![]() Enemies that are groggy from being punched or kicked can also be grabbed, pummeled in a variety of ways, and thrown, and both Billy and Jimmy have their own unique signature moves in the form of a jump elbow, and axe kick.Įven though the action is a little more sophisticated than prior NES games in the series, Double Dragon IV plays very much like a period 8-bit release. A quite comprehensive suite of fighting moves is available to the player, from simple kicks and punches, through classic combos like spin kicks, roundhouses, back elbows, and uppercuts, to new techniques such as the spinning headbutt. This mission of mercy involves battling through typical Double Dragon-style pseudo-3D street levels, as well as navigating tricky 2D platforming sections. And so begins a journey from the states to Japan as the heroes take on not only The Renegades, but also members of the Black Warriors – enemies that might be familiar to those who've played Double Dragon II: The Revenge. While they're on their way to their San Francisco headquarters, a mysterious group called The Renegades runs them off the road, and the intrepid duo learns that this evil organization has captured Billy's girlfriend, Marian. ![]() The story, articulated through a series of NES-style intermission screens, reveals that after overcoming the power of the Gensatsuken technique, Billy and Jimmy have set up S?setsuken dojos across the US to preserve the peace. The action takes place after the events of Double Dragon II: The Revenge (which, rather confusingly, follows on from Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone). The period attention to detail is really quite remarkable, and to all intents and purposes, Double Dragon IV feels like a brand new NES game. Rather than aping the original coin-op's 16-bit style, or bringing the series bang up to date with modern audio-visuals, Double Dragon IV, in case you didn't notice the screenshots yet, is a hardcore retro game that looks (and indeed sounds and plays) like someone at developer Arc System Works discovered an unreleased Double Dragon IV NES ROM down the back of their corporate sofa, and emulated it on PS4. ![]() Despite knocking it for its flickering sprites and lack of simultaneous two-player action, I thought it played well, and I liked the additional one-on-one fighting mode that was also incorporated into the game.Īt this point, you may well be wondering why I'm highlighting the NES version of the game, and fortunately the answer to this mystery lies in the very next sentence. I reviewed it back in the day and ended up giving it a score of 83%. Most players, however, remember Tradewest's NES version. Hell, even an Atari 2600 version was created (by Activision, no less). The game became one of the big arcade hits of the year, and was ported to almost all of the contemporary gaming platforms of the day, from the ZX Spectrum and Sega Master System to the Game Boy and Genesis. While it featured the same basic punch-kick-jump controls, and an almost identical viewpoint as Renegade, Double Dragon dialed up the gameplay with simultaneous two-player action, a more sophisticated repertoire of moves, and the ability for players to knock the weapon out of the hands of an enemy, and then pick it up – as well as other ambient objects – and use them. But Double Dragon? That took the brawler concept to the next level. I'd enjoyed early beat 'em ups like Data East's 1984 Kung-Fu Master, and particularly liked Technos' 1986 genre-defining Renegade (whose original Japanese name incidentally translates to the brilliant-sounding Hot-Blooded Tough Guy Kunio). I remember first encountering the game at an arcade convention back in 1987, and absolutely loving it. The mere mention of Double Dragon elicits a flood of very fond memories for me.
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