Double Dragon ! Just saying those two words invokes memories of seedy arcade joints down some dark alley. That never stopped me entering these seedy joints and pumping 20 cent coins into the machine and play as Billy Lee (aka Hammer). If I had a mate with me, he would play as Billy’s twin brother, Jimmy (aka Spike). Double Dragon was the first beat’em up to introduce two-player co-operative play.
Let me set the scene for ya – Billy’s girlfriend, Marian, who bares some resemblance to Madonna (I said some resemblance), gets kidnapped by the savage street gang known as the Black Warriors. What happens after this is, you, as Billy, set out to rescue your missus by busting heads with either your fists, feet, head, a whip or my fave, the baseball bat. There are strewn drums, cartons, rocks, dynamite and even knives to throw around at bad guys if that is your way of dishing out punishment.
The backward elbow was my favourite move. It worked a treat every time, especially against the gigantic Mr T look-a-like gang members.
This game has withstood the test of time. It is 25 years since it was released and till this day, remains the king of the beat’em ups. I still play it on my arcade machine at home. It always puts a smile on my face, as this was the first arcade game I actually played and defeated – I was a Double Dragon hero to all my teenage mates. That felt good !
So, to you, Double Dragon, I wish you a happy 25th birthday !
If you’ll excuse me, it is time for me to crank up the free-play credit on the machine, and go and wrap a baseball bat around some bad guys head.
Wow, to be honest, I don’t think I ever saw the arcade version of Double Dragon before. Maybe I was living under a rock, but I don’t ever recall seeing it in any arcade. I’d be interested in playing it myself. Maybe the next time I come to Aussie Land, I’ll stop by for some Double Dragon action!
In honor of this great day, I’ll fire up DD on the NES tonight. Not the same, but fun just the same!
The arcade machine was released in 1987. I was in my early teens then, and this was one of the popular games of that year in our arcades.
You are more than welcome to come and play DD with me. The beauty of it is, if we get beaten up, we’ll just press the FREE PLAY button and rack up the credits and away we go again.
Excellent write up dude. If you need an Aussie contributor with a retro Nintendo bias, please let me know.
Sorry to get back to you so late. My door is always open for aussie retro gaming contributors. I will be in touch
YES! I LOVE DOUBLE DRAGON!!
Everything Double Dragon is great. I’m currently playing through the Game Boy version and it holds up surprisingly well. Nothing compared to the arcade version, of course, but still wonderful.