Double Dragon II: The Revenge (1988)
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| Promo poster is iconic, but Marian never made any sense to me. |
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| As Willy promptly guns her down in cold blood. |
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| Photograph is dated 7.20.88. |
Arcade was initially released in November 1988, so significance remains unknown.
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| Spectrum Believe it or not, they forgot to call their game Double Dragon II on title screen. |
Amiga port inserts a unique story (edited) which alters continuity.
"Five years ago Marian, the friend of our heroes Billy and Jimmy Lee, was attacked and abducted by the evil Shadow Boss and his henchmen.
You mean Willy?
For years life was happy for the three friends, but unknown to them the twisted mind of the arch-criminal was again at work, this time creating an insidious underground organisation, based on a forgotten black magic art, and driven by an insane desire for revenge on those who put who put an end to his previous empire.....
Finally he struck!
Marian was gunned down in cold blood!!
....Billy and Jimmy know who will pay for this.....
This time...
THEY WILL FINISH THE JOB!!"
So in conclusion, original game takes place in 1984 and Billy and Marian were never lovebirds.
PC (left) and C64¹ (right) kept us up to speed with story between missions.
¹Of course it should be Billy's and who the hell is Marion?
But ending contains a unique alteration.
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| 11.6.89 (as in 11 June). |
I guess date is when devs finished programming game.
Mega Drive (1991)
Palsoft's bastard child (the only 16-bit port to be based directly on arcade) was released only in Japan and featured horrendous slowdown.
NES (1989)
Although sharing arcade's title and having a similar story, content is radically different.
Likely because of the inclusion of co-op play (a feature missing in the original), Jimmy as former end boss is retconned. Instead, we get a nameless martial artist possessing supernatural abilities.
Plot
New York City, 19XX.
In the aftermath of the nuclear war, Billy and Jimmy Lee were brave enough to oppose the violence crime syndicates were spreading on the streets.
One day, Shadow Warriors attacked the city and Billy's girlfriend, Marian, was killed.
Given the size of her chest, no wonder geezer is grinning like a demented pervert.
The Double Dragons swore to avenge her death!
Supreme Master difficulty ending
"It appears our battle is finally over. But, I will leave you with the legend of the Shadow....
'If the illusion spreads, the evil will live again. But if two dragons soar through the sky, an angel will fall to the earth."
"Soon... I will die and you will join me. Farewell Double Dragons. Ha, ha, ha!"
The mysterious warrior died, leaving no clue to what his last words meant.
But, Billy and Jimmy felt their revenge was complete... at least for now...
That night an angel descended from the heavens and returned Marian to the Double Dragons alive and well.
What complete and utter bollocks.
Double Dragon II, Game Boy (1991)
Game is completely unrelated to arcade or NES and was actually a localised version of Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun: Bangai Rantō Hen (1990).
Plot
After the Black Warriors were gone, the streets of N.Y. were very calm.
To train others in martial arts, Billy and Jimmy joined "Scorpions" and in only a few months, they became teachers.
A guy called Anderson didn't like this, so shot Wright² and tried to frame the brothers.
At once, Gordon (who made training hall a good name), gave out orders to get Billy and Jimmy.
²ROM had an unused cut scene showing Anderson murdering Wright, but Nintendo's censorship policies couldn't show shit like that.
For some reason, cover art reuses Double Dragon 3: The Sacred Stones (1990).
Why does Anderson look so much like Fatal Fury's Geese Howard?
Hmmm.
PC Engine Super CD-ROM² (1993)
Naxat Soft's remake of NES version boasted fully voiced anime-esque cut scenes.
Intro gives off strong vibes of Fist of the North Star (1986).
Billy vs Kenshiro
And because they can.
Jimmy vs Geist - M.D. Geist
Apart from original arcade flyer, poses may have been influenced by classic martial arts movie posters.
Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone (1990)
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| Arcade forced players into using real money to buy extra lives and powers from the shop, making this the first example of micro-transactions. |
So now you know.
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| Home computer art was very similar to Nintendo efforts. |
What's this?
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| Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game - Genesis/Mega Drive |
Yeah, artist was batshit.
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| Billy's shoulder pads could've been based on Road Warriors' Animal and Hawk. |
Parallel project The Sacred Stones was similar to arcade, but removed item shops and introduced two additional characters playable once defeated as bosses, namely Chin Seimei and Yagyu Ranzou.
Each character could be switched during gameplay and effectively became 'lives'.
Fun fact.
1990 Neo Geo game Ninja Combat also used the same concept, but you couldn't swap between characters during gameplay.
Anyway.
End boss Princess Noiram is revealed to be Marion under an evil spell.
One more on Game Boy.
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| Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game (1992) |
Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen 'lent' likeness for Jimmy and Billy respectively.
Apart from original arcade flyer, poses may have been influenced by classic martial arts movie posters.
Take a skeg.
L-R: Lionheart aka A.W.O.L. and Wrong Bet, Angel Town and The Big Brawl
Miscellany
The next numbered entry at least was Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls, released for the SNES and Genesis in 1994, and Jaguar in 1995.
One-on-one fighter was based on the animated TV series Double Dragon, which shouldn't be confused with 1994 live-action film or loose Neo Geo adaptation of same name.
So as game obviously isn't a sequel to DD III, what the fuck gives with title?
Leland Interactive Media acted on the presumption that Super Double Dragon (known as Return of Double Dragon "Sleeping Dragon" Has Awoke in Japan) was number 4, but SNES exclusive was only the fourth in the series.
In truth, 1992 game is best described as a reimagining and/or soft remake of original.
So did a Double Dragon IV exist?
Yes, but game was just a bootleg hack of Target Renegade (1990) on NES.
27 years later, we got the real thing.
Double Dragon IV was a direct sequel to the NES version of DD II: The Revenge (oddly not Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones).
It was also the first entry directed by Yoshihisa Kishimoto since the NES era.
Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team (1993)
Beyond providing the licence, Technōs had little or no credited involvement in the production of Rare's crossover beat 'em up, highlighted by engine and design based directly on the Battletoads series.
The Dark Queen is back with another plan to dominate the galaxy and allies herself with the Shadow Warriors.
To even things up, Rash, Zitz and Pimple contact Billy and Jimmy who agree to help.
SNES
Unlike other versions, title screen music rips off Duran Duran's Girls on Film.
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| Billy and Jimmy mean business. |
NES
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| I'm digging Jimmy's green jacket. |
Wait a minute, GREEN?
Mega Drive/Genesis
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| Same as SNES, but expanded. |
Player select
Billy and Jimmy are bizarrely scanned from Jimmy in DD 3: The Arcade Game.
However.
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| NES Brothers switch hairstyles. |
Sou-Setsu-Ken.
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