Virtual Console Monday - Double Dragon
Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 8:55am by David
Only one new Virtual Console game this week:
Double Dragon - NES - 1988 - 500 Wii Points
Double Dragon begins with Billy Lee’s girlfriend, Marian, being kidnapped by a group called the Black Warriors. They demand to know the secrets of Billy’s martial-arts style in exchange for his girlfriend. However, Billy won’t stand for these underhanded tactics and decides to rescue her himself. Help him fight through city streets, buildings, jungles, temples and various other locations in a quest to find his girl [Originally published by Tradewest]
This game was huge in the arcades back in the late 80’s. Unfortunately, the NES version dropped the best part of the experience: co-operative multi-player. Even the Master System version had co-op. Buy this one only if you’re desperate.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:32 am
The game had a fun single player experience and a throw away 2 player vs. game. This game is worth while for the single player. Double Dragon II for the nes was one of the best co-op nes games. Double Dragon for GBA is a better than arcade translation of the game. It’s awesome on the Gamecube’s GB player with arcade sticks.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I’d be a lot more excited if this game wasn’t $5. XBLA recieved an HD version for the same price.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Ditto gradius’ comment. I’m waiting for Double Dragon II
April 28th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Co-op only on the SMS version?
I have a solution!
RELEASE THE MASTER SYSTEM VERSION ON THE VC INSTEAD!!
It’s not hard, people!
April 28th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
regardless of two player mode, the game is classic and still fun.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
double dragon is fantastic. i think that’s the first NES game I played with 2 people. love it.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I consider the NES verison of DD to be awesome. I had it a kid and played the crap out of it. It may not have been as good as the arcade or even the SMS version, but this one is still great. I still hum the music to this day.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
seriously i never even played the arcade version, so i wouldn’t even know anything was missing. loved this game and many hours as an 8 year old were spent trying to beat this damn game. part duece was awesome as well.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Yeah to say “buy this only if you are desperate” is just wrong. This game is a totally different build than the arcade game. I think the developers realized the nes could not do the title justice, so they set about making a unique DD eperience just for the nes. It was a little bit RPG-ish in that you had to earn the more advanced moves by beating up bad guys. The arcade version you didn’t have that. I would buy this game before I bought a lot of other stuff on the VC. The Xbox live version looks pretty and has online play, but I still have to say that the GBA version by Million is far better, heck it had 8 missions compared to uh like 4, and it had new bad guys. I had to buy two copies just to play two player but to me it was well worth it.
April 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Yes, I take exception to the “buy this only if you are desperate” as well. And I take exception to myself in my last comment, even without the 2 player co-op, the NES version is still superior to the SMS version, because the co-op is the only thing the SMS version has over the NES version. And while the 2 player co-op can be a negative, it also is a positive because the single player mode is stronger than most of the other DD games in the series.
I do agree however that the GBA game is probably the best out of all the DD games. I was extremely surprised. Though I also love DD 2 on the NES and Super DD on the SNES.
And of course like a true DD fan, I totally ignore the awful DD V, the DD cartoon and possibly not only the worst video game movie sever but one of the worst movies ever PERIOD, Double Dragon The Movie.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
This game is absolutely worth $5. Even though I think the Sega Master System version is better, the NES version is still fun. It does suck at the beginning when you don’t have many moves, but overall the game does a good job of staying entertaining.