Rage of the Dragons

Rage of the Dragons is a tag-team Fighting Game released for the Neo Geo in 2002. It was originally intended to be a sequel to the Double Dragon fighting game released for the Neo-Geo in 1995, but Evoga (the developers) couldn't get the rights to the characters, so the game became more of a homage to the series. This is most evident when one looks at Shotos Jimmy and Billy Lewis, who are essentially expies of the similarly named Lee brothers from the original Double Dragon games. Sub-boss Abubo also resembles Abobo from the first game.


 * Abusive Parents: In their backstory, Billy and Jimmy Lewis' original parents were these, so Jimmy packed up and left and Billy followed him. That's how they wound up being welcomed in and trained by Lee Song, Lynn's grandfather.
 * Acrofatic: Kang Jae-Mo. The wrestler is large, fat and can rack up surprisingly fast combos and has lots of spinning attacks.
 * Alice Allusion: Alice Carroll. If her name alone isn't enough of a tip-off (her surname is from Lewis Carroll, writer of the original books), then the fact she's a young girl in a blue-and-white dress from England should be. Not to mention her "dislike" listed on her bio is "rabbits".
 * All There in the Manual: In-game, you get most of the story from the characters' endings. To get the full story and understand all of what's going on, you need to track down copies of the legend of the dragons and the background story. The Double Dragon fansite Double Dragon Dojo as well as the SNK Wiki are good sources for this, but there are other sources around as well.
 * Angelic Beauty: Cassandra, with powers to match.
 * Anti-Hero: Jimmy, big time. He's on the side of good, but he's constantly hot-headed and angry and has a dark past. Also, most of his win quotes involve him telling the opponent to go away and quit bothering him.
 * Apologetic Attacker: A lot of Cassandra's win quotes are some form of apologizing for the beat-down she just delivered.
 * As the Good Book Says...: Minor example with Elias. A lot of his win quotes attempt to "save" the opponent, though in his case, it's more "saving the opponent from self-destructive tendencies" rather than "saving them for God".
 * Badass Family: Radel is part of a dwindling dragon hunter clan that is believed to be descended from Siegfried, a dragon slayer. Lynn received most of her martial arts skills from her grandfather, who unfortunately dies of old age in the game's backstory. Oni and Cassandra are a Badass Adopted Family.
 * Badass Preacher: Elias.
 * Big Bad: Johann.
 * Big Man on Campus: Pepe is one of the most popular guys in his school despite the fact that he constantly gets into trouble due to his adventuresome spirit. His "Big Man" status is because he is generous and friendly and outgoing to everyone.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: Borderline example with Cassandra and Oni. Oni is Cassandra's adopted older brother (they're both orphans and not blood-related), but a lot of the motivation for Cassandra's behavior revolves around Oni. She withdraws from society partially to avoid upsetting him or making him jealous in addition to her autism, she tags along with him during the tournament to help sate his bloodlust so he won't cause too much destruction, and in Oni's backstory, Oni attacked her in her sleep out of his addiction to fighting and yet when Cassandra doesn't know what happened only that Oni left (in reality, Elias sent Oni away because of the aforementioned "attacked in sleep" incident), she left the orphanage too just because he did. The only part of Cassandra's motivation that doesn't revolve around Oni is that she wants to know the truth about her parents and her and Oni's past. On Oni's part, he affectionately nicknames her "Cass", becomes angry enough to kill Johann just because Cassandra took one of Johann's blows for Oni, and while he sometimes bullies his sister, he also sees Cassandra as his "lone treasure" in the world. The player would be forgiven for mistaking these two as lovers instead of "adopted siblings".
 * Capoeira: Pupa's fighting style.
 * Captain Ersatz: The Lewis brothers and Abubo to the Lee brothers and Abobo in Double Dragon.
 * Crossover: Four characters (Jimmy, Lynn, Elias and Mr. Jones) appear in another game produced by Noise Factory, Power Instinct Matrimelee. Due to licensing issues, they were left out from the PS2 port.
 * Cute but Cacophonic: Alice. Justified, she's possessed by an evil spirit. The spirit is the one with the screaming, screechy voice, not her: she speaks normally in Elias and Alice's ending.
 * Daddy's Girl: Pupa's a minor example. She inherited her love of mechanics from her father.
 * Dynamic Entry: Unlike most tag-team games, the character rushing into the battlefield, instead of flying in from the side of the screen, runs up to the opponent and delivers a standing attack.
 * Extremity Extremist: Elias is a boxer, but he averted this.
 * Abubo also comes close: most of his attacks involve his huge arms, either for punching or throwing/slamming.
 * Fighting Shirtless Match: Pepe in battle.
 * Gratuitous English: A shining example even by Japanese fighting game standards. Nearly everyone speaks piss poor English, with Elias, Billy and Jimmy speaking more of it than they do Japanese.
 * Heel Face Turn: Sonia, but not in-game. It's in her backstory. And Sonia face-turned twice! She was raised as an assassin under one of her father's partners, only to find out it was her boss who killed her parents in the first place, and that she'd ended up murdering innocent people in her boss's way. This caused her to flee to America and join Johann's Black Dragon sect. But her relationship with Johann also ended up troubled, and she only stayed for the money. She then falls in love with Jimmy while out on a job and decided to tag along with him.
 * Hulk Speak: Abubo, in his win quotes.
 * Identity Amnesia: Neither Oni nor Cassandra remember anything about their past before their stay at the orphanage. They're looking for answers to their parents as well as to the source of the powers inside them.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Billy and Jimmy. The colors they wear (and the Blue and Red Dragons' powers they wield) match the personalities of this: Billy wears blue and is much more calm and level-headed, giving advice to Jimmy about not being too hate-filled (and Billy has a steadier romantic life, to boot; he and Lynn have a cute romantic moment in their ending while Jimmy can't get past his previous girlfriend's death and Sonia must continue to chase him). Jimmy wears red and is constantly hot-headed and angry, refusing attempts at cameraderie and brooding over the death of his previous girlfriend, who was killed in a gang fight that Jimmy partially caused due to his conflicts with the gang.
 * Shout-Out: Alice's attire and very name have connections to Alice in Wonderland and its author, respectively.
 * Mr. Jones strongly resembles Jim Kelly from Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon as well as the black man who challenged Bruce Lee in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story.
 * Sibling Rivalry: Billy and Jimmy, natch.
 * Spoiled Sweet: Annie. She's both conceited and caring.
 * Surprisingly Good English: Most of it's gratuitous, but Jimmy and Billy's voice actors have some surprisingly well pronounced lines. The former's "You asked for it!" when tagging out in particular.
 * Wrench Wench: Pupa. And she'll hit you with it too.
 * You No Take Candle: Very minor example with Pupa. Her backstory notes that Pupa speaks "broken English", which combined with her wrench wench hobbies and attractive looks actually made her popular among her classmates. Her win quotes are in fact in broken English, but not all of them, and it's not glaring.