Line #50 YMMV/DoubleDragon


1	!!General
2	* SpiritualSuccessor: When they came out, the ''Double Dragon'' games were the best ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' games you could buy. It's ''not'' a coincidence that Billy and Jimmy looked like Kenshiro and Raoh, fought punks in the post-apocalyptic 199X, and ultimately became each other's greatest enemies to fight over a woman.
3	!!The Video Games
4	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The final duel between the Double Dragons for Marian. Is it a fight to death or just a friendly sparring competition which just happens to have the prize of Marian being the girlfriend of the winner? Jimmy's dialogue in ''Advance'' implies that it's just a friendly match[[note]]And even that can be given an alternative characterization, since Jimmy mentioned 'winning Marian' as the prize. Is Jimmy still trying to steal Marian from Billy, or is he just using Marian as a way to egg Billy to give his all during their duel, to make sure their brotherhood doesn't cause Billy to hold back? Or better yet, in this version, are Billy and Marian already an item together or they're currently still friends, that Marian is still free to choose which one will be with her?[[/note]], but for the longest time, people thought it was a fight to the death, never mind that both Billy and Jimmy reappear just fine in the sequel (that, admittedly, they may not have played).
5	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/DoubleDragon Here.]]
6	* BaseBreakingCharacter: The OriginalGeneration characters from the Platform/NeoGeo fighting game (Eddie, Dulton, Rebecca, and Cheng-Fu[[labelnote:note]] While Amon is also a new character, he is clearly based on Ranzou from the third game.[[/labelnote]]) are either liked for bringing more diversity to the series or are disliked for taking character slots from pre-existing characters, with Linda being an egregious omission since she was in the movie the game is based on but is nowhere to be seen on the roster.
7	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
8	** Abobo. He even [[VideoGame/AbobosBigAdventure has a fangame that's one giant NES homage]].
9	** Linda is also rather popular, being a sexy female mook who predates [[VideoGame/FinalFight Poison]] and has appeared in a good chunk of the series, including the 1994 movie, the Battletoads crossover and even making a cameo in ''VideoGame/RiverCityGirls''.
10	* FanNickname: The final boss in the first game is nicknamed "Machine Gun Willy", for obvious reasons. This also serves to avoid confusion with this game's run of the mill {{mook\|s}}, Williams.
11	* FranchiseOriginalSin: For gaming ''as a whole'', the North American arcade version of the third game introduced two mechanics that would begin to overtake the industry two decades later: cutting content to sell it to you, and microtransactions. While it was certainly bad back then, the fact remains that it was a one-off incident, with the many heavy hitters in arcades notably not following this trend, regardless of genre. However, starting in TheNewTens with games like ''{{VideoGame/Farmville}}'' showing just how effective it is at getting money the way ''Double Dragon III'' pioneered, a lot of the industry shifted over to this style of game design.
12	* GameBreaker:
13	** In the third [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] game, both Lee brothers can [[BackToBackBadasses stand back-to-back]] and do the [[HurricaneKick Cyclone Spin Kick]] simultaneously. If done just right, you get a flashy new animation of their combined Cyclone Kicks. This "Double Cyclone Kick" does five times the damage of a single Cyclone Kick (roughly twice the damage of a throwing knife) and lets you mow down punks and bosses with relative ease. Just...make sure they both stay alive until the end.
14	** The Flying Knee Kick and Hyper Uppercut in the second NES game are both ridiculously overpowered, although the former requires some ridiculously precise timing to pull off properly: you need to hold left or right on the d-pad and then press B and A simultaneously while your character is crouching, which only happens after landing from a jump or while your character is recovering from a fall. Once mastered though, you can mow down mooks and most bosses with relative ease.
15	** The Elbow Attack in the original arcade game thanks to the easily duped AI. Normally the enemies in the game will be hesitant to approach you unless you turn your back on one of them, allowing you to catch them off-guard with the Elbow Attack, which has a decent range and always knocks the bad guys to the ground, regardless of who it is. In the second arcade game, the Elbow Punch's effectiveness is toned down a bit, but its still works to some extent.
16	** Chin in general. He can and will mow down enemies in around three hits.
17	* GoodBadBugs:
18	** The famous trick for skipping Stage 2's boss in the NES version of ''[=DD1=]''. Going far enough downstairs will cause Chin to be removed from the level data to save RAM, and the game counts him as being defeated once he disappears.
19	** On the last screen before entering Stage 1's indoor section, going to the wall on the far-right and holding up and right will make you climb up the wall. Letting go of either button will teleport you back to the ground. Just make sure not to climb off-screen, or you'll get softlocked.
20	** Going far enough in Stage 2, then going back before the screen locks and returning, causes a "phantom" enemy to spawn. It can't die, but every hit you land gives you points as though it were real. You can fill up your moves list in a matter of minutes by beating on it.
21	* GoodBadTranslation: 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 2P Play mode, which has become something of a meme. Strangely, his name is spelled correctly in the single-player version of the opening.
22	* HilariousInHindsight: Linda being a female beat-em-up mook who predates [[VideoGame/FinalFight Poison]] and wields a whip as her signature weapons becomes rather funny when Poison herself started using whips in her fighting game appearances, thus making her more Linda-like.
23	* MisBlamed:
24	** The misspelling of Billy's name as "Bimmy" in the third NES game is not the result of BlindIdiotTranslation: the game's plot was completely rewritten from its original Famicom release. It's just your average typo.
25	** Incidentally, when ''Neon'' made a reference to this error with Bimmy and Jammy, they are referred to as "Mistranslated Mutants". This liberty was likely taken for RuleOfFunny.
26	* MoralEventHorizon: When Willy guns down Marian in the beginning of the second arcade game, he goes from being a mere kidnapper to a cold blooded murderer.
27	* NeverLiveItDown: The infamous "Bimmy and Jimmy" typo on the very first screen of the very first cutscene in the NES edition of ''Double Dragon III''. It's supposed to be ''Billy'' and Jimmy, in case you didn't know.
28	* NightmareFuel:
29	** In the [[Platform/TurboGrafx16 PC Engine CD]] version of the second game, the [[BigBad Mysterious Warrior]] [[StrippedToTheBone dissolves into a skeleton]] during the ending cutscene.
30	** The Mansion of Terror from the NES version makes the most of its short length with the spooky BGM and, inexplicably, a huge, sinister pair of eyes in the wall that periodically open up and stare directly at the player.
31	** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DnARPUYxhQ music]] that plays during the fight against the player's own shadow doppelganger in the arcade version of the second game is very eerie and frightening. Not to mention that the doppelganger itself comes out of nowhere and no explanation is given for its existence. One can only assume or speculate that they represent the negative emotions of the Lee Brothers being unable to save Marian. The NES version of the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUBp28E-jEM same theme]] is no less creepy.
32	* ObviousBeta: ''Super Double Dragon''. Even the more complete ''Return of Double Dragon'' was clearly rushed for release. The second half of Mission 7, absent from ''Super'', is very unfinished (e.g. BottomlessPits you can't fall into, stairs you have to jump up). Other things DummiedOut of both versions include the proposed true FinalBoss battle with Duke's shadow, the ConveyorBeltODoom in the airport baggage claim that would lead to a BottomlessPit, 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 ''Return'''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).
33	* PortingDisaster: The game was ported to the ''Platform/Atari2600'', of all systems. It's as playable as the game could possibly be on the 2600, but a beat-'em-up with only one action button leads to very shallow, repetitive gameplay and the difficulty is off the charts.
34	* {{Sequelitis}}: The arcade versions of the sequels. While ''Double Dragon II'' does improved upon the original, in the sense that it was actually an upgraded version of the original, but the increased difficulty, directional-based attack buttons, and recycled stage design turned many players off. ''Double Dragon 3'' on the other hand, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks replaced the game engine completely]] (as it was farmed out to another team) and to top it off, the [[BadExportForYou U.S. version]] made the extra characters, special moves and weapons accessible via item shops that required the player to insert [[BribingYourWayToVictory actual credits into the machine]].
35	* SequelDifficultySpike:
36	** 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.
37	** The NES version of the third game is considerably harder than the previous installments at first due to the omission of a lives system. If the player dies in the first two stages, the game ends. However, the additional playable characters introduced in the later stages serve as extra lives on their own and the player gets a single continue for the final two stages.
38	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
39	** The 2nd game's [[Platform/Commodore64 C64]] version [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zczvKGX1ujk first stage music]] sounds an awful lot like "She Bop" by Music/CyndiLauper.
40	** The Heliport stage music in ''II'' sounds very similar to Music/PhilCollins & Phillip Bailey's "Easy Lover"
41	* ThatOneBoss: Willy in the NES version of the original game, whose gun can quickly kill you in a few shots. It doesn't help that if you get killed at any point before defeating him, you're right back to fighting the twin Abobos.
42	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Despite being one of the most iconic enemies in the series and appearing in the live-action movie, Linda is completely absent from the Neo Geo fighting game.
43	* {{Woolseyism}}: 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.
44
45	!![[YMMV/DoubleDragon1994 The Movie has its own page.]]
46
47	!![[YMMV/DoubleDragon1991 The Comic Book has its own page.]]
48
49	!![[YMMV/DoubleDragon1993 The Animated Series has its own page.]]

Context YMMV / DoubleDragon