Double Dragon (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Tradewest's 1988 beat 'em up for the NES, Double Dragon.

This video shows both game modes. Mode B begins at 19:06.

Building off of the successful innovations of Technos Japan’s previous beat ’em up, Renegade (   • Renegade (NES) Playthrough - Nintendo...  ), Double Dragon for the NES is an adaptation of the first game in a successful trilogy of arcade brawlers.

When Billy Lee’s girlfriend, Marian, is brutally assaulted and kidnapped, he vows track down the one responsible for her abduction - the leader of the Shadow Warriors - known only as the Shadow Boss.

Fighting across the city slums, an industrial area, a forest, and the lair of the Black Warriors, Billy takes on the entire gang in his efforts to save Marian. Each stage has been heavily altered from its arcade counterpart and now features different enemies and new platforming-based challenges.

The majority of the game still plays from the 2.5D perspective seen in the arcade original, but the NES game switches to a straight-on side view for sequences that require precise-timed jumps. Building on the combo system first established in Renegade, Double Dragon features a far deeper fighting system than most of its contemporaries, and in a unique RPG-flavored twist exclusive to the NES version, Billy learns more powerful moves as he earns experience and gains levels.

Though the graphics had to be scaled down from the arcade game, NES Double Dragon still looks fantastic for a game released in 1988. The enemies' sprites, though smaller and simpler, are still completely recognizable, and since there are only ever two enemies on screen at a time, the awful slowdown that plagued the coin-op version is gone, significantly improving the flow of gameplay. The music, especially the title theme and first level themes, are some of the most recognizable in 80s gaming, and they sound excellent on the NES.

Double Dragon is a challenging game, but having only two enemies to deal with at once tends to keep things manageable, as it is now virtually impossible for Billy to get hopelessly surrounded. The lack of two-player cooperative play is unfortunate, though, and the superfluous versus mode doesn't do much to make up for the loss.

Overall, though it's not particularly faithful to the arcade game, Double Dragon on the NES does an excellent job of adapting the experience for the home market. Given its quality, it's hardly a surprise that it became one of console's biggest third-party hits of 1988.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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