Super Double Dragon

Super Double Dragon
Cover art of Super Double Dragon (North American version)
Developer(s)	Technos Japan Corporation
Publisher(s)	Tradewest
Designer(s)	Muneki Ebinuma
Composer(s)	Kazunaka Yamane
Series	Double Dragon
Platform(s)	Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Release date(s)	JP October 16, 1992 NA October 1992 EU September 30, 1993
Genre(s)	Beat'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player Cooperative

Super Double Dragon, known in Japan as Return of Double Dragon (リターン・オブ・双截龍^?), is a side-scrolling beat-'em-up released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. It was published by Technos Japan Corp. in Japan and by Tradewest in North America and the PAL region. Super Double Dragon is the fourth console game in the Double Dragon series developed by Technos, following previous titles for the NES, although unlike the NES games, Super Double Dragon is an original title and not based on any preceding arcade version.

Gameplay

Gameplay of Super Double Dragon.

As with previous installments of the series, the player takes control of martial artists Billy and Jimmy in their fight against the Shadow Warriors gang. The objective is to proceed through each stage and defeat all enemies, including a boss. The game consists of seven stages, which includes a casino, an airport, a martial arts gym, a fight atop a moving truck, a city slum, a forest, and the hideout of the boss.

In addition to the punch, kick, and jump buttons, the player now has a guard button for blocking attacks. If the player times the guard button right, their character can not only defend against an enemy's punch, they can also put certain enemies in an arm grab, leaving the enemy vulnerable to successive attacks. There's also a "Dragon Power" gauge under the life gauge, which the player can fill by holding down L or R buttons. While the gauge is filling up, the player can perform special attacks which vary depending on how much power the player has accumulated, which includes a flying hurricane kick. If the power gauge is completely filled, then the player's regular attacks will gain extra strength for a limited period. In contrast to previous Double Dragon games, Jimmy Lee (the Player 2 character) has different punching attacks than Billy Lee (Player 1). In the Japanese version, his Roundhouse Kick is also different.

Development

According to a commentary by the game's planner, Muneki Ebinuma, the game was planned to feature more elaborate stage designs than the ones in the finished version of the game. Additionally, story sequences similar to the second NES game were planned for the game, but were not included due to time constraints. Marian, the heroine from previous games, was planned to be featured in the game as a policewoman who assist the Lee brothers, but her presence was cut (her character is only mentioned in the manual). The game was also supposed to feature another opponent after the battle with Duke.

The Japanese release, Return of Double Dragon, features several significant differences from its western counterpart: the title theme and most of the background music were shuffled around (i.e: the Mission 1 theme from the western version is played during Mission 4 in the Japanese version) and the player can perform certain actions which cannot be done in the western version (such as retrieving a boomerang after throwing it or hitting an opponent more than once successively with the hurricane kick). The enemy placement is also different in both versions and weapons such as knives and incendiary bombs do less damage in the Japanese. The final Mission also feature two additional levels before the final battle. An Option Mode is included in the Japanese version as well, allowing the player to adjust the game's difficulty setting, as well as listen to the game's music and sound effects.

External links

• Homepage of Yoshihisa Kishimoto, director of the Double Dragon series
• Super Double Dragon: The True Story
• Return of Double Dragon @ Game Kommander