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Double Dragon is a classic beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technos Japan Corporation, who also developed the Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio-Kun series. The original game was designed by a man named Yoshihisa Kishimoto, who originally conceived the game as a Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun sequel using the localized version (Renegade) as a basis. The game was heavily influenced by martial arts films, especially those of Bruce Lee's such as Enter the Dragon. The recently released Double Dragon Advance was planned by Muneki Ebinuma, who previously designed Super Double Dragon and was also involved in Double Dragon '95 as a fight choreographer.
Double Dragon has had several sequels and has been ported to several different platforms. Due to the popularity of the game series, a cartoon and movie adaptation have also been produced.
The arcade game that started it all was released in 1987 by Technos. The twin brothers, Billy and Jimmy Lee (also known as Hammer and Spike, the names given to them by Taito, who localized the Arcade game for Technos in the US), use their unique fighting style, Sou-Setsu-Ken, to fight the Black Warriors (in later installments, the gang was renamed the Shadow Warriors as a result of changes made in localized versions of the games). The Black Warriors are a gang of thugs led by man named Willy who have kidnapped Billy's girlfriend, Marian. Billy and Jimmy not only use their martial arts moves in their quest to rescue Marian, but also weapons they find along the way: baseball bats, whips, knives, sticks of dynamite, oil drums, and even big rocks. This game allowed two players to play simultaneously.
This game was very successful at the arcades and was ported to several consoles, including the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, and Game Boy.
The Nintendo Entertainment System version (which was the only home version of the game developed in-house by Technos aside from the later Game Boy edition) did not allow two players to play simultaneously. Only Billy Lee was the playable character. The storyline was changed to have Jimmy Lee (formerly the second player) be the mastermind behind Marian's kidnapping in the game (in the Arcade version, the two players fought against each other in the end of the game to determine who would get the girl), although Willy was still the leader of the Black Warriors.
Due to the success of the first Double Dragon game, an arcade sequel was made by Technos in 1988. The bad guys have murdered Marian and the Lee brothers are out to avenger her death. This game is very similar to the first Double Dragon game. The biggest difference is the way the players control their characters. The first version had designated punch and kick buttons, while this version had left and right attack buttons. The attacks depended on which way the character was facing. If facing left, the left attack button is the punch button, while the right attack button is a back kick button. If the character is facing right, then the reverse is true.
Like the first game, this game was also ported to several different platforms. The Nintendo Entertainment System version did allow for two players to play simultaneously and also feature new stages, cut-scenes between stages, new enemies (including a nameless end-boss who replaces Willy, the Lee brothers' original adversary) and a much happier ending than the Arcade version's. Although, Jimmy Lee was the main bad guy in the first NES game, this fact was ignored in the NES sequel by attributing the defeat of the Black Warriors in the first game to both of the Lee brothers in the Japanese version or by completely ignoring the first game altogether in the localized version by Acclaim.
In 1990, Technos released the third game of the series. The Arcade version of the game was not made in-house by Technos, but instead Technos contracted a ghost company (East Technology, makers of Silent Dragon and Gigandes) to make the game for them. This time, Billy and Jimmy Lee are on a journey to complete their martial arts training when they meet up with an old fortune teller named Hiroku. Hiroku asks the Lee Brothers to collect the three Rosetta Stones and take them to Egypt. In Egypt awaits the "World's strongest enemy." From there, the Lee Brothers travel to different countries searching for these Rosetta Stones. The game includes a third character named Sonny and allows for three players to play simultaneously. The controls from Double Dragon II were not used for this game, instead the controls are similar to the first Double Dragon game. This game was radically different from the previous two games with its graphics and animation. It also had shops where players could purchase extra energy, attack power, weapons, special moves, and even new characters (from one of three types or families in addition to the Lee brothers) to use. Weapons could only be purchased from these shops; they could no longer be taken from the enemy characters. Purchasing things in these shops required players to insert quarters, making this a more expensive game to play. Double Dragon III was not as popular as the previous two titles because of this feature. A later Japanese version of the Arcade game dropped the shopping system in favor of a more conventional character select mode, in which the player could choose between the Lee, Chin, Ooyama and Urquidez brothers from the very start. The player began with all their special moves as default techniques and weapons were merely found lying on the floor, waiting to be picked up by the player.
Like the previous two Double Dragon games, several ports were made of this game. The NES version of this game had the same basic plot (although, it was altered severely in the localized version, also published by Acclaim), but removed the purchasing system. Players started off with a specific weapon (which had limited usage) and obtained other characters by defeating them in combat. Unlike the Arcade game, the NES version was made in-house by Technos, much like the first two NES and Arcade games and it's the only version of Double Dragon III to have this merit.
This game was developed by Technos in 1992 as an exclusive game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In Japan, this game was called, "Return of Double Dragon: 'Sleeping Dragon' has Awoken" which played on the Super Famicom (Japanese version of SNES). Super Double Dragon is a completely revamped version of the original Double Dragon concept, but with a few aspects inspired by various localized versions and spin-offs released in the west: Marian was made into a policewoman based on her portrayal in the Double Dragon cartoon under development at the time, Duke's gang was named the Shadow Warriors, the name given to the gang in the localized NES version of Double Dragon II (the Famicom version had no name for the gang, due to Willy's absence in the Famicom/NES version of DD2, who was the true leader of the Black Warriors in the original game and as well in the Arcade version of DD2) and setting was changed from New York to Los Angeles (which would become the setting for the Double Dragon movie). This game did allow two players to play simultaneously. A unique feature that was added to this sequel was a power meter. Players could charge up the power meter to perform power moves, such as spinning backfist, spinning jump kick, and the cyclone spin kick.
An in-game storyline was planned for Super Double Dragon, but the developers were forced to get the game out earlier and the intended storyline was left out of the game. Marian, who is only mentioned in the instruction manual, would've played a major role in the game and the plot twist in the game would reveal Duke and the Lee brothers to had been childhood friends in the past. The ending would've featured the Lee brothers and Marian visiting Duke's grave after having to fight Duke's possessed shadow.
Developed by Rare under contract by Tradewest (who held the exclusive worldwide rights to both: the Battletoads and Double Dragon license) and released in 1993, this installment has Billy and Jimmy team up with the Battletoads to fight off the evil attack on earth made by Colossus, a large battleship. Technos Japan had no involvement in the development of the game and thus the game mechanics and style heavily favored Battletoads' more comical style in contrast to the darker and serious mood of the Double Dragon games. The Double Dragon characters in this game (particularly the villains) were very out of character: the boss named Roper was actually a misnamed Willy and the "Shadow Boss" was nothing more than a character by Rare created specifically for this game, despite being touted as the Double Dragon's main adversary. The characters of this game were mostly from Battletoads series.
The "fifth part" of the Double Dragon series changed its direction dramatically. Instead of having continuous levels in which numerous enemies are defeated before eventually facing the final boss, this game takes a similar stance to Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, making the game a competitive fighting game rather than the traditional side-scrolling beat-'em up. The game was made entirely in the US by Tradewest and once again Technos had no involvement in the creation of the game. The Shadow Falls was closely based on the animated Double Dragon series that was airing at the time and the game's cartoony look was a far cry from the genuine Double Dragon games Technos made. Many Double Dragon fans consider Double Dragon V to be the series' bleakest moment.
Also known as Double Dragon '95, this was a competitive fighting game (released for the Neo-Geo home and Arcade platforms), similar to Double Dragon V, but this time the game was made by Technos themselves. Much like Double Dragon V, Double Dragon '95 was produced as a tie-in for another Double Dragon spin-off, this time the game was based on the movie. In it's favor, the resemblance to the movie was only a vague one (the characters were somewhat closer to their original counterparts, while adapting aspects from their movie personas such as the Lee brothers' transformation technique) and the game was arguably better than Double Dragon V overall, although it was still criticized for being too formulaic and not being faithful enough to the original Double Dragon premise.
This was developed by Million and published by Atlus in 2003 as an exclusive game for the Game Boy Advance. Million, a company which consisted of former Technos employees, had purchased the copyrights to Double Dragon and Nekketsu Kouha: Kunio-Kun sometime after Technos Japan Corporation went bankrupt. Double Dragon Advance is a graphically upgraded and expanded version of the original Arcade version of Double Dragon. It has four new levels in addition to the original four presented in the Arcade game. It also borrows moves, enemy characters, and levels from Double Dragon II and Super Double Dragon.
During the latter half of 1991, Marvel Comics published a six-issue limited series based on Double Dragon. This was the first of several Double Dragon tie-ins produced in the US under license by Tradewest. Written by Dwayne McDuffie (issues #1-4), Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich (issues #5-6), this comic book adaption strayed as far from it's source material as possible. Billy and Jimmy Lee's were no longer elite martial artists, but were superheroes who inherited their power from a dragon statue (a common aspect between all three apocryphal adaptations of Double Dragon) and their main adversary in the comic was a supernatural bad guy named Nightfall, who ruled the streets of Oglipolis with his armies of "Shadow Warriors", who was an obvious basis for the Shadow Master character in the cartoon series. The most humorous or saddest aspect of the comic book, depending on how you look at it, was the introduction of Billy and Jimmy's long-lost father, a character by the name of Stan who bears the likeness of Stan Lee, although Stan's full name is never mentioned in the comic.
The Double Dragon cartoon was produced by DIC and ran for 26 episodes (2 seasons) between 1993 and 1994. The plot of this series was based loosely on the first video game with Michael Donovan as the voice of Billy Lee and Scott McNeil as the voice of Jimmy Lee. The premise of the show had the Lee brothers separated at birth, with Billy being raised as a champion of justice by an old martial artist, while Jimmy became the criminal alter-ego known as the "Shadow Boss" (the term "shadow boss" was used in the first NES game, although this was a mistranslation by Tradewest). The only villains carried over from the games were Abobo and Willy, who's character designs and personalities were severely altered before being killed off in the second episode (Willy suffered the worst changes of the two, who was no longer a gang leader in the show, but instead was a flamboyant cowboy and an underling). The second episode introduced the true villain and Jimmy's foster father, the Shadow Master (a creation of Tradewest for the show), along with a new cast of villains who were also created for the show. By the end of the second episode, Billy and Jimmy set aside their differences to battle the Shadow Master. The Lee brothers in the show rarely relied on their martial arts skills, but instead they gained superpowers from a magical sword. The end of each episode featured a Public Service Announcement, which was very typical for Saturday-Morning programming at the time.
In 1994, a live-action Double Dragon movie was produced starring Mark Dacascos as Jimmy Lee and Scott Wolf as Billy Lee. It was directed by James Yukich and written by the team of Paul Dini (of Batman: The Animated Series and others) and Neal Shusterman. A review of the movie by the Washington Post was not complimentary.
The Jackie Chan movie Twin Dragons (1992) includes "Double Dragon" as an alternate title, according to the Internet Movie Database, although it is completely unrelated to the video game series.
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