I was first exposed to the beat ’em up genre of video games when I played the Game Boy version of Double Dragon. Recently, I had the urge to play it again.
Title screen for Double Dragon on the Nintendo Game Boy.
Does Double Dragon hold up to today’s standards? Let’s talk about this game today!
Game Basics
The version of Double Dragon on the Game Boy is actually a port of a NES video game, which is in turn a port of a popular arcade game. Similar with the previous versions, Double Dragon on Game Boy is a beat ’em up game where you take on the role of Billy Lee. His girlfriend, Marian, was kidnapped by gang members, so it’s up to you as Billy to save her.
Marian is kidnapped by these gang members.
Like classic beat ’em up video games, most stages in this game uses planes. Although there are some sections wherein platforms are used. Some sections even have pits that you can fall into.
I was surprised by this game’s platforming sections.
The game uses a lives system and you start a new game with two lives. You can get an extra life when you hit a certain score threshold. You’ve got a health meter in this game, and each time you get hit, your health gets depleted. There aren’t any power ups that can replenish your health, but it does fill up at the beginning of some sections. If you lose all your health or fall into a pit, you lose a life and have to start that section from the beginning. Surprisingly, this game doesn’t have any continues so if you lose all of your lives, it’s game over. There’s a two player mode available via linked play but you’ll end up taking turns anyway so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Moves and Abilities
Despite being an early Game Boy title, you’ve got a decent moveset in Double Dragon. The A button is for punching and B is for kicking. Three punches or a single kick will make most enemies stagger temporarily. Pressing B in front of a staggered enemy will do a powerful spin kick, while A does an uppercut. The spin kick does more damage, but some enemies can duck and avoid it.
It’s fulfilling to be able to pull off this spin kick.
You can pull the hair of regular sized enemies when they’re staggered by walking into them. While in this position, pressing B does a knee smash to your enemy’s face and A will make you throw them. I like doing two knee smashes before throwing enemies for maximum damage. If you press A when an enemy is behind you, you’ll do an elbow attack that knocks enemies far away.
You can throw enemies into pits to kill them instantly.
Pressing B and A will make you do a jump kick. This is the only way to jump in this game, and you’ll need to do this to jump over gaps. You don’t jump very far so it’s important to master how far you can go.
Whip it good!
Some enemies will bring weapons with them, such as bats, whips, and even oil drums or rocks. Attacking these enemies will make them drop these weapons, and you can pick them up and use them. They’ll disappear after the current wave of enemies has been defeated, so use them whenever you can.
Enemies and Boss Battles
Sadly, Double Dragon’s roster of enemies is quite limited. You only get three types of normal enemies and three bosses. This is partly a limitation of the technology and of programming know-how. Normal enemies also have the same moves so you really won’t feel any variety here.
Abobo looks quite menacing.
Abobo, the game’s first boss, is probably one of the most known characters in the Double Dragon franchise. He doesn’t stagger easily and he hits very hard. He also has the ability to dodge spin kicks and jump kicks. He’ll appear several times in the game but in different situations, so fighting him doesn’t really feel that repetitive.
Hitting one of the Chin Taimeis with an uppercut.
Chin Taimei also stands out thanks to his long hair and far-reaching kicks. He’s also quite fast so be careful when facing him. You’ll face him several times, and sometimes you’ll face two of them at the same time.
Willy will not hesitate to fire his gun at you.
The Game Boy version of Double Dragon has Willy as the final boss. He’s got a gun that he’ll use to attack from long range, and he’ll hit you with the butt of his gun up close. To be honest, I found Abobo to be a lot more memorable. Howver, being able to shoot from a far still makes Willy a major threat.
Visuals, Sounds and Presentation
Despite being an early Game Boy game, I really like the graphics of Double Dragon. Quite frankly, I prefer this versions graphics over the NES version. Character sprites are large relative to the screen size and are quite detailed. It’s easily to tell each character apart and figure out what their actions are because of the detailed sprites. Stages and backgrounds are also very detailed. Despite the limited color palette, this game looks great to me.
These doors will suck you in and kill you instantly.
But what I really love about the Game Boy version of Double Dragon is the music. The developers used the tracks from the NES version and somehow managed to make them sound better. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve played this game so many times already but I still remember most of it’s stage tracks.
Marian and Billy in the game’s ending screen.
This game’s presentation was decent but the developers could have done better. The introduction showing Marian getting kidnapped was neat and there’s a close up of her and Billy in the ending. The HUD is easy to understand. However, the menus are very simple-looking. They could have had some pixel art to make them look better. And more cutscenes, even static ones, could have made the gaming experience more immersive.
Final Thoughts
Double Dragon for the Nintendo Game Boy is quite short, and there are only a few enemy types that you’ll face. But we have to keep in mind that this was developed for a game system that uses four AA batteries. Early on, games for the Game Boy had to be short enough for people to be able to beat them before their batteries died out. I prefer the Game Boy version over the NES version because of the bigger sprites and more reasonable difficulty. If you want to play a beat ’em up game that won’t take up too much of your time, you should consider playing this version.
Click here to read about all the Double Dragon games that I’ve played. And click here to check out every Game Boy video game that I’ve played!
0 Comments