeps coming obviously Double Dragon free the Rosetta Stone came out a couple of years later and well looking at the original flyer alone it will hopefully give you an idea and just how much they change the theme of the game for this one it may look like it has better graphics but honestly I much prefer thee to earlier games as this one is choppy as hell you got a few new moves at your disposal like the knee drop or flying head bar and this sort of backflip move however everything else is missing obviously you've got the standard punch kick and jump but gone is your roundhouse kick gun is the backwards spin kick and gun is your beloved backward elbow well sort of gone anyway you can buy the spin kick along with a few other moves at the beginning of the level if you want how weird is that and by the way the same goes for the weapons used to pick them up throughout the game well now you buy them I think it's best to not look at the fact that this is a Double Dragon game and instead let's try and look at its own game because let's face it it's obvious the previous two games are far better the dreaded bird game syndrome overall it is quite a weird game about collecting these Rosetta Stone's and then you've got a go to Egypt to fight the ultimate bad guy there is fun to have if you look for it but honestly just pick up one of the earlier ones however if you really do need some double dragon free action then you probably want to play this version why well for the first time in the series the game was actually released in North America first and the Japanese version was made afterwards this ended up resulting in a few things being changed most notably the fact that the in-game shop is now gone and you have full access to all of the characters and moves throughout the game sadly it's still not as good as its older brother and sister but at least now it's a far more enjoyable experience as you would expect and I really hope you don't remember several ports of that average arcade game came out and well honestly they mostly play like crap we've probably the best port being on the Mega Drive but honestly even that is the best of a bad bunch a dark time for the Double Dragon franchise that is other than this port for the nest what well that's because Technos never made the arcade game or any of the other pause except but this one and thankfully the result is far better Double Dragon free the Sacred Stones as it was known to Europe and American audiences is by far the best version of the game now hold up hold up please understand that this is just my opinion I understand I'm majorly in the minority for creating a video about Double Dragon free and literally just not crapping all over it this is a widely hated online by other youtubers game but I would be lying if I didn't tell you I actually had quite a lot of fun playing this one firstly the classic Double Dragon theme or at least a remix of the theme welcomes you as you load up the game giving you the impression of this being a true sequel to the classics before it you got two or three extra characters playable from the arcade in this version and whilst on the screen how could I not mention this the hilarious the infamous misspelling of Billy good quality control there guys your moves our back the controls feel almost the same and no longer do you need to go to the shops to buy them if you enjoy Double Dragon 1 or Double Dragon 2 for the nez then you're probably gonna be surprised to find out this game is actually not that bad considering the unwarranted hate it gets online if that said it's far from the best but it's even further from the worst so with their heads in their hands double dragon free in the arcades almost kills the franchise well not really but it didn't leave a sour taste in the mouth to all have been looking forward to it but only one year later in 1992 tip nose return for the sneeze exclusive and more I add a must-own super double dragon also known as the return of Double Dragon in Japan now this is a bit of a strange entry if you ask me it's fast lower than the original trilogy but allows for far more technical feeling fighting game the pad games like Streets of Rage Turtles Golden Axe or final fight would allow for personally I do prefer all of those games but that doesn't make this one bad you've got this power gauge that once you fill up can be used to perform special moves which takes out your enemies depending on how high it is a few extra moves have been added the storyline is classic Double Dragon it has seven stages making it feel like a more complete game and although the controls are not perfect double dragon feel it's really nice to see a game for the series that isn't a port of something else and as a result you end up having something quite unique for the series however what wasn't good for the series was the Game Gear game Double Dragon The Revenge of billing Li again this one was not made by Technos but instead it was made by verging now verging a reputable company especially on Sega consoles and if you're going to take anything away you can't deny that this game looks bloody awesome for the system stunning in fact but it feels and to be fair it plays nothing like those original games sure the typical side-scrolling beat'em up per se but come on in this game you actually get a gun how weird is that anyway firearms aside it just plays quite badly just well don't bother with this one now whilst all this was going on one very popular crossover game was also released and sort of came out of nowhere for listeners Genesis Nez and the Gameboy Battletoads Double Dragon this game is actually not the Double Dragon game it's more of a single two Battletoads because this one was made by the brilliant rare with no involvement from tech knows the game is sadly just an OK game in my opinion it's far from the best Double Dragon game that's for sure it's not a bad game of the nest probably being my personal favorite as it pushes the system limits but gameplay wise the game is just really really hard probably too hard to find overly enjoyable in my opinion so moving on and back to their roots we finally get Double Dragon 5 now before looking at this one let me just explain a few things Double Dragon by this point was seriously all the rage you got action figures you got a Saturday morning TV show you've got comics LCP games and you've even got a movie all of these are actually pretty crap but because they kept making them along with the games people kept buying them and it's because of this games like Double Dragon wouldn't it be squeezed out the arse of any game developer that would take the bait yep sadly the guys that made those original games over at Tech knows sadly had nothing to do with this 16-bit game Double Dragon 5 by Leyland Interactive Media is utter pants it sucks instead of following on from the games which to be fair were all over the place story wise beforehand dd5 is sadly based on the mediocre cartoon show and as you can see it's not even a side-scrolling beat'em up now I know this has been done fairly successfully in the past with other games in the genre like Golden Axe jewel but in this case it just feels really really bad overall I just wouldn't bother with this crap copy of a well I'll let you work that out now I don't go looking for games like this and they don't really entertain me but if you ask me it's one of the worst one-on-one fighting games I've personally played so what's next another one-on-one fighting game that's what the nineties bloody love these games and this one is very much a typical Neo Geo style game for obviously the Neo Geo and also the original PlayStation now even with my vague knowledge of one-on-one fighting games I know what I like and I like this it feels far more complete maybe that's because it was made by Technos and published by SNK in 1995 when you put up the game it really actually shows a clip from the movie and even features some of the classic character designs based on the movie rather than in the game the music is great and the gameplay is well exactly what you would expect it plays fine and really if you ask me is a great dog version for the franchise sledge gameroom likes this one yet another double dragon fighting game also exists the brilliant rage of the Dragons again for the Neo Geo which basically is a better version of the previously mentioned game although I will say that although it may look like an official sequel to Double Dragon the developer was unable to get the rights to the franchise in time and therefore the two brothers are instead now called Billy and Jimmy Lewis now other than the albeit pretty Game Boy Advance remake with not so good gameplay due to the overly zoomed in screen the iOS remake that if played on controller actually ends up being quite a good game but this itself is also a remake it's a remake for Double Dragon on the Zeebo yep the Zeebo a console that was only really marketed in places like Mexico China India and Brazil but don't worry if you feel like you're missing out just go get that iOS version it's actually quite a good version of the game probably not worth going out of your way for but all-in-all is surprisingly good but that's enough a remakes and ports of that original game what we really want is a proper new Double Dragon game this has had some incredible highs and to megalo so far as well as some crappy let's face it marketing in other mediums the franchise really needed a good facelift and thankfully it got it if you ask me is all because of one particular game company wrote it if your franchise is going down the drain let these guys have a look at fixing it you are almost guaranteed a brilliant game which will be demonstrated perfectly with what could possibly be my favorite game in the series Double Dragon neon and that is all you needed classic double dragon story in a new setting made for new audiences and best of all done really well Double Dragon neon is the one game that if you have never played any in this series and only have time for one then go for either this one or this one now that again might be slightly unpopular opinion as this game brings back the shop and basically requires you to grind away over and over and over to buy new moves and upgrades the reason I like it though so much is because I get to play the game on loop and thankfully it's a really good game there's a far more technical game to buying all these extra moves and new ways of playing becomes a requirement towards the end of the game your latest method might not work but hey it's all good because you get to grind your way through early levels to try a different way of playing on top of this the new art style the over-the-top eighties humor molds together to give you something truly special in my opinion an absolute high point for the series which was sadly followed by the 2013 Xbox 360 exclusive Double Dragon 2 wonder of the Dragons oh boy would you look at this Pro Jared said it best the worst thing to happen to Double Dragon and you know what I agree you could possibly forgive the graphics of this Xbox Live Arcade game but the controls are abysmal not just the fighting but also simply just moving around the screen it's quite hard to explain but doing something as simple as turning around now requires you to sort of do this double flick you see the first one just makes you move backwards slightly something you don't want happening when you're sandwiched between two bad guys this is just an awful game and it's often cited as the worst side-scrolling beat-em-up ever made weirdly it does remind me of the belt sir for the PlayStation 2 and on a side note if you do what a good side scrolling beat him up go check that game out however for this it is the last and sadly the worst Double Dragon game so bah well talk about thumpy right double dragon is without a del of fully remembered franchise that although may have had a few down points in its life mostly due to the crazy amount god-awful ports of the original few games has pretty much always come out on top and with a fair few cameos from Billy SOI billy and jimmy lee in other games such as super spike people on the nares and WWF superstars in the arcades it's obvious that the franchise is most importantly left an overwhelmingly lasting impression on the videogame industry as a whole so with that I think it's about time I invited old friend over sit on the sofa grab some beers and we get seriously old screw up in here with some of the best and most classic two-player co-op side-scrolling beat'em ups out there Double Dragon hey guys thanks for checking out my video if you want to check out some more my videos click the links that you see at the top of the screen if you haven't already please rate favorite comment and subscribe and if you want to support the show down a little bit extra come check me out over on patreon this is DJ slope signing out and hopefully I'll see you all next time

Channel: Slope's Game Room

Views: 356,878

Keywords: slopes game room, dj slope, SGR, Review, the complete history, daniel ibbertson, slopes gaming room, franchise, double dragon, double dragon 2 the revenge, double dragon 3, retrospective, overview, the rosetta stones, the sacred stones, double dragon neon, game boy, return of double dragon, jimmy lee, billy lee, Wander of the Dragons, Battletoads & Double Dragon, Rage of the Dragons, Abobo's Big Adventure, Animated Series, movie, The Revenge of Billy Lee

Id: iK2lBwI-9bs

Length: 29min 50sec (1790 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 02 2016