Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone

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Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone (ダブルドラゴン３) is the third game in Technos Japan's (presently Million's) Double Dragon series of beat-em-ups. Originally released in 1990, the original arcade version was not developed in-house by Technos, but farmed out to an external developer, East Technology. Because of this and the fact that the game used a new engine, it has a completely different look and feel from the previous two installments. It was not as well-received as the previous game.

A home version that was developed in-house by Technos for the NES was released in 1991.

Contents 1 Storyline 2 Gameplay 2.1 Characters 2.2 Power-ups 2.3 Missions 3 Regional differences 4 Ports 4.1 Nintendo Entertainment System 4.2 Other versions 5 Trivia 6 External links

[edit] Storyline

Set two years after the events of Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Billy and Jimmy return home from a training mission only to meet a fortune teller named Hiruko. Hiruko tells the Lee brothers that a new enemy is threatening the world and that in order to defeat this new opponent, they must travel the world and collect the three Rosetta Stones and gather them in Egypt. In order to achieve their goal, the Lee brothers are now accompanied by other world class martial artists.

[edit] Gameplay

Double Dragon 3 has a more realistic look than the almost cartoon-like graphics of the first two games. The game ditches the two-way attacking system from Double Dragon II and returns to having a punch and kick buttons. However, the techniques available are different. The Elbow Punch and Hair Grab are removed, but new techniques such as a suplex and a dash are added. There are seven basic techniques, plus two special techniques that can be purchased. Two players can now perform a double whirlwind kick together.

The game is also the only Double Dragon game to allow for up to three players, similar to its contemporary Combatribes (both games were made on the same engine). The third player is assigned to a yellow-clad Lee brother, the previously unseen "Sonny" (who never made another appearance after this game).

The North American and Worldwide versions featured a shopping system similar to the Capcom game Forgotten Worlds, in which player can enter certain shops located in the background and purchase additional playable characters (which essentially serve as extra men that replaces the player's current character), as well as other sorts of power-ups by inserting additional tokens. The shops are usually located at the beginning of the stage. The Japanese version discarded this feature (see regional differences) and allowed players to choose their starting character.

[edit] Characters

By purchasing the "Extra Guys" power-up in the shop, the player can purchase from one of three additional playable character types in addition to the Lee brothers (the default the character type).

• The Lee Brothers (リー兄弟) - Billy and Jimmy, along with Sonny, are the default characters and the protagonists of the game. As Sou-Setsu-Ken masters, they utilize very basic techniques and have average stats. Their special overhead attack is the Head-Tail Fist of the Dragon God (頭尾龍神拳, Toubi Ryuujin Ken).

• The Urquidez Brothers (ユキーデ兄弟) - Roney, along with Sunny and Jonny, is a world-class martial arts champion. He has the strongest attacks of all four character types. They attack with grappling techniques. Their special overhead attack is the Whirling Dragon Tail of Solid Leg (固足龍旋尾, Kosoku Ryuusenbi). The Urquidez Brothers can be purchased at the shops located in America and Egypt.

• The Chin Brothers (陳兄弟) - Seimei, with Taimei and Sinmei, is a chubby Chinese man who specializes in Tai Chi Chuan. They have very damaging attacks and start off with more life points than other characters, but they run very slowly. Their special overhead attack is the Two Way Attack of Eyes and Ears (双方眼耳, Souhou Ganji). The Chin Brothers can be purchased at the shop in China. Even though Taimei (the second player member of the brothers) shares the namesake of Chin Taimei from the previous game, he is to be considered a different character.

• The Ōyama Brothers (大山兄弟) - Masao, with Kunio and Akira, are masters of a fictional Karate style known as "Seishin Karate". They're the fasters of all four characters and start off with the same life points as the Lee brothers, but they're not as strong. Their special overhead attack is the Rotating Mountain Wave of the Fierce Tiger (猛虎回派山, Mouko Kaihazan). They can be purchased at the shop in Japan.

The player's current character is killed, the player can cycle between the reserved characters already available by pressing left or right and choose between the reserved characters. Up to three characters can be held in the reserve.

[edit] Power-ups

In addition to the extra fighters, the player can also purchase the following power-ups at the shops in the game.

• Tricks - Two special techniques are added to the player's repertoire: the whirldwind kick and the overhead attack (which varies between characters, see characters). If the player's current character expires, the next character will inherit the ability to use special techniques too.

• Energy - The player's life points are restored to 150%. Useful when the player is low on life.

• Weapons - There are two weapons available; the nunchaku (which can be purchased in China) and the ninjato (which can be purchased in Japan and Egypt). Only the Lee Brothers can purchase or pick up weapons. Unlike previous games, weapons can be carried from one stage to another, but are lost forever when the player is killed and is forced to continue or use a new character.

• Power - The character's speed and agility is increased, resulting in greater attacking power. Note that attack power, unlike tricks, cannot be transferred from one character to another, and thus has to be purchased again when switching to another character.

[edit] Missions

• Mission 1: America - The introductory stage is set in the streets of New York, where the enemies are generic bikers belonging to the newly reformed Black Warriors. Their hideout is a warehouse across the street, where the player must knock thugs off of their bikes. The stage's boss is Jim, the brother of Willy from the previous games, and the new leader of the Black Warriors.

• Mission 2: China - The second stage is set on the Great Wall of China. The enemies are martial arts experts that attack the player with flying kicks. At the end of the stage, the players confront Shaolin Kung-Fu master Li Chenglong (李成龍), who possesses the first stone. He fights with his bare hands at first, but later takes out a tonfa.

• Mission 3: Japan - Set in a castle, the enemies are samurai-like swordsmen. The player will fight outside of the castle for the first part of the stage, and move inside later. This stage, unlike the others, features traps in the form of spikes that emerge from floors and enemies that hide behind walls. Once all enemies are defeated outside, the gate to the castle will open. Inside the castle, the player will confront the ninja Yagyuu Ranzou (柳生乱造), who attacks using smoke bombs and shurikens. He also has the ability to split his body into three. Once defeated, the player will obtain the second stone and Hiruko will join the group.

• Mission 4: Italy - The battle takes place in a Roman colisseum, where the player confronts half-dressed archers. Once several of the archers have been defeated, the boss, a gladiator named Giuliano, will enter the battlefield with his horse. He waits for the player at the edge of the screen, where he will dismount from his horse and attack with his spear.

• Mission 5: Egypt - The final stage takes place inside a pyramid comprised of several areas, including a mystic forest, various trap rooms and tombs. Enemies include living tree-like creatures and stonemen. Hiruko reveals her true agenda at the end of the stage and the final boss, Cleopatra, will appear.

[edit] Regional differences

Following the game's release in North America and Europe, a version of Double Dragon 3 subsequently released in Japan which removed the shop system. Instead, all four character are selectable from the start with their special techniques already at their disposal. The whirlwind kick was made harder to perform, requiring the player to immediately press the kick button after pressing the jump button. The level design of Mission 1 was greatly altered; the weapon shop is omitted (the stage starts in front of the "Power Records" store) and there is no converyor belt in the warehouse. The other stages are identical, featuring the shops in the background, but the player can no longer enter into them. While playing as a Lee brother, players will find a weapon (either the nunchaku or the sword) lying on the ground, allowing the player to pick them up. Weapons work the same way they do in other versions.

[edit] Ports

[edit] Nintendo Entertainment System

The NES version of Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone (spelled with a roman numeral), unlike the arcade version, was developed in-house by Technos Japan rather than East Technology. Both versions of the game were also developed in tandem. The English-language version was released in North America and Europe by Acclaim Entertainment and was retitled Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones. Like the previous NES installments, the NES version is an adaptation of its arcade counterpart rather than a straight port and has a completely different look than the arcade game, featuring different enemy characters and stage designs.

Whereas the storyline was close to the arcade version in the Japanese version (with only a few additions, such as the inclusion of the Lee Brothers' dead student in the beginning of the game), the English version changed the plot around so that once Billy and Jimmy are searching for Marian (Billy's girlfriend and the series' damsel-in-distress). A twist is added to the game's ending, in which instead of Cleopatra, the final boss is identified as a possesed Marian, going by the name of Queen Noiram. The dialogue and endings for each character are also different and Jim's (the first stage's boss) relation to Willy was omitted.

The game does not feature the shop system either, nor are all characters playable from the start. Instead, the player start the game off as Billy (or Jimmy with the second player) and gain two additional playable characters by defeating them as bosses: Chin Seimei (who replaces Li as the second boss) and Yagyu Ranzou (who uses his sword in combat rather than his bare hands). Roney Urquidez, a playable character from the arcade version replaces Giuliano as the Italian boss, but his name is never mentioned and does not join the character's party. The common enemy characters are different. Gibson, Robinson and Daby are the first enemy characters player will face, followed by nameless martial artists in China, ninjas in Japan and gladiators in Italy.

Each of the playable characters has a reserve weapon in their disposal that have limited uses per stage (the nunchakus for Billy and Jimmy, the iron claw for Chin and shurikens for Ranzou). Like in the older games, the player can disarm certain enemies and use their weapons, although there isn't much in the way of variety; the only weapons available are bottles, sais, and throwing knives.

[edit] Other versions

In addition to the NES version, Acclaim also published two ports of the original arcade version for the Sega Mega Drive and Game Boy under the title of Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game, to reflect the fact they were ported from the arcade version rather than the NES version. The ports were based on the North American release of the arcade version, and thus retained the shopping system (with the player being given a certain amount of virtual tokens at the start of the game). The Game Boy version was programmed by Sales Curve Interactive.

Sales Curve also developed ports of Double Dragon 3 for the ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Atari ST and Commodore 64, which were all published by Tradewest.

[edit] Trivia

• According to series creator, Yoshihisa Kishimoto, the game got its subtitle after the 1970s band Rosetta Stone. It was only after the designers learned the true meaning behind the name that they decided to have the game set in Egypt.

• Although, the arcade version has four character types, the designer's original intentions was actually to include five individual characters: Billy and Jimmy plus the three new characters: Roney Urquidez, Chin Seimei and Masao Oyama (originally called Masahiko). This is evident by the fact that the artwork for Japanese flyer and the game's ending only shows five characters, Billy, Jimmy and the primary members of the Urquidez, Oyama and Chin brothers. Likewise, unused graphical data from the game shows that Jimmy was planned to be a separate character from Billy with a unique special technique from Billy's.

• The cover art of the Japanese Famicom version is the same as the ending picture of the arcade version. The only difference is that Chin has his iron claw, and Oyama and Urquidez are both replaced by Ranzou.

• The Mouko Kaihazan, the Oyama Brothers' special techniques, is used instead by Billy and Jimmy in the NES version, replacing the Toubi Ryujin Ken.

• Kunio, the second Oyama brother, shares his namesake with Technos Japan's virtual mascot, Kunio-kun, who in turn was named after the company's former president, Kunio Taki.

• Sunny, the second Urquidez brother, was also named after another Technos character, Sunny from Tag Team Pro Wrestling.

• In the NES version, if a 2-Player Game is started, Billy's name will appear misspelled as "Bimmy" in the first cut scene.

• In the NES version, "Marion" appears to be a misspelling of "Marian". The story writers of this version also spelled "Marion" backwards to use it as the final boss's name, "Noiram".

[edit] External links

• Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone at World of Spectrum
• Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone at MobyGames
• Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone at the Killer List of Videogames

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