I tried Double Dragon II: The Revenge recently. I already played and wrote about the first and third Double Dragon games on the NES, so this completes the trilogy for me.

 

 

Let’s talk about the game today!

 

Game Basics

Double Dragon II: The Revenge is a side scrolling beat ’em up game developed by Technos Japan. The Nintendo Entertainment System release was published in North America and PAL regions by Acclaim. Unlike the first Double Dragon game, this sequel allowed for solo and cooperative play for two players. In this game, players take on the role of Billy Lee (with his brother Jimmy for the second player) as he attempts to take revenge for the murder of his girlfriend.

 

 

The game has a health system. When the health meter runs out, that player loses a life. There are no items to replenish health, but each section starts with the players at full health. Each player gets four lives and there is no way to earn additional lives, except through a cheat. The NES version has continues, but you’ll need to press certain button combinations to get them.

 

 

There are three different difficulty levels to choose from at the start of the game. You’ll need to beat the NES version of the game at the hardest difficulty in order to see the game’s ending. The difficulty levels don’t just add health or damage to enemies, but they can actually attack faster too. This is the first issue that I have with this game. I don’t like games that lock you out of important features, and the ending is definitely a part of this game that people with low skill levels should be able to see.

 

Directional Moves and Abilities

Unlike the first game, you already have all of your moves at the start in Double Dragon II: The Revenge. However, the control scheme of this game is very different compared to other beat ’em up games. Instead of being mapped to a specific attack, the B button makes your character attack the left side. The A button makes you attack the right side. Punches attack in front of your character, and kicks attack behind your character. If your character was facing right, B would kick and A would punch.

 

 

These aren’t the only attacks that are dependent on the direction you’re facing. After a kick or three consecutive punches, regular enemies will get stunned and you can grab them. While grabbing an enemy, one of the attack buttons will result in a knee bash and one will result in a throw. You always throw enemies behind you, so you’ll need to think about which direction you’re facing.

 

 

To avoid getting confused, I seldom used the throws during a grab. Instead, I used elbow bashes (hold Down while attacking) and finished enemies off with a launching kick (hold Up while attacking). Most regular enemies die after two elbow bashes and a high kick, and the latter looks like a really good combo finisher too.

 

 

Some weapons also follow this attack scheme. You’ll do a normal strike with the iron bar, for example, with the forward attack. With the back attack, you’ll throw it like a projectile. I spent a lot of time playing and replaying this game and I still find myself making a mistake or stopping to think about what button to press because of this mechanic. Honestly, I hated this mechanic back when I played this game and I still hated it during my recent playthroughs.

 

The Other Moves

Thankfully, not all your moves in Double Dragon II is dependent on where you’re facing. To jump, just press B and A simultaneously. Pressing any of the two buttons in mid jump does a mid-air attack. If you do it at the highest point of the jump, your character does a spin kick. Otherwise, you’ll do a regular jump kick. Both attacks are quite useful but enemies often duck to avoid getting hit by them.

 

 

There are two moves that I didn’t even know about back when I played this game as a kid that I think are vital to successfully beating this. Both moves can only be done coming from a kneel position. The first is a hyper uppercut which looks like a normal uppercut but the sound effect when this hits is different and it deals a lot more damage. To do this, just punch while your character is crouching.

 

 

If you press both B and A while in the kneeling position, you’ll do a rising knee attack instead. This attack comes out quick, deals a lot of damage, and sends enemies flying away. This works great against bosses, especially since you can do it while getting up from the ground. Practicing and mastering the rising knee attack will help you beat this game.

 

Too Much Platforming

The third issue that I have with Double Dragon II: The Revenge is the amount of platforming that the game asked you to do. The thing is, this is a beat ’em up game. To jump, you need to press both A and B buttons at the same time. There are no double jumps, and you can’t run to build momentum to jump higher. And yet, there are several sections that will need precise jump timing and spacing. I’ll go through the two worst sections.

 

 

There’s a level with two sequences of disappearing platforms. Both sequences have pits that will kill you instantly if you fall into them. You’ll need to jump onto a platform while it’s visible, then jump off of it and onto another before it disappears. Jump too early and the second platform won’t be there. Jump too late and you’ll fall. Fudge your execution of the jump and you’ll die.

 

 

The worst is an area that has gears that spin randomly. There are spikes that shoot up from the floor, and there’s a huge pit in the middle. Fall into the pit and its instant death. The gears can spin you into the pit. The spikes can hit you and make you fall in the pit. You can miss your jump and fall straight into the pit. This is a terrible area that should not be in a beat ’em up game.

 

 

I wouldn’t have minded it if there were only a handful of these. But there were simply too many, and it feels like they were designed to make this game unnecessarily difficult.

 

Enemies and Boss Battles

Double Dragon II: The Revenge definitely has a lot more enemies compared to the previous game. And there are more bosses too. My only complaint is that the bosses are too similar to each other – big bulky guys with attacks that have longer reach than your characters. Burnov is a masked big dude that disintegrates when beaten. But he’ll reassemble himself once so be on guard.

 

 

I didn’t even know Abore was a boss because he first appears in the middle of one of the levels. He looks like Arnold and has long reaching attacks. He can also grab and throw you behind him.

 

 

Bolo is Abobo with hair. Like the other two bosses, he’s got a long reaching punch and a devastating grab and throw attack.

 

 

The worst part of these boss battles is that a lot of them happen when you’re on a flat platform. You won’t be able to go up and down to dodge them. They’ve got a longer reach so you can only hope that the A.I. doesn’t attack before you do.

 

 

The final boss of this game is a big improvement. Known as the Mysterious Warrior, he’s got several moves and fights differently from the others. He can even turn invisible and attack you. You can only fight him on the NES version if you chose the Supreme Master difficulty though.

 

Visuals, Sound, and Presentation

The graphics of Double Dragon II: The Revenge is definitely better than the first game. Sprites look more polished and some enemies even get special animation, like Williams cartwheeling towards you. Stages are quite detailed, so it’s easy to understand what kind of locations are being depicted.

 

 

In terms of sound design, this game does alright. I did like this game’s stage themes but they weren’t as memorable for me. Sound effects are appropriate, so landing your attacks feel good. Not much to say other than what this game has in terms of sound does its job.

 

 

What Double Dragon II: The Revenge did better than the other two games is its presentation. The main menu and the HUD are pretty standard but they are clear and easy to read and understand. However, this game has some decent cutscenes with good looking pixel art. The art really does help in selling this game’s plot to the player.

 

Final Thoughts

Double Dragon II: The Revenge is a clear improvement compared to the first game. But I just have a lot of things about it that I don’t like. I think the directional control scheme was a bad idea and isn’t intuitive. There were too many platforming sequences even though this is a beat ’em up game. And making the NES version inaccessible by hiding continues behind cheat codes and limiting parts of the game based on the difficulty setting was the final straw. Until now, I still can’t believe that some of my friends prefer this game over Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones.

If you want to play this game, I suggest playing the Famicom version which can be beaten on Normal difficulty and has continues unlocked. If you really want to play this game in English, make sure you look up this game’s cheat codes because you’ll need them.

 

Click here to read about all the Double Dragon games that I’ve played. And click here to check out every NES video game that I’ve played!