Double Dragon (Neo Geo/Arcade/Playstation, 1995)

 

Double Dragon: The Movie: The Game is the first Neo-Geo game I've ever beaten. How is that even possible? Well, it's what the list says. This is an arcade fighting game that I'm long-overdue to take a look at. This game should have gotten a lot more respect from consoles. Hard to believe that the far-inferior Double Dragon V was the fighting game that most consoles got. I played that one on the SNES and it was one of the most mediocre games on the system. Then again, this one might be a little too advanced for the SNES. Outside of the Neo-Geo, as far as systems that people actually had goes... it did get a PS1 release. In Japan. I didn't even know this game existed until a few years ago.

Double Dragon Gaiden (Nintendo Switch, 2023)

 

A new Double Drgn? I didn't even know about this. Double Dragon Neon was pretty good, so maybe this one will be decent too. Couple things concern me about it: The graphic style is iffy and it's touted as a "roguelike" which isn't really what I want from a DD. We'll see how it goes.

Most importantly, it has PLAYABLE MARIAN and she's looking gooooood.

Double Dragon Neon (Lots of systems, 2012)

 

Another retro revival of the series, though more in the vein of Streets of Rage IV in that it's modernized and all the better for it. Modernized or not, it's also 80's (and metal) AF, and a MUCH better usage of your time than Double Dragon 4, despite this launching years earlier. Let's go.

Double Dragon IV (Nintendo Switch, 2017)

 

Super Double Dragon was always regarded by fans as the fourth game in the series but I guess it was never official. I mean, we got a Double Dragon 5 on the SNES. Regardless, they decided to go back to the well and finally fill in this maybe-blank in the series that didn't really need to be filled in. This game is very retro and very hard, and quite frankly wasn't on my radar until recently. Let's give it a run.

Double Dragon: The Movie (1994)

 

What am I doing with my LIIIIIIIIFE

Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls (Super NES, 1994)

The series winds to a not-so-epic conclusion with a terrible fighting game. Well, it isn't really THAT bad, but it certainly isn't what series fans were expecting after the other four games. To make things worse, it barely has any of the iconic characters from the series. Sad thing is, there was another Double Dragon fighting game that DID have characters like Abobo and Chintai, but it was only released in arcades and I've never personally gotten to play it. Too bad the SNES didn't get a port of that one instead of this mediocrity.

Super Double Dragon (Super NES, 1992)

Is this Double Dragon IV? For a long time, yeah, it kinda was. Eventually they went ahead and made an actual 4th game by name, which messes with the lineage of this one a bit. However, considering the one after this on the SNES is called Double Dragon V, I think this game can still stake a claim to being the real fourth.

To further add to the confusion, the Japanese name of this game is Kick Master VI: Revenge of Punch Lord - First Blood II: Like A Biohazard.

Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones (NES, 1990)

This is BY FAR the toughest Double Dragon game. I mean, damn. They really overcorrected after the easier second game. This game is so hard that Nintendo Power's coverage of it is just a high-pitched scream.

Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES, 1989)

This is it, Double Dragon TWO. The Reckoning. Does that make this Quadruple Dragon? .....I'll show myself out.

Double Dragon (NES, 1988)

Time to check out one of the finest beat 'em ups on the NES. This game got the street fighting genre rolling on consoles. Later games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage would refine the formula, beating this series up and stealing its lunch money. For its time, though, Double Dragon was the trendsetter, the prototype. More on those other beat 'em ups at a later date, because right now we're goin' ham on the OG.

Double Dragon (Game Boy, 1990)

Is that two dragons, or one dragon with two heads? Maybe one with a head at each end?