Man, I wish I'd had that as a kid! I was happy with the NES, but I always knew there was more out there. I didn't get anything sega until I was almost a teenager, sadly 😔
Is was better than the nes, but nowhere as good as the arcade. I have 8 ports on my emulation station and the closest one to the arcade is the commodore Amiga 500. And even it is not exact.
Out of all the home ports, I found the Sega Genesis version to be the best. Unfortunately it suffers from horrible sound effects but is still very fun.
@@pbabiesinspace6112This - not sure what the original person is smoking, it's definitely NOT a 1:1 port of the arcade, for one, the sprites are still about the same size as the NES (though there are more onscreen enemies IIRC) which means they're considerably smaller than the sprites in the arcade, for another thing they changed Billy's punch and one hit of the punch button triggers a rapid fire flurry of punches that tends to push enemies away from you (not sure what their rationale was for this). NES Double Dragon feels closer to the arcade in the controls/physics department. Also the music/sound effects of the SMS version are grating and sound like something out of an Atari 5200 game or something.
Nice review. I played Double Dragon on the Sega Master System back in the day. Always loved this game. Your channel has lots of potential. You deserve a lot more subscribers. Keep up the great work.
Really is a shame that the quality control in Technos was so lax- DD feels like it could've been so much moe than it started as... one hopes that it's current stewards in Arc System Works can bring them to a new level. Releasing the collections and re-releasing the GBA and SNES games digitally is at least a step in the right directions.
One of my favorite arcade games back in the day, I used to burn through quarters and still never reached the ending. I absolutely loved the NES version as well, it was a big upgrade from the developers previous game Renegade.
I rented Renegade back then and it definitely laid the groundwork for Double Dragon, but you're right, it did have a very different style.@@SayItIsntJoe
It might be shocking to learn that as buggy and primitive as the NES version was, it had a more stable frame rate than the arcade original. As a result, I look upon the subsequent beat-em ups by Capcom, Konami, Sega, and even Technos much more fondly because it's more comfortable to lose to timing problems on my end rather than the game effectively playing around with the clock. Also, the NES port actually had more content than the arcade version, though it's a matter of opinion as to whether the platforming sections are a beneficial add-on. Personally, I think the NES port ended up being superior in the end.
That's awesome to know! I played a lot of arcade games as a kid, but I never really learned much about them and the tech behind them. I was just told basically "the arcades were better because the hardware was geared toward them", but I love learning when I'm wrong!
Loved this game and the sequels as a kid! So much fun. I played it so many times, and the soundtrack is ingrained in my brain. I love the music. I have to beat this game one of these days! Great video.
Haha fair point, I'm not terribly animated about these games in my reviews, I'll work on that - I really do enjoy them, I'm just a bit low key about it
I own the arcade cab to Double Dragon. That was my first experience with the game intil I played the Master System one which I really enjoyed. The NES one. No I didnt enjoy it as a kid, lol. Now though. I changed my mind since a friend of mine said to give it more of a chance so I picked it up at a convention and he was right. It was fun to play since it had a bit of an RPG side to unlock more moves. Great video btw Joe 👍.
One of the few beat em ups that continues to this day. Newest being Double Dragon Gaiden and countless fan made versions. You don't see that with Bad Dudes or many of the others.
Never played it in the arcade, never had a nes and certainly never cool enough to have the Tiger Electronic handheld .. but my best mate did and that's the one DD I'm familiar with and loved 😅
lol @ the Tiger handheld. I asked my mom for Double Dragon for NES for Christmas the year it came out and I ended up finding the Tiger handheld under the tree instead. I was pissed.
I'm always open to suggestions, so I absolutely can! You can always recommend a game in the community section too, and I'll add it to the list (well... as long as its within reason). Thank you!
Yeah the programers wanted to recreate that fight for Marion which left alot players so salty. CastleCrashers took this gimmick as the heroes duel to be the one who gets a kiss from the princess when they rescue them.
The damn spikes in the tunnel is stage 3 would always screw me and get stuck on that part in the NES game. Just getting to stage 4 seemed like a damn miracle. I beat the Gameboy version which was slow as molasses's but the core game still the same.
i had the master system version and the nes version looks weird to me. there are levels there that i don't remember 🤔 i think the master system version doesn't have those caves. it's city -> industrial complex -> forest -> evil lair area
$14 for this gem. Imma have to pick it up. Streets of rage 2 would be a good game to play if you ever do sega. Great video as always. Can't wait to own it soonish
It's not that hard once you do a bunch of runs, it's like a lot of these games where 90 percent of it is knowing what's coming, and 10 percent is the odds being in your favor. But grinding that hard just to say you did it isn't as satisfying as having some big story ending, that's the part that kinda threw me
You saw my gray hair, I'm in the club! But since that typo didn't happen until DD3 I thought I should avoid making the joke.. lesson learned!@@claudiasolomon1123
I never gave this version a chance to be honest. I refused to play a one player double dragon. I was able to get the master system version and the genesis version as well. The funny thing is the Atari 7800 version of the game is even two players. So glad I have the arcade version of double dragon and double dragon2 on ps4.
there's actually a patch that adds a 2 player mode for the main game, I've tried playing it on a real NES and it actually works, but even without that hack I still prefer the NES version because the gameplay is so much better, the fighting in the SMS just doesn't feel right cause the stun frames are so short
Double Dragon holds up 30% of the time. The first biggest mistake was porting the whole trilogy to 8-bit consoles, because they are too graphically and mechanically scaled-down. (The trilogy is more cut-out for 16-bit, especially the NEO•GEO) The second biggest mistake was attempting to make the franchise world famous by giving the rights to cash-grabbing US developers who do not care to understand Billy and Jimmy as two Bruce Lee-like twins. The third biggest mistake was making generic comic books, a cheesy cartoon and a live-action flop of Double Dragon. What the franchise truly needed were mangas, animes and OVAs that are 100% faithful to the games that actually have far better plots (yes, the Double Dragon games all have fleshed-out stories).
If that's true, I stand corrected- I never got to play the arcade much, so I definitely didn't get to the ending. Had to trust what I read about it for this video
Sorry but this was just not a good review. Heck, you didn't even know Willy's name (the machine gun guy, as you called him) and barely discussed any details of the gameplay itself past generic info. But I will say that you have a HECK of an amazing voice. You should really consider getting into radio. You would likely be very successful.
Well, I appreciate the feedback. I did know Willy's name, but since most people who play won't know that unless they read the manual (I made a point about that) I went with machine gun guy, which I think most people would get. And I dunno how much extra there is to say about the gameplay, but I'll keep it in mind next time.
I don't think that highly of the double dragon games on NES, especially the first on due to it's god awful platforming sessions. This drags this game's quality down massively in my eyes. The tanklike controls of double dragon make these jumps something the Lee brothers have no business needing to do.(You could effortlessly do these parts as Megaman or Mario.) I don't know why the double dragon games on NES always insisted on stuffing platforming into them concerning how poorly it's controls were for it, as they were painful to play. It was only hard due to poor design. It was on par with forced stealth sessions in games or escort missions where it has nothing do with the rest of the game. The Arcade version had ZERO platforming. It just focused on the beat em aspects. Why it was a much better experience. Whomever kept insisting making platforming areas in these games needs be punched in the gut and taken away. The game gets tiresome especially repeatedly fighting abobo. He just ducks alot to avoid your attacks. You need move up and down to exploit this invinciblity frame back against him to eventually land hit. The game fun when you face enemies where your entire moveset functions, but again this where Abobo is trash. So many moves don't work on him and he ducks under the ones that do. He's just lazy design and boring to fight, even more so when it's two at once. I find these elements make what could be a simple and fun beat em up into a slog to play. Of NES games I still play in the present, this isn't one I make it a point to revisit very often.
I'm so glad someone else said this! I absolutely hate all the abobo parts, except maybe the first where you can trick him into falling off the conveyor belt. Needlessly frustrating, as are the platform bits, but I consider it a part of the game you just have to get used to. Thanks for the comment!
@@SayItIsntJoe You could do alot worse than Double Dragon, but these aspects bring down the experience on NES. I think the first two levels are enjoyable. You can fall to your death in a few parts, but it's fairly avoidable as the platforming and climbing is kept to a minium. Once you get the forest caves(When the two Abobos burst thorugh the wall, this the moment the game stops playing nice.), the parts that make the game unpleasant get ramped up. You get lots of Abobos and platforming. If the game just stuck to what was actually fun it would be a much more enjoyable experience from start to finish. Being an old school player I managed to do it, but I just view these things as lazy ways to pad the difficulty of what was otherwise a fun game. The NES Double Dragon games have an annoying knack for making bosses that all your grapple attacks don't work on. (Besides Willy, the "Machine gun guy", you can use everything on him despite being the penultimate boss of the game.) Abobo in his first battle can be cheesed, but he doesn't duck much during this fight either. He can be hit without too much grief. This all a very reasonable boss fight. It's every fight in stage 3 and beyond he spends more time kneeling than most catholics. Then let's throw two of them at the same time at the player?!! It just makes for a long annoying fight everytime you encounter this duo. I prefer the 16 bit era beat em ups over the NES titles. Street of Rage 2, Final Fight 3 and Turtles in time just stick to beating up things and leave the platforming to plumbers and super robots. The NES beat em ups left something to be desired.
The Sega Master System version blew the NES out of the water. It was almost a 1:1 port of the arcade.
Man, I wish I'd had that as a kid! I was happy with the NES, but I always knew there was more out there. I didn't get anything sega until I was almost a teenager, sadly 😔
Is was better than the nes, but nowhere as good as the arcade. I have 8 ports on my emulation station and the closest one to the arcade is the commodore Amiga 500. And even it is not exact.
Out of all the home ports, I found the Sega Genesis version to be the best. Unfortunately it suffers from horrible sound effects but is still very fun.
I felt the same way.
@@pbabiesinspace6112This - not sure what the original person is smoking, it's definitely NOT a 1:1 port of the arcade, for one, the sprites are still about the same size as the NES (though there are more onscreen enemies IIRC) which means they're considerably smaller than the sprites in the arcade, for another thing they changed Billy's punch and one hit of the punch button triggers a rapid fire flurry of punches that tends to push enemies away from you (not sure what their rationale was for this). NES Double Dragon feels closer to the arcade in the controls/physics department. Also the music/sound effects of the SMS version are grating and sound like something out of an Atari 5200 game or something.
Nice review. I played Double Dragon on the Sega Master System back in the day. Always loved this game.
Your channel has lots of potential. You deserve a lot more subscribers. Keep up the great work.
Thanks so much!! Glad you enjoyed it! 😃
Really is a shame that the quality control in Technos was so lax- DD feels like it could've been so much moe than it started as... one hopes that it's current stewards in Arc System Works can bring them to a new level. Releasing the collections and re-releasing the GBA and SNES games digitally is at least a step in the right directions.
Totally agree, the premise is still good enough, and there's a lot of history so I'm ok with keeping hope alive!
Very thorough and eloquent review. 10/10. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! I put a lot of work into these, it's always nice to be appreciated 👏
One of my favorite arcade games back in the day, I used to burn through quarters and still never reached the ending. I absolutely loved the NES version as well, it was a big upgrade from the developers previous game Renegade.
I never played Renegade, but I was surprised how different the style was from Double Dragon after looking at some clips.
I rented Renegade back then and it definitely laid the groundwork for Double Dragon, but you're right, it did have a very different style.@@SayItIsntJoe
@brianbabin6333 I like this, it's another layer that adds a lot to the game! Lol
It might be shocking to learn that as buggy and primitive as the NES version was, it had a more stable frame rate than the arcade original. As a result, I look upon the subsequent beat-em ups by Capcom, Konami, Sega, and even Technos much more fondly because it's more comfortable to lose to timing problems on my end rather than the game effectively playing around with the clock. Also, the NES port actually had more content than the arcade version, though it's a matter of opinion as to whether the platforming sections are a beneficial add-on. Personally, I think the NES port ended up being superior in the end.
That's awesome to know! I played a lot of arcade games as a kid, but I never really learned much about them and the tech behind them. I was just told basically "the arcades were better because the hardware was geared toward them", but I love learning when I'm wrong!
Loved this game and the sequels as a kid! So much fun. I played it so many times, and the soundtrack is ingrained in my brain. I love the music. I have to beat this game one of these days! Great video.
Thanks so much!!
Really nice review! I liked your video and i will be watching some more stuff :)
Thank you!! Hope to see you again
@@SayItIsntJoe I am watching your Castlevania video right now and you earned a new subscriber :)
When they made Double Dragon 4 i think 🤔 Arc System Works should have made it with the graphics of the first two Arcade machines games not NES style
I really liked the look of the original arcade for sure, so that would have been cool! I never played DD4 (but that doesn't mean I wont!)
Your enthusiasm is contagious :l
Haha fair point, I'm not terribly animated about these games in my reviews, I'll work on that - I really do enjoy them, I'm just a bit low key about it
I own the arcade cab to Double Dragon. That was my first experience with the game intil I played the Master System one which I really enjoyed. The NES one. No I didnt enjoy it as a kid, lol. Now though. I changed my mind since a friend of mine said to give it more of a chance so I picked it up at a convention and he was right. It was fun to play since it had a bit of an RPG side to unlock more moves. Great video btw Joe 👍.
Thank you!! I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to, but I imagine having a ton of memories tied to it would make it even better
One of the few beat em ups that continues to this day. Newest being Double Dragon Gaiden and countless fan made versions. You don't see that with Bad Dudes or many of the others.
That's a good point! It's great partly because it's been great this whole time!
@@SayItIsntJoeIt's true. Even the flawed nes and sega versions offered a fun challenge.
Never played it in the arcade, never had a nes and certainly never cool enough to have the Tiger Electronic handheld .. but my best mate did and that's the one DD I'm familiar with and loved 😅
lol @ the Tiger handheld. I asked my mom for Double Dragon for NES for Christmas the year it came out and I ended up finding the Tiger handheld under the tree instead. I was pissed.
amazing channel, will you be doing a video on Streets of Rage 2?
I'm always open to suggestions, so I absolutely can! You can always recommend a game in the community section too, and I'll add it to the list (well... as long as its within reason). Thank you!
In the arcade after you beat shadow-boss in 2 player, you have to fight your buddy at the end... so... that's why.
Yeah I found that out recently lol. It was confusing for the home player I bet!
Yeah the programers wanted to recreate that fight for Marion which left alot players so salty. CastleCrashers took this gimmick as the heroes duel to be the one who gets a kiss from the princess when they rescue them.
The damn spikes in the tunnel is stage 3 would always screw me and get stuck on that part in the NES game. Just getting to stage 4 seemed like a damn miracle. I beat the Gameboy version which was slow as molasses's but the core game still the same.
haha FACTS. What you don't see in my clips is the 20 times I died during those spikes before I got through them
In the arcade the game made you fight each other at the end to see who got the girl if you were playing 2 players.
That's cool! I never got to play the real arcade version much
i had the master system version and the nes version looks weird to me. there are levels there that i don't remember 🤔 i think the master system version doesn't have those caves. it's city -> industrial complex -> forest -> evil lair area
Ugh that sounds better! I never had a master system unfortunately
$14 for this gem. Imma have to pick it up. Streets of rage 2 would be a good game to play if you ever do sega. Great video as always. Can't wait to own it soonish
Streets of rage is awesome!!
This is another one that I haven't played. I've watched plenty of 1CC runs but man this one scares me to attempt.
It's not that hard once you do a bunch of runs, it's like a lot of these games where 90 percent of it is knowing what's coming, and 10 percent is the odds being in your favor. But grinding that hard just to say you did it isn't as satisfying as having some big story ending, that's the part that kinda threw me
You don't fight Jimmy, you fight BIMMY!!!!
Oh God I resisted mentioning the Bimmy thing.. but it was absolutely in my head the whole time 😆
@@SayItIsntJoe The class of 2000 won't let you let that one slide buddy haha.
You saw my gray hair, I'm in the club! But since that typo didn't happen until DD3 I thought I should avoid making the joke.. lesson learned!@@claudiasolomon1123
@@SayItIsntJoe I am a part of the class of 2000 too😎
I never gave this version a chance to be honest. I refused to play a one player double dragon. I was able to get the master system version and the genesis version as well. The funny thing is the Atari 7800 version of the game is even two players. So glad I have the arcade version of double dragon and double dragon2 on ps4.
It's cool that it made a comeback a few times, for sure. Apparently I have a knack for reviewing the worst versions of great games lol
there's actually a patch that adds a 2 player mode for the main game, I've tried playing it on a real NES and it actually works, but even without that hack I still prefer the NES version because the gameplay is so much better, the fighting in the SMS just doesn't feel right cause the stun frames are so short
I can imagine any patches would open up the chance of more issues, but anyone putting together new ways to enjoy these games is good in my book
Double Dragon holds up 30% of the time.
The first biggest mistake was porting the whole trilogy to 8-bit consoles, because they are too graphically and mechanically scaled-down.
(The trilogy is more cut-out for 16-bit, especially the NEO•GEO)
The second biggest mistake was attempting to make the franchise world famous by giving the rights to cash-grabbing US developers who do not care to understand Billy and Jimmy as two Bruce Lee-like twins.
The third biggest mistake was making generic comic books, a cheesy cartoon and a live-action flop of Double Dragon. What the franchise truly needed were mangas, animes and OVAs that are 100% faithful to the games that actually have far better plots (yes, the Double Dragon games all have fleshed-out stories).
Very well said!! As with so many games, it was a great opportunity that was kinda missed. Thanks for the comment!
Loved the nes version
I did too, certainly enough to play it all the way through again! (I had to for the video anyhow lol)
Not true. In the arcade, you fight your brother as well if its two player mode. Jimmy is the shadow boss.
If that's true, I stand corrected- I never got to play the arcade much, so I definitely didn't get to the ending. Had to trust what I read about it for this video
Double Dragon ZX Spectrum no contest
Sorry but this was just not a good review. Heck, you didn't even know Willy's name (the machine gun guy, as you called him) and barely discussed any details of the gameplay itself past generic info. But I will say that you have a HECK of an amazing voice. You should really consider getting into radio. You would likely be very successful.
Well, I appreciate the feedback. I did know Willy's name, but since most people who play won't know that unless they read the manual (I made a point about that) I went with machine gun guy, which I think most people would get. And I dunno how much extra there is to say about the gameplay, but I'll keep it in mind next time.
renegade c64 was epic
It's on my list to play through, because it looks so different but came from the same minds, I'm interested to see what it's like!
Double dragon id still rather play then lota the new games that come out any more
I mean, my opinion is clearly biased but I have to agree with you!
I don't think that highly of the double dragon games on NES, especially the first on due to it's god awful platforming sessions. This drags this game's quality down massively in my eyes. The tanklike controls of double dragon make these jumps something the Lee brothers have no business needing to do.(You could effortlessly do these parts as Megaman or Mario.) I don't know why the double dragon games on NES always insisted on stuffing platforming into them concerning how poorly it's controls were for it, as they were painful to play. It was only hard due to poor design. It was on par with forced stealth sessions in games or escort missions where it has nothing do with the rest of the game. The Arcade version had ZERO platforming. It just focused on the beat em aspects. Why it was a much better experience. Whomever kept insisting making platforming areas in these games needs be punched in the gut and taken away.
The game gets tiresome especially repeatedly fighting abobo. He just ducks alot to avoid your attacks. You need move up and down to exploit this invinciblity frame back against him to eventually land hit. The game fun when you face enemies where your entire moveset functions, but again this where Abobo is trash. So many moves don't work on him and he ducks under the ones that do. He's just lazy design and boring to fight, even more so when it's two at once. I find these elements make what could be a simple and fun beat em up into a slog to play. Of NES games I still play in the present, this isn't one I make it a point to revisit very often.
I'm so glad someone else said this! I absolutely hate all the abobo parts, except maybe the first where you can trick him into falling off the conveyor belt. Needlessly frustrating, as are the platform bits, but I consider it a part of the game you just have to get used to. Thanks for the comment!
@@SayItIsntJoe You could do alot worse than Double Dragon, but these aspects bring down the experience on NES. I think the first two levels are enjoyable. You can fall to your death in a few parts, but it's fairly avoidable as the platforming and climbing is kept to a minium. Once you get the forest caves(When the two Abobos burst thorugh the wall, this the moment the game stops playing nice.), the parts that make the game unpleasant get ramped up. You get lots of Abobos and platforming. If the game just stuck to what was actually fun it would be a much more enjoyable experience from start to finish. Being an old school player I managed to do it, but I just view these things as lazy ways to pad the difficulty of what was otherwise a fun game.
The NES Double Dragon games have an annoying knack for making bosses that all your grapple attacks don't work on. (Besides Willy, the "Machine gun guy", you can use everything on him despite being the penultimate boss of the game.) Abobo in his first battle can be cheesed, but he doesn't duck much during this fight either. He can be hit without too much grief. This all a very reasonable boss fight. It's every fight in stage 3 and beyond he spends more time kneeling than most catholics. Then let's throw two of them at the same time at the player?!! It just makes for a long annoying fight everytime you encounter this duo.
I prefer the 16 bit era beat em ups over the NES titles. Street of Rage 2, Final Fight 3 and Turtles in time just stick to beating up things and leave the platforming to plumbers and super robots. The NES beat em ups left something to be desired.
@@Lastjustice really well explained. I should have you on as a guest in one of my videos!
@@SayItIsntJoe Let me know what's going on. I'm known to ramble about any nerdy subject hehe.
There's also a terrible cartoon version!
I briefly mentioned the cartoon, but I could have spent a lot more time on it because it was just sooooo bad lol
TLDR: no.
Haha, fair enough. I still found it a lot of fun to go back to!
jus punkin'...I love this game lol@@SayItIsntJoe