Double Dragon: Difference between revisions

[[File:DD2_flyer_6572.jpg|frame|Beating the punks, saving the chicks. Just another typical day for Billy and Jimmy Lee.]]

 

 

The original 1987 arcade game, developed by the now-defunct Technos Japan Corp. and distributed by [[Taito]], featured a rather simple and standard premise: twin martial artists Billy and Jimmy Lee must save their lady-friend Marian from the clutches of the Black Warriors, a ruthless gang that controls the city.

* ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge'' (1988, arcade)

** Ports released for the NES, the Japanese [[Mega Drive]], and the [[TurboGrafx-16|PC Engine]].

* ''Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone'' (1990, arcade)

** ''Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones'' (1991, NES) - Released for the Japanese Famicom as ''Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone''. Almost a completely different game from the arcade version (then again, the same could be said about the first two NES games).

* [[Action Girl]] - Marian and Rebecca in the Neo-Geo fighting game.

* [[Adaptation Dye Job]] - Billy (Player 1) had blond hair in the original arcade trilogy, while Jimmy (Player 2) had brown hair. When the games were adapted for the NES, the hair colors were switched, giving Billy brown hair (although often depicted as red hair) and Jimmy blond hair. The later console installments for the SNES, PCE and GBA stick to the NES style.

** The [[Master System]] version also depicted Jimmy with blue hair.

** In the NES sequels, Jimmy's in-game sprite depicts him with red hair like Billy's, despite having blond hair in the cut-scenes and character select portrait.

* [[Attack Reflector]] - In the SNES game hitting a knife will launch it back towards the enemy.

* [[An Axe to Grind]] - Added to the arsenal of the weapons in the GBA version.

* [[Badass Mustache]] - Abobo's in-game sprite sported a horseshoe mustache in the original game. The character illustrations for the NES version gave Abobo a clean-shaved look though, giving him an appearance similar to [[God of War (series)|Kratos]] or [[Street Fighter|Sagat]].

* [[Badass in a Nice Suit]] - [[The Men in Black|The Steves]] in ''Advance''.

* [[Bowdlerise]] - The cover artwork of the second NES game is the same one used in every other version, except Marian's thigh-revealing skirt was lengthened and her flesh-colored tank top was recolored red.

* [[Bribing Your Way to Victory]] - The third arcade game had power-ups... that the player had to buy with actual credits.

** The Lee brothers are somewhere between this and being Kenshiro expies. Billy Lee is even named after Billy Lo, Bruce Lee's character from the ''[[Game of Death]]''.

** Chin Taimei in the NES version of the first game.

* [[Catch and Return]] - In some games it's possible to catch a knife, leading to this trope.

* [[Changed In Translation]] - The NES version of ''Double Dragon III'' underwent a complete rewrite during the English localization. Here's a [http://koti.mbnet.fi/goutetsu/misc/doubledragon3_comparison.htm comparison] between the Japanese and English scripts.

* [[Character Level]] - The first NES game added a leveling system that only allowed the player to use his basic punches and kicks (and the headbutt) at the start of the game, gradually giving him access to the rest of his moves as he levels-up.

* [[Clean Dub Name]] - In the second NES game, the enemy gang was changed from the Black Warriors to the Shadow Warriors in the English version, presumably to avoid the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of the original name. The "Shadow Warriors" name would be used in the later SNES and GBA games, but the iPhone version went back to using the "Black Warriors".

** Abore in the second NES game has the same moves as his namesake from the arcade version, but his appearance resembles that of Oharra's, an Abobo head-swap from the arcade version.

* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]] - The twin ninjas from ''II'' and Ranzou from ''III'' are bosses (the latter becomes a playable character). Ranzou's minions are fodder.

** The promotional illustration for ''Double Dragon II: The Revenge'' (as seen above) shows Marian alive, despite being killed in the beginning of the game ({{spoiler|the happy ending where Marian is brought back to life was not in the arcade version and was only added in the NES version}}). Even stranger is the fact that the artwork shows Marian embracing the Lee brother in red, when her boyfriend is established to be Billy, the Lee brother in blue (perhaps a result of Billy and Jimmy having switched hair colors in the console version).

** The Japanese cover art for the Game Boy version also depicts Billy wearing red instead of his traditional blue. But given that the Game Boy version has black and white graphics, his outfit could be in any color.

* [[Critical Existence Failure]] - Subverted a little, weakened enemies will be more vulnerable to certain attacks (head grab, stomp etc, etc.)and will take more time to recover but otherwise will continue fighting like nothing happened until they're knocked to the ground.

* [[Crossover]] - ''[[Battletoads]] & Double Dragon''

** All versions of ''Double Dragon II'' use a direction-based attack system where one button attacks to the left and the other to the right, which Technos previously employed with ''Renegade''. This takes awhile to get used to players more accustomed to the original game, since one button does the standard punch combo and the other a back kick depending on the direction the player character is facing.

** The NES version of ''Double Dragon'' uses A+B as the command for a jump kick--if your character has reached Level 3. Until then, A+B is just a regular jump, not an attack. Forget this bit, and you may jump right into a bad guy's punches.

* [[Deadly Dodging]] - Somebody thrown a knife at you? Just step aside and let it hit the mook behind you.

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]] - Chin Seimei is said to be friends with the Double Dragons after his defeat in the third NES game (despite introducing himself by vowing revenge on them for killing his brother in a previous game).

** Happens during the final two stages in both, the arcade and NES versions, where the bosses from the first two stages appear as regular grunts. The "degraded" versions are generally just as tough and sometimes have just as much health as the boss versions.

** In the arcade version of ''Double Dragon II'', the head-swapped bosses from the previous game appear only as sub-bosses.

* [[Demoted to Dragon]] - In the first NES game , Machine Gun Willy goes from being the main bad guy to being the last enemy Billy fights before the final battle with his brother Jimmy. He doesn't even appear at all in the second NES game. Likewise, he's just a lackey to the Shadow Boss (who is not Jimmy like in the NES version, but a completely made-up character who vaguely resembles Burnov) in ''Battletoads & Double Dragon'', where they didn't even get his name right (he is called "Roper" instead).

* [[Deus Ex Machina]] - {{spoiler|Hiruko's death while trying to enter Cleopatra's tomb with only three Sacred Stones}} in the third NES game.

** The Famicom version of ''Double Dragon II'' allows the entire game to be played at any difficulty level, while the NES version restricts the game's length depending on the setting (3 stages on Practice, 8 on Warrior, and 9 on Supreme Master). The NES version also requires the player to input a cheat codes after getting a Game Over in order to continue, whereas the Famicom version had no such requirement. There are other specific differences between the two versions as well: traps are much easier in the Famicom version on the normal setting than in the NES version's equivalent setting (especially the disappearing platforms in Mission 6), but enemies have more health on the Famicom version's hardest setting.

** The Famicom version of ''Double Dragon III'' starts the player off with more health than in the NES version (10 hit points per character) and there are less enemies to fight. On the other hand, the ending is affected depending on which characters survive the final battle, whereas the NES version always plays the full ending.

** ''Super Double Dragon'' has no adjustable difficulty settings, in contrast to its Super Famicom counterpart ''Return of Double Dragon'', which had three settings (Easy, Normal, and Hard). However the SNES version is harder than the SFC version set on Hard. The SNES version is missing some of the extra moves in the SFC version, like the ability to switch weapons or catch your boomerangs, while the Hurricane Kick only strikes an enemy once instead of the multiple hits it does in the SFC version. Moreover, dynamites and knives are more lethal in the SNES version, and the enemy placement is different, with more recycled boss characters than in the Super Famicom version. However, the SFC version adds two extra areas to the final stage, making it a bit longer.

* [[Direct Continuous Levels]]: The first two arcade games. Missions 1 throughout 3 are set one after the other, with no cut-aways in-between. It is isn't until reaching the entrance to the enemy's hideout that the game switches to a new level.

* [[Divergent Character Evolution]] - Billy and Jimmy in the SNES game, where not only their sprites are different (rather than just being palette swaps of each other like in previous games, they started sporting different hair styles), but their basic punches and kicks were different as well.

* [[Divorced Installment]]

** ''Rage of the Dragons'', which was initially planned as a sequel to the Neo-Geo fighting game, but Evoga could not secure the rights to the ''Double Dragon'' IP.

* [[Do Not Drop Your Weapon]] - Willy and his machine gun, the stick wielding version of Chin Taimei, the ninjas in the second and third NES games with their throwing stars and blades, the Japanese swordsmen and Roman gladiators in the third arcade game, the dual-sword wielding Baker from the SNES game, and Kikuchiyo and his cronies in the GBA version.

* [[Doppelganger]] - Taking a cue from ''Zelda II'', the Lee brothers must fight their own shadows at the end of the second game.

* [[Drunken Boxing]] - Cheng-Fu from the NEO-GEO fighting game.

* [[Dual Boss]] - Quite a few examples.

** The arcade version of ''Double Dragon II'' has the twin Burnovs at the end of Mission 3, plus twin versions of all the previous bosses in Mission 4.

** The twin ninjas in the second NES game.

* [[Evil Counterpart]] - Chen Ron-Fu and Chen Ron-Pyo, the Double Dragons from Chinatown in ''Super Double Dragon'', as well as their [[Expy|expies]], Hong and Wong, the Two Tigers from ''Double Dragon Advance''

* [[Evolving Attack]] - The first NES game gives Billy new moves as he gains experience points from fighting enemies.

** [http://www.gamengai.com/bn_inf.php?id=512 The character illustrations] drawn for the first Famicom/NES game makes Billy and Jimmy Lee look like clones of [[Fist of the North Star|Kenshiro and Raoh]]. While Billy was depicted more or less the same way in subsequent games, Jimmy's resemblance to Raoh was toned down considerably [http://www.gamengai.com/bn_inf.php?id=513 after the first game].

** Chin Taimei from the first NES game resembles the Karate Fighter from ''Mat Mania'', a Technos-developed wrestling game, while Abore in the arcade version of ''II'' seems to be based on André the Giant from the ''WWF Superstars'' arcade game also developed by Technos.

* [[Good Bad Translation]] - The third NES game, while technically not a translation (since it uses an entirely different script from its Famicom counterpart than changes the plot), somehow manages to screw up the spelling of Billy's name as "Bimmy" in the opening of the 2-Players Mode, which has become something of a meme. Strangely, his name is spelled correctly in the single-player version of the opening.

* [[Grenade Hot Potato]]

** The PC-Engine version of ''II'', released in 1993, establishes that despite the end of the Cold War someone still launched a nuke, starting a war.

* [[Hammerspace]] - The Knife and explosive throwing mooks never run out of supplies.

* [[Head Swap]]

** Jimmy was Billy's main adversary in the NES version of the first game, but becomes his ally in the sequels.

** The third NES game allows you to play as two additional characters, Chin Seimei and Yagyu Ranzou, after defeating them as bosses first.

* [[Hurricane Kick]] - Ryuubi Ranbuu Kyaku (Dragon Tail's Storm Wind Kick) or simply the Cyclone Spin Kick.

* [[Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels]] - The difficulty settings in the second NES game (Practice, Warrior and Supreme Master).

* [[Kamehame Hadoken]] - The evil clones from ''II'' throw these at sufficient distance. The Lee Brothers can do this in the NEO-GEO [[Fighting Game]].

* [[Kick Them While They Are Down]]

** The third arcade game allows the player to jump over fallen enemies and stomp them.

** Both of the above moves were added to the GBA version.

** The manual for the first NES game gives out incorrect inputs for the Elbow Punch and Spin Kick, suggesting that these moves were planned to be performed differently at some point. The manual also claims that Abobo likes to throw bombs (actually a mistranslated reference to an "atomic suplex" move [[Dummied Out|he was supposed to have]]) and spells Rowper's name as "Lopar".

** The English manual for the Master System version has the names of Jeff and Willy switched (compare the [http://www.smspower.org/Scans/DoubleDragon-SMS-US-R-Manual?gallerypage=10%2F11 English manual] with the [http://www.smspower.org/Scans/DoubleDragon-SMS-JP-Manual?gallerypage=13 Japanese one]). Although the name "Willy" seems more appropriate for a head-swapped evil version of Billy and Jimmy than "Jeff" in retrospect, so it's debatable whether this was a mistake or an intentional change.

* [[Martial Arts Uniform]] - The Oyama Brothers in the arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'' and many mooks in the rest of the series.

* [[Mighty Glacier]] - The [[Giant Mook|giant mooks]], with Arcade and PC-Engine Abore being the biggest and slowest.

* [[No Ending]] - The American version of ''Super Double Dragon'' gets at least an [[A Winner Is You|text only epilogue]], but the Japanese release goes straight from the final boss to the credits.<ref>The extra levels are a good tradeoff, though.</ref>

* [[Nonstandard Game Over]] - If the battle between Billy and Jimmy for the heart of Marian ends in a [[Double KO]] (say, if both brother's fall into the spike pit below), the game returns back to the title screen with no fanfare whatsoever.

** The characters in the arcade version. The console versions would gave their identities in [[All There in the Manual|the manuals]] though. For the arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'', the licensed soundtrack gives out the names of the bosses in their individual themes (Jim, Li, Ranzou and Giuliano).

** The other two enemy characters exclusive to the NES version, "Ninja" and "Migiude" (which is Japanese for "right arm", or more appropriately "right-hand man"), only have official designations instead of names, but those two are just [[Elite Mook|elite mooks]] and not unique characters.

* [[Obvious Beta]] - ''Super Double Dragon''. Even the [[Bad Export for You|more complete Japanese version]] (''Return of Double Dragon'') was clearly rushed for release. The second half of Mission 7, absent from the US version, is very unfinished (e.g. [[Bottomless Pits]] you can't fall into, stairs you have to jump up). Other things [[Dummied Out]] of both versions include the proposed true [[Final Boss]] battle with Duke's shadow, the [[Conveyor Belt O' Doom]] in the airport baggage claim that would lead to a [[Bottomless Pit]], the warehouse section of Mission 5, and the collapsing bridge at the end of Mission 6. Many music tracks were left unused (a few which can still be heard in the Japanese version's sound test) and Marian, who is mentioned in the manual and shown in two pieces of artwork, never actually appears in the game (she would've been a policewoman like her comic and cartoon counterparts).

* [[Palette Swap]] - In the original arcade game, there are only seven unique enemy characters and two of them are just head-swaps of other characters (namely of Abobo and the Lee brothers). The game simply recycles the same set of enemies for each stage by changing the main palette for all the mooks, including the occasional black-skinned variants. The third boss is also a green skinned palette swap of the first boss, who is nothing more than a black-skinned head/palette swap of Abobo with a Mr. T-like beard and mohawk. The other games in the series also featured palette-swapped versions of the same enemies.

* [[Pistol-Whipping]] - Willy with his gun.

** The red sports car from ''Road Blaster'' (a Data East laserdisc game, ported to the Sega CD as ''Road Avenger''), a game designed by the same director (Yoshihisa Kishimoto), can be seen inside Billy and Jimmy's garage at the start of the first stage. In the second arcade game, the sports car is replaced by the helicopter from ''Thunder Storm'' (aka ''Cobra Command'', Kishimoto's other FMV game he did with Data East).

* [[Punched Across the Room]] - The Lee Brother's Hyper Knee and the Mysterious Warrior's backflip kick can send anyone flying quite far.

* [[Revised Ending]] - {{spoiler|Marian stays dead in the original arcade version of ''II'', while in the NES version she lives.}}

* [[Ring Out Boss]] - Most of the boss fights have a convenient [[Bottomless Pits]] nearby to chuck the boss in.

* [[Sequence Breaking]] - In the final area of the first Arcade Game, Willy watches on from the balcony and will come down once the Lee brothers have beaten enough mooks. You can bring him down earlier by intentionally letting Abobo throw you up the balcony and knock him down.

* [[Sequel Difficulty Spike]] - The arcade version of ''II'' has more powerful bosses than the first game, only partial health recovery between stages (as opposed to full health recovery like in the first game), and no bonus lives (you're stuck with what you start with). Moreover the game's time limit is adjustable and the default settings has the game on the second fastest time limit with the second hardest difficulty and only two lives, which makes the third stage hard to complete on time and the fourth stage almost impossible. All the transition sequences between stages are now done by elevators, making it impossible to carry weapons between stages unlike in the first game.

** The second arcade game replaces the sports car inside Billy and Jimmy's garage with the helicopter from ''Cobra Command'', another laserdisc game also directed by Yoshihisa Kishimoto.

** The series as the whole is inspired by ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', starting from the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co4eGY8kb4w post-nuclear setting] to the [http://doubledragon.kontek.net/games/dd/images/ddfambox.gif character] [http://doubledragon.kontek.net/games/dd3/images/dd3fam.gif designs].

** The GBA version includes a freeway battle atop moving semis with suit-clad enemies who straighten their ties between attacks. If it's not a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[The Matrix]] Reloaded,'' then it should be.

* [[Shovel Strike]] - In the second Arcade game.

* [[Simple Staff]] - The staff in the SNES game.

* [[Sinister Shades]] - Abore in the Arcade and PC-Engine version of ''II'', Carlem in the SNES game and the Agent Smith-rendition of Steve in ''Advance''.

** Rowper, one of the enemy [[Mooks]], had his name spelled as "Lopar" in the translated manual for the NES version. However, the character's name is actually meant to be a reference to John Saxon's character "Roper" from ''[[Enter the Dragon]]''. The name "Roper" and "Lopar" are also used for two different enemies in ''Battletoads & Double Dragon'' and neither resemble the Rowper from the original game ([[Did Not Do the Research|one of them being a misnamed Machine Gun Willy]]).

** Linda's name is spelled "[[Japanese Ranguage|Rinda]]" in the promotional brochure for the Famicom version.

* [[Stuff Blowing Up]] - Various explosives for everyone to throw at someone they don't like.

* [[Stuffed in The Fridge]] - The second arcade game begins exactly the same way as the first game... Only instead of being kidnapped, Marian is gunned down to death by Machine Gun Willy. Ouch!

* [[Suplex Finisher]] - The Lee Brothers got a German Suplex in their moveset in the third arcade game.

* [[Team Shot]] - The ending of the third arcade game ends with a group shot of Billy and Jimmy, along with three of their allies (Chin, Oyama, and Urquidez). The same art was actually used as the basis for the cover illustration of the Famicom version, only with Oyama and Urquidez replaced with Yagyu.

* [[Temple of Doom]] - The final stages of ''I'' and ''II''. The NES version of the latter had a more literal [[Temple of Doom]].

* [[Theme Music Power-Up]] - The final battle in the original arcade game (and in some of its ports and remakes) uses the title theme as background music, as does ''Return of Double Dragon'' (the Japanese version of ''Super Double Dragon''). Once the final boss of the second NES game is low on health, the creepy theme is replaced by a more epic theme.

* [[Treacherous Advisor]] - {{spoiler|Hiruko}} in ''Double Dragon III''.

* [[Throw a Barrel At It]] - The oildrums, along with cardboard boxes and giant rocks, can be picked up and thrown by both, the player and certain enemies (depending on the game, but usually Rowper always uses them).

* [[Turns Red]] - In the SNES game, if the player performs a throw on Williams or Rowper, they will get angry and will move faster and hit harder.

* [[Underwater Base]] - Mission 4 of the second NES game.

* [[Who Wears Short Shorts?]] - Marian in the Neo-Geo fighting game.

* [[Whip It Good]] - Linda's weapon of choice in the original game.

* [[Wolverine Claws]] - Chin Seimei's weapon of choice.

* [[Would Hit a Girl]] - Pretty much every guy in the game, from the opening intro where Williams sucker punches Marian in the gut and carries her off, to Billy and Jimmy beating the crap out of the whip-wielding Lindas.