YMMV / Double Dragon II

• Awesome Music: Yes.
  • The PC-Engine version has a soundtrack that is simply outstanding. The track that stands out above all the others within that version is the final boss theme.
  • The NES version has some cool tunes.
    • The music that plays on the NES version when the final boss is close to dying.
    • The music for Stage 7, which is just a sped-up, NES-Remixed version of Burnov's theme...but it sounds badass! Stage 7 is also That One Level, so this groovy track makes it (slightly) more bearable.
    • The boss theme.
• Demonic Spiders: The NES version has its fair share.
  • Larger enemies take 6 punches or 2 kicks to stun, as opposed to other enemies who become stunned after 3 punches or one kick. They can also quickly attack while you're attacking them, making it dangerous to even approach them.
    • Abobo returns (with hair!), and has the same abilities as before...only he can throw you. Furthermore, the locations where he spawns sometimes allow him to throw you straight into Bottomless Pits.
    • Abore is also back. He's exactly the same, only he doesn't have a kick attack now; he only has the slap and the shoulder tackle. However, both of these attacks have quite a bit of range, so hitting him at all can be difficult, even with the uppercut.
  • The kickboxers can be problematic as well. Despite being roughly the size of Billy, they are still considered large enemies. They are the strongest enemies capable of using jump kicks (which hurt a lot), and they can also easily counter your blows, albeit less often.
  • And how can we forget the ninjas? They are fast, unpredictable, and have an annoying tendency to hit you as soon as you get up. However, they are very susceptible to the Spin Kick.
• Even Better Sequel: The NES version of II is considered superior to its prequel, and superior to its Arcade counterpart. Then there are those that claim the PC-Engine version is better than NES or Arcade.
• Game-Breaker: The Flying Knee in the NES version does a ludicrous amount of damage. Almost every enemy in the game dies in one or two hit from it (although a few enemies may take three before going down, and the penultimate boss takes about six).
  • The only drawback is that it's not easy to pull off consistently. Also, it's practically useless against the final boss; if you jump towards him to do it, he will backflip away from you and most likely hit you with his spinning ballerina...move.
• Goddamned Boss: Chin loves his jump kicks. It's difficult to even hit him. (However, it is not that difficult to make him jump off a cliff.)
• Narm:
  • Abore. Sure, he looks like a combination of the Terminator and Andre The Giant...but the sound he makes when he attacks is just so amusing...it sounds like he's saying his name, and he has a very dumb-sounding voice as well. The pitiful moan he makes when he dies is also pretty hilarious.
  • Willy also has a hilarious death moan. "REEEEE!"
    • Speaking of Willy, the fight against him is pretty Narmy. He may be the guy who killed Marion, but the goofy, energetic music kind of kills the suspense, even though he is very frustrating.
• Nightmare Fuel: On the arcade version, the music that plays during the final boss fight. It's extremely slow and ominous, which is fitting for what can be interpreted as the Lee brothers fighting the evil within them.
• Polished Port:
  • In a subversion of the usual arcade-to-home scenario, the NES version of Double Dragon II is considered to be far superior to the arcade, with more variety in the gameplay and level design, actual cutscenes, and is generally more fun to play.
  • The PC-Engine version takes further for animated and fully voiced cut-scenes, bringing back some bosses that went missing in the NES verion, easier platforming, and even better improvements on combat.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • As with the first game, enemies can duck, but you can't.
  • The directional attacks are also rather disliked, which is why future games reverted to the standard forward punch and kick setup of the original.
  • Many also found the jumping puzzles to be rather annoying, as Double Dragon is not a platformer series, and jumping requires both punch and kick to be held simultaneously. Modern ports of II (NES) on digital stores or the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle mitigate this by adding or allowing to customize a third button combining the two button combinations as one input.
• Sequel Difficulty Spike: The bosses are stronger than the ones in the first game, only partial health recovery is given between stages (as opposed to the full-health recovery in the first game), and extra lives are completely eliminated (you're stuck with what you start with). The default settings have the timer on the second-fastest speed with the second-hardest difficulty and only two lives, which makes Mission 3 hard to complete on time (and Mission 4 almost impossible). All of the transition sequences between stages are now done by elevators, making it impossible to carry weapons between stages.
• Sequel Difficulty Drop: Conversely, the NES version of the second game is much easier than the NES version of the first game.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The music that plays during the fight with the Mirror Boss on the NES version sounds like Lavender Town in Pokemon Red and Blue.
• That One Attack: The final boss on the NES version has an attack where he will spin around like a ballerina, holding his fists out. It does quite a bit of damage (about 1 1/2 bars)...but did we mention he can do it while jumping, which makes it do even more damage? It's fairly easy to predict when he's going to do it, but woe betide if he does it after dodging one of your attacks...because it will surely hit you for ALMOST HALF OF YOUR LIFE BAR.
• That One Boss:
  • Abore. He's got a long range fitting for his amazing size, and as a result he's quite difficult to even approach.
  • Willy returns, and despite undergoing a Nerf (his gun is no longer a One-Hit Kill when he fires it, but it still does huge damage), he's still very annoying.
  • The Shadow Clones. They can do everything the Lee brothers can do, but they can also fire fast projectiles and go inside of the players' bodies, the latter of which does huge damage. ^Note You can dodge it by jumping just before they spawn, though. They are also Damage sponge bosses, so you'll probably lose a life by running out of time before you take them out.
    • Funnily enough, this fight is MUCH easier on the NES version. Although he can only use attacks that can stun you or knock you down, the attack where he possesses you doesn't do any damage, and the projectile attack is much easier to dodge, because it's slower and you can jump over it.
• That One Level:
  • The Trap Room (7th level on NES)...Where do we begin? It starts off easy enough, but it's fairly easy for new players to misjudge the jump down and fall to their deaths. Once you get past that, you must fight a lone kickboxer...followed by Burnov's triumphant return! However, he's actually easier this time around, because you can knock him into a spike pit... Wait, spike pit? That's right - The wooden floor you stand on is slowly disappearing, which can potentially result in you (or your enemies) falling to their instant deaths. Fortunately, it stops at the edge of the exit.
    • The next room is the main attraction. You must traverse over a spike pit via gears that spin at specific intervals. Problem is, if you jump on a gear while it's spinning, you will fall off of the gear, which will most likely result in you careening into the Spikes of Doom. Also, there's spikes popping out of the pit. They only appear in 5 locations, and don't hurt you at all... but they do knock you down, which will likely result in your death.
    • However, the worst part of this room is the 2 gears on the top — the one on the top right spins for about 4-5 seconds, only stops for about half a second, and is right in the path of a flying spike; you need perfect timing to dodge it. Fortunately, you won't die if you fall, unless you fall when the 2 gears below it start spinning. The top left gear is also the same; right in the path of a flying spike, and doesn't stop very long. However, it's actually worse, because no matter what, you WILL die if you fall off of it.
  • After making it through this hellish room, you will encounter the regular green Mooks that you've seen before...except they now have tons of health! If you try to do the hair grab on them, it won't work unless you've already roughed them up a bit; if they still have a lot of strength left, they will pull you off of them.
  • The final room is (thankfully) a 3D room, so you have more leeway to dodge attacks. However, it doesn't pull any punches either. You are suddenly attacked by an onslaught of various enemies (2 at a time, of course) that have tons of health. It's worth noting that this is the only section in the game where the Williams' can survive a Flying Knee. After that, the green mooks are back, with just as much health as before, followed by the Chins (who do not have more health), and the kickboxers...who have a TON of health. Finally, you must fight Abore...but even he has a ton of health, and you're likely to be worn out from the kickboxers.
  • Stage 8, The Double Illusion, is quite frustrating as well. It begins with a few Chins. No problem, just nail them with the flying knee and you're on your merry way...but here come the kickboxers with just as much health as before, followed by Abore and 2 Abobos, all one after the other. And just when you think it can't get any worse, you are attacked by four Ninjas. Fortunately, the boss is quite easy.