Double Dragon (NES)

Double Dragon

Platform: NES Year: 1988 Developer: Technos Japan Corp. Buy: Amazon

For other games in the series, see Double Dragon.

Double Dragon was the first successful beat-em-up series. The arcade game took plenty of quarters from kids wanting desperately to beat up Willy and rescue Marian. The NES port was similar to the arcade game. You still got to punch, kick, and fight your way through four difficult missions, but there are some other changes that really disappoint the NES players. The biggest letdown comes from the lack of two player simultaneous play. Part of what made Double Dragon so great was the "double" part. Taking that away made the game half as exciting. Also, because of the lack of processing power on the NES, some of the enemy characters were removed, and a most of the animation was toned down. In the end, you're left with a lukewarm fighting game, that is rather disappointing, not to mention insanely difficult.

Screenshots

The title screen. The start of the game.

This page needs more screenshots.

Music

VGMPF Album Art

One thing that was done right in the NES port was the music. Double Dragon has an amazing electric guitar sound, especially in "The City Slums" and "Opening". The other tracks are also nicely composed.

The music was composed by Kazunaka Yamane. Most of it was ported to the NES from his original arcade soundtrack, only the NES sound makes it seem a little louder and more in-your-face. Yamane composed two new songs for the NES port: "The Cave" and "Game Over." The entire arcade track of "Setting Off" was ported to the NES, but unfortunately it's cut off prematurely during the intermissions, so you normally only get to hear the beginning, but a complete version is recorded here.

Most of the track titles come from the album, Original Sound of Double Dragon.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Length	Listen	Download
01	Opening (Double Dragon)	Kazunaka Yamane	1:35		Download
02	Setting Off (A New Battle) (Partial)	Kazunaka Yamane	0:06		Download
03	The City Slums (The Black Warriors Arrive)	Kazunaka Yamane	2:43		Download
04	The Industrial Area (The Great Fray)	Kazunaka Yamane	1:32		Download
05	The Woods	Kazunaka Yamane	2:30		Download
06	The Cave	Kazunaka Yamane	0:40		Download
07	The Giant Abobo Appears	Kazunaka Yamane	1:04		Download
08	The Hideout (Willy the Nemesis)	Kazunaka Yamane	1:12		Download
09	After the Battle	Kazunaka Yamane	0:02		Download
10	Game Over	Kazunaka Yamane	0:04		Download
11	Setting Off (A New Battle)	Kazunaka Yamane	1:15		Download
12	Ending (Reunion With Marian)	Kazunaka Yamane	0:22		Download

Credits

• Ripper: Memblers & TNSe^1999
• Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
• ROM Credits:
  • Music Kazunaka Yamane credited as Lasalu Yamne
  • Special Thanks Michiya Hirasawa credited as -Point Hirasawa

(Source: Arcade, Unused Credits)

Interestingly, the game has code and data for credit screens, but it doesn't appear to have been completed by the time the game shipped. Viewing the game's ROM with a hex editor, the name Lasalu Yamne is seen, no doubt referencing Kazunaka Yamane.

-Point Hirasawa, an alias for Michiya Hirasawa is listed in the Special Thanks section. The game uses his sound driver, which is probably what he was given credit for.

Albums

Original Sound of Double Dragon (Arcade Version) 1988-02-12

Game Rip

Format	Download
	Download (Info)

Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site.

Releases

Japan Title: 双截龍 (Double Dragon) Platform: Famicom Released: 1988-04-08 Publisher: Technos Japan Corp.     USA Title: Double Dragon Platform: NES Released: 1988-06-?? Publisher: Tradewest, Inc.     UK Title: Double Dragon Platform: NES Released: 1990-??-?? Publisher: Tradewest, Inc.

Links

• mobygames.com/game/nes/double-dragon - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.com/nes/563405-double-dragon - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dragon_%28video_game%29 - Wikipedia.