Double Dragon II: The Revenge (NES)

Double Dragon II: The Revenge

NES - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Technos Publisher Technos, Acclaim Entertainment Published 1989-12-22 Platforms NES Genres Action, Beat 'em up Themes Martial arts, Post-apocalyptic Series Double Dragon Multiplayer Simultaneous co-op Distribution Commercial

Double Dragon II: The Revenge is a beat 'em up video game developed and published by Technos in Japan on the Famicom on 1989-12-22, then published by Acclaim Entertainment in North America on the NES in January 1990. The game is based on the arcade game of the same name, but it is so different, it deserves its own page. It is the fourth game released in the Double Dragon series.

The game is set after the first, and a nuclear war has left New York in a shambles, and the Black Shadow Warriors, in attempt to gain control of the city, have attacked the Double Dragon Dojo, killing all the students and Billy Lee's girlfriend Marion. Billy and Jimmy are now the only ones left to defeat the Black Shadow Warriors. The game uses different mechanics than the first, allowing two-player simultaneous fighting (with or without friendly fire), flips the attack buttons when you turn (like Renegade), and starts you with all the special attacks rather than making you earn them.

Personal

Own?	Yes. NES USA.
Won?	Yes. Normal difficulty.
Finished	2020-08-21.

My brother's friend Rob had this game in the early 1990s. I first watched them play it, then played it with Rob's little brother Chris. They owned an NES Max, which made it much easier to pull off the special moves using the controller's turbo buttons. My brother and I had an NES Advantage, but the adjustable turbo dials didn't sync up, so it didn't help. We played the game all the time, and also pretended to be Billy and Jimmy and play fight. We were able to beat the game on Warrior difficulty, but only Rob beat it on Supreme Master difficulty and saw the true ending. Wanting to add it to my list, I beat the game at Supreme Master difficulty at age 40.

Review

6	4	6	5	5

Best Version: NES

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• Although I liked the idea of learning new moves through experience in the first NES game, it's nice to be able to crack skulls right out the gate.
• The combat controls have been greatly improved, especially with the button flipping to mirror the direction you're facing. You also have a lot more options at your disposal.
• The graphics, especially the background scenery, is great for the time. The larger graphics during the cut scenes, though nowhere near as impressive as Ninja Gaiden, still look great and give the game a comic book vibe.
• Having alternate two-player modes to allow or prevent friendly-fire was a nice addition.
• The various scenes and environments keep the game feeling fresh.
• I'm impressed by how smoothly the game switches between a side-view and a tilt-view.

Bad

• The music in this game is pretty lame, especially compared to the amazing electric guitar from the first game. Most of the tracks are slower melodies with very similar bass lines.
• Like with most beat 'em ups, in order to beat the game, you can't just walk up to enemies and punch them, you have to fight them slowly and methodically while exploiting their AI, which is not very fun.
• Also, enemies are safe as long as they're off the screen, and can ambush you from the safety, but you're always confined to the screen. This is common with beat 'em ups, but not desirable.
• The game, like so many before and after it, uses women as plot device.
• The in-game story, box, and the manual can't seem to agree on what happened to Marion. Was she murdered or not?

Ugly

• Although the combat controls have improved a lot, the jumping controls are still awful. Any section that requires you to jump from one platform to another is tedious and often fatal. Mission 7, the Trap Room, is particularly frustrating because of this.

Media

Covers

• 

  The original Japanese box uses effective comic book style art with Billy and Jimmy fighting the Shadow Warriors on the roof of a building. Jimmy is holding Marion, which is odd for two reasons. One, she's Billy's girlfriend, and two, in the game's story, she's dead.

• 

  The North American box uses the same art, but censors it a bit. Marion's skirt is longer and her top is red instead of pink. but includes more of it, and has slightly better lettering. This is my favorite.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Japan.

• 

  Manual - Japan - Digital.

• 

  Manual - USA.

• 

  Manual - USA - Digital.

• 

  Hot Tips for the Coolest Nintendo Games.

Maps

• 

  All maps.

Graphics

• spriters-resource.com/nes/doubledragoniitherevenge
• Font.

Videos

Longplay - 2-player, mode A, supreme master difficulty.

Play Online

Famicom, NES (Europe), NES (USA)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	Marian exists solely to be murdered and avenged and Linda is again a generic opponent.
Bechdel test?	Fail	None of the women talk.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Some of the Black Shadow gang appear to be people of color, but none of them are important.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Credits

Roles	Staff
Director	Hiroyuki Sekimoto
Programmers	Shintaro Kumagai, K. Sonoda, Genei Fukuhara, T. Obinata
Character Designers	Koji Ogata, Nobuyuki Sawada
Background Designers	Koji Kai, M. Watanabe
Graphic Designer	Kumiko Mukai
Music, Sound Effects	Kazunaka Yamane
Audio Programmer	Michiya Hirasawa
Special Thanks	Tsutomu Ando, N. Fujita, Mariko Kido, K. Kishimoto, Masao Shiroto, W. S. Little, Mitsuhiro Yoshida, S. Tamai

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Japanese	ダブルドラゴンII ザ・リベンジ	Daburu Doragon II: Za Ribenji	Double Dragon II: The Revenge

Links