| Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls | |
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Cover art of the SNES version |
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| Developer(s) | Leland Interactive Media |
| Publisher(s) | Tradewest |
| Series | Double Dragon |
| Platform(s) | Super NES Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Atari Jaguar |
| Release date(s) | SNES Mega Drive/Genesis Jaguar |
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Single player Cooperative |
| Media/distribution | Cartridge |
Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls is a 1994 American-produced sequel to Technos Japan's Double Dragon series.[4] Unlike the previously produced Double Dragon games, Technos had little or no credited involvement in the development of the game outside of licensing the series' name to publisher Tradewest (the publisher of the first Double Dragon and Super Double Dragon). Instead, the game was developed by Leland Interactive Media, a subsidiary of Tradewest. Unlike the previous games, which were side-scrolling fighting action games or beat-em-ups, Shadow Falls is a Street Fighter II-style head-to-head fighting game based on the animated Double Dragon TV series. Technos would later produce its own fighting game based on the Double Dragon movie the following year simply titled Double Dragon for the Neo Geo. Shadow Falls was originally released for the Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, and later released for the Atari Jaguar by Telegames in 1995.
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The game follows the 8-way directional pad/stick with 6-button layout common to most fighting games (including Street Fighter II) at the time consisting of weak, medium and strong punches and kicks. The Genesis version supports the standard 3-button controller (making use of the start button to toggle between punches and kicks), as well as the 6-button controller released during the previous year. The characters have several special moves, as well as finishing moves called "Overkills" where the losing character has their own unique death animation when they are defeated by a certain type of basic attack.
The game features four game modes: Tournament Mode, Vs. Battle, Quest Mode and Battle Mode. Tournament Mode is an arcade-style single player mode, where the player competes against a series of computer-controlled opponents, with each character having their own ending, while Vs. Battle is a typical two player mode where one player competes against another. Quest Mode is an alternate single player mode where one competes in a series of plot-based battles. In Quest Mode, the player can choose to play as one of the Lee brothers, who are on a mission to stop the Shadow Master from releasing a plague, or play as one of the Shadow Warriors, who must compete to become the Shadow Master's new second-in-command. The player can also alter the storyline by having Billy be the Shadow Boss while Jimmy is good. In Quest Mode, the player can adjust the attributes of their own character. Watch Mode allows the player to pit two computer controlled characters against each other. There is also a Dossiers mode, where the player gets to view the game's character profiles, as well as an Options mode to adjust the difficulty setting, control configuration and other features.
Shadow Falls has a character roster of twelve fighters, ten immediately playable character (the two "Double Dragons" and eight Shadow Warriors) and two end bosses. Many of the characters are taken from the Double Dragon animated series that aired during the game's release. Only Bones, Sekka, Blade, and Dominique are original characters, with Blade's design being based on the generic Shadow Warrior soldiers who were on the show. Dominique and the Shadow Master are playable in the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis versions via a code. In the Jaguar version, Blade, Trigger Happy, and Icepick were removed, and Dominique was added to the immediate roster.
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