Double Dragon (series)
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Double Dragon (双截龍 Sōsetsuryū or ダブルドラゴン Daburu Doragon) is a classic beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technos Japan Corporation, who also developed the Kunio-kun series (Renegade, Super Dodge Ball and River City Ransom). The original game was designed by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, who originally conceived the game as a 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, with the post apocalyptic setting based on the popular manga series Fist of the North Star.
The series stars twin brothers, Billy and Jimmy Lee, who are followers of a fictional martial art called Sōsetsuken (双截拳), as they fight against various adversaries and rivals. Double Dragon has had several sequels and has been ported to several different platforms. Due to the popularity of the game series, an animated series and live-action film adaptation have also been produced.
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[edit] Overview
[edit] Double Dragon
- Further information: Double Dragon (video game)
One of the earlier beat-em-ups produced, the arcade version of Double Dragon, released in 1987, was a technological successor to Technos Japan's previous game Renegade (both games having been directed by the same designer, Yoshihisa Kishimoto). Changes made from Renegade includes the addition of two-player cooperative gameplay and the ability to disarm an opponent's weapon and use it against the enemy. The player takes control of martial artist Billy Lee (player 1's character, dressed in blue) or his brother Jimmy (player 2's character, dressed in red), as they set out to rescue Marian, a woman that has been kidnapped by a local street gang, the Black Warriors. The player uses a variety of martial arts techniques against numerous types of opponents, as they travel through four stages to reach the hideout of the gang's leader, Willy, and rescue Marian. If the game being played by two players, the game will pit the two players against each other to determine who will win over Marian's affection.
Technos produced two home versions of Double Dragon, one for the NES (released in 1988) and Game Boy (1990), both which were released in the west by Tradewest. These two versions differ from the arcade game due to the omission of cooperative gameplay and the addition of a competitive one-on-one versus mode. The NES version also altered the plot slightly by turning Jimmy Lee into the gang's leader, forcing the player to fight him after defeating Willy.
Other companies has obtained the license to produce their own conversion of the original Double Dragon, resulting versions of Double Dragon for numerous platforms, many which were produced for the western market. Versions of Double Dragon have been released for the Master System (by Sega), Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 (by Activision), Genesis (by Accolade) and Lynx (by Telegames). Double Dragon has also been ported to numerous computer platforms by Virgin Games. A port of the original arcade game was released for the Xbox Live Arcade service with an option for HD graphics.
[edit] Double Dragon II: The Revenge
- Further information: Double Dragon II: The Revenge
The arcade version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge was released in 1988, a year after the original. The game was essentially an upgraded version of the original Double Dragon, with many of the returning enemy characters having been redrawn from their original appearance. The plot this time revolves around the Lee brothers avenging Marian's death, who is shot to death at the beginning of the game by Willy. The play controls were changed from the original game, with the punch and kick buttons from the original game being replaced by directional based attack buttons similar to Renegade. The player gain a few new techniques, including a powerful hurricane kick.
Technos Japan released the NES version a year later in 1989, which was published in the west by Acclaim Entertainment. Unlike the NES version of the first game, cooperative gameplay was kept in this version, with the number of stages increased from four to nine and new attacks added to the player's repertoire such as a flying knee kick and the hyper uppercut. The NES version also added cut scenes between stages, as well as a new final boss, after the player defeats their character's clone in Stage 8.
Ports of the arcade game has been released for numerous computer platforms in the west by Virgin Games. In Japan, a Mega Drive version based on the arcade game was released in 1991 (via Pal Soft), as well as a PC Engine version (via Naxat Soft) based on the NES game in 1993.
A Game Boy game simply titled Double Dragon II was released in North America and the PAL region by Acclaim in 1991. This Game Boy version is unrelated to the arcade and NES versions of Double Dragon II: The Revenge, as it is an English localization of the Japanese Kunio-kun game Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun: Bangai Rantō Hen, with the graphics, music and plot changed to sell the game as a Double Dragon side-story.
[edit] Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
- Further information: Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
Released in 1990, the third Double Dragon arcade game was published by Technos, but actually developed by an external team at East Technology (a graffiti which reads "Gigandes" can be seen on the first stage), resulting in a completely different look and gameplay compared to the first two games. The game can be set up for up to two or three players, much like the Technos' arcade game The Combatribes released during the same year. The plot revolves around Billy and Jimmy's worldwide search for the three Rosetta Stones. The Western versions of the arcade game features weapon shops that allows the player to gain new characters, weapons, energy and power-ups by inserting additional tokens. The Japanese version of the arcade game discards this feature in favor of a more conventional character select feature where the player can choose between the Lee brothers or three new character types: the Urquidez Brothers, the Ōyama Brothers and the Chin Brothers.
The NES version, retitled Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone in Japan and Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones in the west, released a few months later in 1991, was developed internally by Technos and once again published in the west by Acclaim. In this version, the player begins game as Billy (with Jimmy, if played with a partner) and gains two additional characters (Chin Seimei and Yagyu Ranzou) by defeating them as bosses.
Acclaim also released Game Boy and Genesis versions of Double Dragon 3 based on the arcade game in 1992, both versions bearing the title Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game on their packaging.
[edit] Super Double Dragon
- Further information: Super Double Dragon
Released in 1992, Super Double Dragon for the Super NES was the first completely original Double Dragon game for a home console. The game was this time published in the west by Tradewest, the company that published the original Double Dragon for the NES and Game Boy. The main addition to the gameplay is ability for the player to block an enemy's attack. The player can grab certain enemy characters' arm by blocking their punches, leaving them open for a counter-attack. Super Double Dragon is notable for having been released unfinished: unlike previous Double Dragon games, Super Double Dragon does not explain the player's objective within the game itself and the ending is text only. Cut scenes, as well as stage traps, were planned out for the game, but were not used in the released version. The Japanese version, Return of Double Dragon, features numerous differences, including two additional levels in the final stage (but lacks the text ending).
[edit] Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team
- Further information: Battletoads & Double Dragon
Battletoads & Double Dragon, developed by Rare, was the first of two Double Dragon games published by Tradewest specifically for the western market. The game, a crossover between Double Dragon and Rare's own Battletoads characters, was originally released for the NES in 1993 shortly after the release of Super Double Dragon as one of the console's late releases and was later ported to the Game Boy, Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES. The game features Billy and Jimmy as playable characters with canonically incorrect depictions of Abobo, Roper (a misnamed Willy) and the Shadow Boss (an original character) as the game's bosses representing the Double Dragon series.
[edit] Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls
- Further information: Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls
Double Dragon V is a one-on-one fighting game based on the Double Dragon animated series released for the SNES, Genesis and Jaguar during the fighting game boom in 1994. The game was produced by the American-based Leland Corp., a subsidiary of Tradewest, and released only in the western market. The game features eight characters from the Double Dragon animated series, as well as four original characters.
[edit] Double Dragon (Neo Geo version)
- Further information: Double Dragon (Neo Geo)
Released in 1995, several months after Double Dragon V, the Neo Geo version of Double Dragon is a one-on-one fighting game produced by Technos based on the live action Double Dragon movie. The game features Billy and Jimmy, along with classic villains Abobo and Burnov and former damsel in distress Marian, are joined by fine new playable characters. The boss characters consist of Duke, the final boss from Super Double Dragon, and Shuko, the antagonist from the movie. The game has been released in arcade and home cartridge formats, as well as on Neo Geo CD format. A PlayStation port was released in Japan only, published by Urban Plant. This was the last Double Dragon game produced by Technos before they went out of business.
[edit] Double Dragon Advance
- Further information: Double Dragon Advance
After Technos went out of business, the company's former intellectual properties were later purchased by Million, a company composed of former Technos employees. The company would produced a Game Boy Advance remake of the original game titled Double Dragon Advance in 2003, published by Atlus. This version features numerous new moves, stages and enemy characters inspired by the first four Double Dragon games, as well as other Technos beat-em-ups such as Renegade and Combatribes. The game features an alternate single player mode where the player takes control of both Lee brothers at the same time, as well as a survival mode.
[edit] Other appearances
- Billy and Jimmy Lee appear as playable characters in the beach volleyball game Super Spike V'Ball, an NES version of the arcade game U.S. Championship V'Ball. As beach ball players, they have the best defense in the game, but relatively weak power.
- Billy Lee makes a cameo appearance as a crowd member in the Technos wrestling game WWF Superstars.
- In Technos' River City Ransom, two characters clearly patterned after Billy and Jimmy, named Randy and Andy, appear as bosses and they utilize the same fighting techniques as the Lee brothers, including the hurricane kick. In the Japanese version (Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari), they were known as Ryūichi and Ryūji Hattori and would become recurring characters thorough many Kunio-kun games such as Downtown Nekketsu Kōshinkyoku, Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki dayo Zen'in Shūgō Bikkuri Nekketsu Shin Kiroku (the Japanese version of Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge), Kunio-kun no Dodgeball dayo Zen'in Shūgō and Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari. In later games (including River City Ransom EX), Ryūichi and Ryūji are given the secret techniques of the Dragon Knee and God Fist, which are actually the Flying Knee Kick and Hyper Uppercut used by Billy and Jimmy in Double Dragon II: The Revenge and Double Dragon Advance.
- Burnov, from the Neo-Geo version of Double Dragon, makes a cameo in Captain Atlantis' ending in Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer.
- The Neo-Geo game Rage of the Dragons was developed as a homage to the Double Dragon games, but the designers originally meant for the game to be an official Double Dragon sequel, but were unable to obtain the rights.
[edit] Characters
- Billy and Jimmy Lee - The titular characters of the series. They are twin brothers, with Billy often stated to be the younger in Technos Japan's official canon. Billy usually serves as the primary playable character, while Jimmy is the second player. In the NES version of the first game, the plot was changed so that Jimmy was revelead to the leader of the Black Warriors, the Shadow Boss. This plot twist was ignored in the two NES sequels which followed, although it became the basis of the Double Dragon cartoon series. They are masters of a fictional martial arts style known as Sou-Setsu-Ken (双截拳 Sōsetsuken?), which loosely translates to "Double-Interception-Fist", an obvious reference to Bruce Lee's style Jeet Kune Do (Mandarian: Jié-quán-dào; Japanese: Setsukendō). The twins are often depicted wearing matching pants and vests, with Billy having a blue outfit and Jimmy wearing red. Their hairstyles also differs between games. In the original arcade game, Billy has blond hair, whereas Jimmy has brown hair. The hair colors were reversed in later games, with the twins being depicted as having different hair styles (as seen above). Originally this difference in appearance was only depicted in cover and character illustrations, but is clearly visible in the actual game graphics of Super Double Dragon and Double Dragon Advance. Their fighting styles also began to differ from each other in Super Double Dragon, with Billy's style focusing on quick attacks and the use of nunchakus (named Southern Sōsetsuken in the manual of Super Double Dragon), and Jimmy's style focusing on strong attacks and the use of the bo and kali sticks (named Northern Sōsetsuken). Double Dragon V and the Neo-Geo fighting game feature their own unique depictions of the Lee brothers based on the cartoon series and film respectively. The American arcade cabinet's artwork depicted the two characters with tattoos on their shoulders, bearing their nicknames "Spike" (a bloody nail, for Jimmy) and "Hammer" (a sledge hammer, for Billy). Billy wears the tattoo over his left, Jimmy over his right, and both bear a dragon tattoo on the back of the hand on the same arm. These details are not visible in-game however or are not featured in any of the original Japanese art. [1]
- Marian - Billy's girlfriend. Often depicted as having long blonde hair and usually wears a red dress, though in the first two arcade games she has brown hair. She serves as the series' damsel-in-distress, often being kidnapped (and at one point, killed off) by the villains in many games. The original arcade version of Double Dragon depicted a romantic rivalry between the two brothers over Marian's affection. In the comics and cartoon series, Marian is portrayed as a female friend of the brothers (with no real romantic relationship between either of them) who happens to be a police officer. This portrayal was planned to be used in Super Double Dragon, but Marian is only mentioned in the instruction manual and does not appear in the released version of the game. Likewise the live-action film depicts Marian as the leader of a Guardian Angels-style street gang who aids the Lee brothers. The Neo-Geo game features a version of Marian based on the film's portrayal, who is a female fighter who uses a figure skating-based techniques.
The brothers' enemies are a criminal organization known as the Black Warriors or the Shadow Warriors, depending on the games. In the first two arcade games, the Black Warriors was the street gang of a man named Willy, the machine gun-wielding final boss of those two games. He was replaced by a so-called "Mysterious Warrior" in the NES version of Double Dragon II and the organization in that version was depicted as a separate group, renamed the Shadow Warriors in the English localization of the game. The name Shadow Warriors was used for another gang appearing in Super Double Dragon, as well in the enhanced remake Double Dragon Advance. Several of the enemies in the series are named after characters from Bruce Lee's film Enter the Dragon, such as Williams, Roper, Oharra, and Bolo.
[edit] In other media
Due to the popularity of the Double Dragon games, Tradewest lent the brand name to various tie-ins in the US, including adaptions of the game in media outside of the games themselves. These adaptions strayed from their source material and were very unpopular, with the Lee brothers often depicted as superheroes who inherited their powers from artifacts such as swords or amulets (depending on the adaption) instead of being skilled martial artists like in the games.
[edit] Comic book
During the latter half of 1991, Marvel Comics published a six-issue limited series (22 pages each) based on Double Dragon. This was the first of several Double Dragon tie-ins produced in the U.S. under license by Tradewest. Issues 1-4 were written by Dwayne McDuffie, with 5-6 cowritten by Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich
In the comic, Billy and Jimmy are the successor of a supernatural force known as the "Dragon Force" and the first twins to share this power. Their main adversary in the comic was a demonic mob boss named Nightfall, a former family friend and their mother's murderer. The comic also features Marian as a police officer, a role she would later take in Super Double Dragon, as well as in the cartoon series. The Lee brothers' father is also introduced in this series as a man named Stan, an obvious reference to Marvel Comics' legend Stan Lee.
[edit] Animated series
The Double Dragon animated series was produced by DiC Entertainment and ran for 26 half-hour episodes between 1993 and 1995. The premise of the show had the Lee brothers separated at birth, with Billy being raised by a wiseman known as the Eldest Dragon. In contrast, his brother Jimmy was raised by the evil Shadow Master to become his second-in-command, the Shadow Boss. As a result, the Lee brothers meet each other as adversaries after being reunited as adults. However, by the end of the second episode, Jimmy is betrayed by the Shadow Master, which leads the brothers to set aside their difference and fight against the greater evil. The Lee brothers made use of magical swords which contained special powers and added dragon masks to the brothers' outfit. During the course of the series, the brothers recruited allies in their war against the Shadow Master and his henchmen, in the second season gaining stronger magical weapons when the Shadow Master harnessed the strength of the even more evil Shadow Kahn to increase his power. The search for their father, John Lee, was a running subplot throughout the series.
[edit] Live-action movie
In 1994, a live-action Double Dragon movie was produced starring Mark Dacascos as Jimmy Lee , Scott Wolf as Billy Lee, along with Alyssa Milano as Marian Delario and Robert Patrick as original villain Koga Shuko. [2] It was directed by James Yukich and written by the team of Paul Dini (of Batman: The Animated Series) and Neal Shusterman. Reviews by critics, such as the review of the movie by the Washington Post were not favorable. The movie was also shunned by fans and public opinion alike. During the final fight sequence of the movie there is a close-up of Billy in which the Double Dragon arcade cabinet is clearly visible.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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