Double Dragon (NES)

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Double Dragon
Double Dragon - NES - USA.jpg
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

Double Dragon - NES - Title.png

The title screen.

Double Dragon - NES - Slums.png

The start of the game.


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This page needs more screenshots.

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Music

VGMPF Album Art       Icon-Help.png

Double Dragon - NES - Album Art.jpg

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

(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.

Albums

Game Rip

Format

Download

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Download

(Info)


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

Releases

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

Links