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Super Double Dragon(JP) is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. It was published by Technōs Japan in Japan and by Tradewest in North America and the PAL region. Super Double Dragon is the fourth console game in the Double Dragon series developed by Technōs Japan, following Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones for the NES. The game did not have an arcade release and was made specifically for the home market. It was finally rereleased in 2023 as a download on the Nintendo Switch eShop and as a part of the Double Dragon Collection.
Plot[]
Billy Lee and Jimmy Lee return in an all-new adventure. Marian, a martial arts student and policewoman of the narcotics division, has disappeared while investigating a criminal mob known as the Black Shadow Warriors. The Lee brothers must use their newly acquired fighting skills to take on a new cast of ruthless enemies and rescue Marian.
Gameplay[]
As with the previous installments of the series, the player takes control of martial artists Billy and Jimmy in their fight against the Shadow Warriors gang. The objective is to proceed through each stage and defeat all enemies, including a boss. The game consists of seven stages, which includes a casino, an airport, a martial arts gym, a fight atop a moving truck, a city slum, a forest, and the hideout of the boss.
In addition to the punch, kick, and jump buttons, the player now has a guard button for blocking attacks. If the player times the guard button right, their character can not only defend against an enemy's punch, they can also put certain enemies in an arm grab, leaving the enemy vulnerable to successive attacks. The arm grab only works on Williams, Roper, Steve, Jackson and the Chen brothers. There's also a "Dragon Power" gauge under the life gauge, which the player can fill by holding down L or R buttons. While the gauge is filling up, the player can perform special attacks which vary depending on how much power the player has accumulated, which includes a flying hurricane kick. If the power gauge is completely filled, then the player's regular attacks will gain extra strength for a limited period.
Super Double Dragon is one of the few games in the series where the protagonists of Billy and Jimmy Lee were differentiated, not just in their in-game character designs (where the brothers were given different hair styles), but also in their fighting abilities. Particularly, the two characters have different basic punches (in the Japanese version, Jimmy's roundhouse kick is also different).
Development[]
According to Muneki Ebinuma, the game's planner, Super Double Dragon was supposed to have more expanded level designs than the ones in the final release.[1] Similar to Double Dragon II on NES, cutscenes were intended to be in the game, but were not included due to time restrictions and a fear of bugs.[2] Marian, the damsel-in-distress from earlier games, was supposed to appear in the game as a policewoman assisting the Lee brothers. Her appearance was completely omitted, only being referenced from a few artworks on the box cover and in the manual. One enemy that didn't make it into the game was a medium-sized man armed with a Beretta named "Steiner".[3] After defeating Duke, the game was going to have another opponent in the form of his own dark shadow.[4]
Kazunaka Yamane recorded numerous tracks on a previous lost demo tape when planning out the soundtrack for Super Double Dragon.[5] Seven of these songs were discarded while a couple that did make it into the sound test were simply left unused.
The game was launched in North America first, followed by Japan eight days later. With more time to polish the product, the gameplay was slightly altered, the enemy AI was improved, characters were given more frames of animation, and two additional areas were added to the final stage.
Credits[]
- Planners: Muneki Ebinuma and Atsuyuki Nishizawa
- Direct Adviser: Yoshihisa Kishimoto
- Object Designers: Koji Ogata, Yasuhiro Ohi, Koji Sakuma, Junichirō Sekikawa, and Makoto Shirai
- Background Designers: Takehisa Izumiyama and Toshiyuki Ōsumi
- Main Programmer: Genei Fukuhara
- Action Programmer: Naritaka Nishimura
- Programmers: Genei Fukuhara, Teruhiro Maeda, and Naritaka Nishimura
- Audio Composer: Kazunaka Yamane
- Audio Programmer: Robert C. Ashworth
- PR. Dept: Kumiko Mukai, Hideaki Sakamoto, and Akiko Yamane
- Fight Choreography: Muneki Ebinuma, Koji Ogata, and Naritaka Nishimura
- JP Package Designer: Tsutomu Andō
- US/EU Cover Artwork: Greg Winters
1992 Technōs Japan Corp.
Reception[]
Super Double Dragon was fairly well received by gaming critics. On October 1992, George and Rob from Nintendo Power gave the game 13.6 point out of 20.[6] They praised the graphics, variety of move, and enemy challenge, while also admitting how similar it was compared to the previous titles in terms of plot and formula. GameFan Magazine debuted its first ever issue that same month, rewarding the title 96.5 points out of 100. The magazine highlighted the game's move set, use of bright colors, and SNES sound.[7]
On December 1992, Control ranked Super Double Dragon 64%, concluding that it was, "A fun beat'em-up and certainly the highlight of the Double Dragon series, but one best left for a fan of the genre." N-Force rated the title 70% for their January 1993 issue, commending its good animations, simple controls, and array of attacks.[8] Paul Rand and Paul Anglin of Computer and Video Games gave Super Double Dragon 79 out of 100. They enjoyed the game's colorful sprites, background artwork, and new moves, but they also felt that it was a little too easy to complete.[9]
The staff of U.K. magazine Super Action gave and overall score of 90% for the title, calling it "Excellent stuff and a worthy successor to Final Fight. Doesn't quite have the comedy appeal of Sonic Blast Man, but it certainly beats it in terms of sheer, gripping action. An involving, refreshing and surprisingly complex kick ’em up. Well done Technos!"[10]
IGN ranked the game at 92nd in their "Top 100 SNES Games of All Time".[11]
AllGame rated Super Double Dragon an overall rating of 2.5 out of a possible 5 stars.
References[]
- ↑ "Return of/Super Double Dragon: The True Story" at Double Dragon Dojo.
- ↑ "Double Dragon's inside story, provided by Ebi-san!" at Tk City Web Service (Archived March 5, 2001)
- ↑ "The Way of Double Dragon Advance" at Double Dragon Dojo.
- ↑ "Return of Dragon: The True Story" at Game Kommander (Japanese)
- ↑ "Super Double Dragon - 31 years" at Brawlers Alley (October 8, 2023) (Archived: December 10, 2023)
- ↑ "Now Playing: Super Double Dragon", Nintendo Power, Vol. 41, pp. 102–105 (October 1992)
- ↑ "Super Double Dragon", GameFan Magazine, pp. 7, 36 (October 1992)
- ↑ "Super Double Dragon", N-Force, pp. 92-93 (January 1993)
- ↑ "Super Double Dragon", Computer and Video Games, No. 134, pp. 82–83. (January 1993)
- ↑ "Super Review: Super Double Dragon," Super Action, No. 4, pp. 16-19, (January 1993)
- ↑ "Super Double Dragon #92 - Top 100 SNES Games of All Time" at IGN (June 2017)
External links[]
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Double Dragon Dojo[] |
| Double Dragon series | |
|---|---|
| Main series | Double Dragon • II: The Revenge • II (Game Boy) • III: The Sacred Stones • 3: The Arcade Game • Super • The Shadow Falls • Advance • IV • Neon • Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons Retro Brawler Bundle • Collection |
| Cross-overs | Super Spike V'Ball • Battletoads & Double Dragon |
| Related | Technōs Japan • Arc System Works • Kunio-kun |