Member the games you used to play? We member. The basement at the Hardcore Gamer office has a section known as the Crust Room, with an old grey couch and a big old CRT TV. All the classic systems are down there collecting dust, so in an effort to improve the cleanliness of our work space, we dust off these old consoles every so often and put an old game through its paces, just to verify everything stays in working order. We even have a beige computer with a floppy disk drive.
In the 1980s and into the early ’90s,Double Dragonwas a huge name in the beat ‘em up genre. The original Double Dragon was widely popular in the arcades, and was ported to various home platforms and generated a few sequels. There was also an animated TV series and movie based on the property, but not all things related to Double Dragon have aged well. Since its heyday, there have been a few attempts at reviving the franchise with mixed results. Double Dragon II: Wander the Dragons was an Xbox Live Arcade that tried to recreate the magic of the arcade games with abysmal results, whileDouble Dragon Neonwas an enjoyable tongue-in-cheek revival of the Lee brothers.
Review: Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons blends experimental elements with traditional Double Dragon gameplay.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragonswas another interesting attempt at reviving the franchise, emphasizing the co-op nature of the beat ‘em up arcade roots with a tag-team mechanic that was generally good despite a few missteps. But out of all the different attempts of bringing Double Dragon back, the most true to the 8-bit home versions is Double Dragon IV. Released in 2017, Double Dragon IV attempted to revitalize the 8-bit Dragons with a nostalgic beat ‘em up adventure, but sometimes the fond memories of a game are best when they remain memories.
Names Ain’t Nothin’ But A Number
Double Dragon IV is one of those games where its name really doesn’t make any sense if someone puts any thought into it. Double Dragon I, II and III were originally released in arcades and have been ported to different home consoles. The fourth Double Dragon isSuper Double Dragon, made specifically for the SNES in 1992, which was followed by Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls which was a tournament fighter. Technically, the name Double Dragon IV was unused, so the developers were free to use it for their 2017 game, but given that the story is a sequel to Double Dragon II and not Double Dragon III, it just seems like a weird name choice.
After the events of Double Dragon II, the Lee brothers have supposedly squashed the Black Warriors gang. Taking this as a sign that their Sōsetsuken fighting system was the best martial art around, they opened up several dojos to spread their teachings and pad their bank accounts. Their capitalist venture into martial arts tutelage was short-lived as a new threat reared its ugly head. Apparently, the Black Warriors were less defunct than they had previously believed, and have teamed up with a new gang called the Renegades, proving that Black Warriors is not the most generic bad guy gang name around. With this new threat around, the Lee brothers do what they do best, which is beating up people belonging to gangs with unimaginative names.
A Return To The ’80s
The overall aesthetic of Double Dragon IV is the classic 8-bit Double Dragon. The backgrounds are more detailed than what would probably be in the original games, but the character models look like their NES sprites, with the strongest resemblance to Double Dragon II. 8-bit graphics released in any year beginning with 20 aren’t going to be considered impressive on a technical level by anyone, but they do perfectly capture the look of classic Double Dragon. This is a throwback title to the heyday of the franchise, and in that regard the team did a great job recreating the feel of the classic titles.
For better or worse, the team did an equally good job of recreating the feel of the classic games, and actually made the mechanics easier. Playing Double Dragon games on the NES had limited controls. The A and B buttons did the punch and kick attacks (or left or right attacks in the case of Double Dragon II) and pressing the two buttons together is how the player jumped. The additional buttons on modern controllers allow for a dedicated jump button and pulling off special attacks like a well-timed uppercut when landing from a jump is easier. Aside from those minor quality-of-life improvements, the controls still feel clunky. Hit detection feels inconsistent and platforming was never a strong point in the series. These games were a lot of fun on the NES because mechanics were just naturally more primitive back then, but playing a game that has a true retro feel like Double Dragon IV shows how much gaming technology has improved over the decades.
But is Double Dragon IV a bad game? The answer is it depends.
The main mode in Double Dragon IV is the story campaign, which is where the Lee brothers fight their way across twelve different missions. The missions are short and a skilled player can complete the game in a little over an hour. The developers did their homework in creating an authentic Double Dragon experience. New and classic enemies like Williams, Burnov, Linda and Abobo make their appearances, as Billy and Jimmy punch, kick and cyclone kick their way through them. The normal weapons become available on occasion to give the player an edge, such as an oil drum or ball and chain. Hazards such as pitfalls and conveyor belts are around as well, because if someone is going to street fight, why not do so in the most dangerous environments possible?
Double The Dragons, Double The Trouble
Like the NES version of the original Double Dragon, there’s a two-player duel mode. This is where the players choose a character to fight each other in a one-on-one match. These matches don’t measure up to the best fighting games, but one must remember in the time of the original Double Dragon, one-on-one fighting games were virtually unheard of, so this was a novel and innovative feature to include. While this one-on-one match may pale in comparison to modern fighters, its inclusion here is a welcome nod to the original. After completing the story mode, the Tower mode is unlocked. This is an endurance run where the player tries to clear as many floors of the tower as possible. During the story campaign, clearing missions unlocks additional characters for the two-player duel. Clearing floors in the Tower mode unlocks additional characters for all modes.
Member Double Dragon Neon?
Looking at Metacritic, one can see Double Dragon IV was not critically well received. After playing Double Dragon IV, it’s easy to see why the critical reception is what it is. But is Double Dragon IV a bad game? The answer is it depends. People who still enjoy the NES versions of the first three Double Dragon games will have a great time with Double Dragon IV. Everyone else probably won’t. It does faithfully recreate late ’80s 8-bit gaming, which extends not only into the graphics but also into gameplay mechanics. Waiting for a downed enemy to get up in order to attack them breaks the flow of the fight and it’s not uncommon to get into a situation where the player is knocked down only to stand up to get hit by one of the four enemies hovering around them. The game isn’t overly challenging, but poor platforming controls and cheap shots from the enemies can make the difficulty feel more frustrating than a fair challenge. Nostalgia can do a lot to make something mediocre feel great, but without it there isn’t a lot appealing about Double Dragon IV.
Double Dragon IV is available digitally on PC, PlayStation 4 and Switch, and thanks to Limited Run Games, physical versions exist for PlayStation 4 and Switch, and compared to other out-of-print games on the second-hand market, they aren’t unreasonably priced. It’s a difficult game to recommend just due to the nature of it. It isn’t necessarily bad; it just succeeds too well at recreating the feel of 8-bit Double Dragon games. Which I was a fan of as a kid, but honestly the 8-bit ports just don’t hold up that well. For anyone who disagrees and still loves playing Double Dragon II on NES, Double Dragon IV should be in their library already. To everyone else, it’s probably safe to skip this one.
