Double Dragon Neo-Geo

Developer: Technos Japan Corp.   Publisher: SNK

Introduction:

The year is 1995. Technos, along with the help of SNK, decided to make an all new fightiing game for their popular Double Dragon series based loosely on the crappy movie (i.e. Shuko wanting the medals, Marian being a leader of a positive street gang) for the Neo-Geo. The result was actually a real decent fighter! However, due to the heavy competition from other game companies trying to dethrone the juggernaut Street Fighter series, when the game was released, it became lost in the shuffle. This was Technos' last Double Dragon game before the company sadly went bankrupt.

Reviewed By: Legend

Graphics: B

                                 

I guess by Neo-Geo standards, the graphics are good. Technos' trademark coloring and lighting really show here! The characters are very bright and well detailed...even for a game that came out in '95! The environments are very destructive and the characters move very fluidly. Not Street Fighter III fluid mind you, but fluid nevertheless. The opening starts off with very grainy clips taken from the movie. Speaking of which, the characters in this game look much more better than their movie counterparts. Although I still personally prefer Billy and Jimmy's portrayal in Return of Double Dragon and Double Dragon Advanced. the backgrounds are very colorful as well and fit quite well with the game. Actually, in Marian's stage, you can see still clips from the Double Dragon movie which I thought was a nice touch.

 

Sound: B+

       

The sound is pretty descent. Like most other 2D fighters, the characters yell the names of their moves they perform. I personally didn't think the voices were annoying...actually quite good to be honest. Billy and Jimmy sound the best in my opinion (Jimmy being voiced by the late Kaneto Shiozawa). The punches and kicks sound realistic. The music, however, is just kind of mediocre at best. It's nowhere near the dramatic quality of Return of Double Dragon...which is weird due to that being a 16-bit game and this being a much more powerful one...especially since it's on the Neo-Geo. Don't get me wrong, the music fits the game and the stages well, and there are a couple of stand out songs, such as Marian's, Billy's, and Shuko's, that might have you humming a couple of their tunes. Overall the sound is good, but could've been better.

 

Control: A+

          

Not much to say here. The controlling is very tight and responsive. Even on the D-pad! This is basically like any other Capcom 2D fighter (that's a good thing btw). The only gripe I really had was the some of the character's specials can be very hard to pull off (it's like the cheesy button inputs in most SNK games). But overall, the controlling is very good.

 

Gameplay: A

         

The gameplay is surprisingly fast paced seeing how old this game is! Some of the characters are from the movie such as Billy, Jimmy, Marian, Abobo and Shuko. While most  are only made specifically for this game such as Rebecca, Amon, Dulton, Cheng-Fu, and Eddie. And two, such as Burnov (orignally a boss in Double Dragon 2) and Duke (the main boss in Super/Return of Double Dragon but appears in this game as a bodyguard for Shuko) are characters not in the movie but in the Double Dragon games who make a return. What sets this apart from other fighting games is it's unique button scheme. It doesn't really have a specific punch or kick button. Instead, the buttons are determined by their strengths. The buttons are a quick button, a medium button, a strong button, and a fierce button. Most would find this confusing and annoying, but I personally, nor did the people I played, had no problem at all with it. You can also air-block and dash just like any other 2D fighter. Also, another unique thing in this particular fighter is the charge meter. The charge meter is actually inside the life meter, meaning that whenever you're hit or you're doing the beatdown, your charge meter will go up and thus enabling you to do your special. You can also jump on fallen foes while they're stunned for more damage. A feature that is missing from most 2D fighting games...even to this day! The character's moves are unique to look at...eventhough Billy and Jimmy are basically Ken and Ryu clones (look at their moves to see what I mean). But they are still good nevertheless. My only gripe is the game's AI. At first it's really easy to beat, but as it progresses the computer will be very CHEAP! How is it cheap you ask? Well for starters no matter what move you're about to pull off, the computer will know it and counter it most of the time (which sucks because counters do more damage)! Also, when they sometimes perform a combo on you, it can almost be impossible to block them...even if you know them! Not only, that, but some of the characters are just plain cheap and unbalanced (i.e. Marian, Duke, Shuko, Dulton)! If you have an emulator then it should be no problem since you'd have unlimited continues. But if this were the arcade, then it'd be almost impossible to beat it without plunking in alot of quaters! Also, watch out for the final boss Shuko, he's a real pain in the ass!

 

Overall: A

         

This game is truly a lost gem. The gameplay was..and still is addicting! Some people might be put off by it due to it's age and storyline. But the gameplay should more than make up for that. Eventhough admittedly it should've and would've been cooler as a side scroller beat 'em up like the other ones (especially since it's on way more powerful hardware), what Technos did here was actually pull off a very good and innovative fighter. I found it 10x  better than Tradewest's crappy Double Dragon "V": The Shadow Falls fighting game that came out a year earlier (man, did those bastards ruin a good franchise or what?). It's a shame that it was lost in the other pile of fighting games that people simply ignored. And it's even worse that this was Technos' final Double Dragon game before it went bankrupt the following year (though the company did revive recently as the new name Milion, which released the awesome Double Dragon Advanced). If you're a Double Dragon fan, or hell even a hardcore fighting game fan, then I strongly suggest you stop playing you're Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 or any other current gen fighter and hunt down a copy and at least give this game a try. You won't disappointed!

Review of the movie

             Funny Double Dragon video below along with some great combos! You can also get helpful tips here at gamefaqs although for this particular game, the person who made it hasn't updated it since 1995 o_O!