Rage of the Dragons

Infobox VG
title = Rage of the Dragons


developer = BrezzaSoft / Noise Factory
publisher = SNK Playmore
designer = Evoga
release = June 2002
genre = 2D Tag team versus fighting
modes = Up to 2 players simultaneously
cabinet = Upright
arcade system = Neo-Geo (564 Mbit cartridge)
display = Raster, 304 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors
input = 8-way Joystick, 4 Buttons
platforms = Neo-Geo

"Rage of the Dragons" is a 2002 tag team head-to-head fighting game released for the Neo Geo hardware by Playmore (currently SNK Playmore). The game was co-developed by the Mexican team Evoga and the Japanese company Noise Factory. Evoga worked on the initial planning and designing, while Noise Factory worked on the final graphics, sounds and programming.

Gameplay

"Rage of the Dragons" features a tag team system, in which the player takes control of two characters and can switch between one or the other during gameplay. The character who is not being controlled will slowly recovers part of his or her energy while the other is fighting. The player can perform special combos in which both characters attack an opponent at the same time for added damage.

An auxiliary meter located at the bottom of the screen that slowly fills up when an attack connects with an opponent. When the meter is full, special moves can be performed (Ex: Counter Attacks, Super Moves, etc).

Plot and characters

There are a total of fourteen playable characters in "Rage of the Dragons". The player can select from one of the seven default pairings, or create a custom pairing with nearly 80 possible combinations. The player will see a hidden ending if they complete the single player tournament with a Billy and Jimmy pairing.
*flagicon|USA Jimmy (James Lewis)
*flagicon|USA Billy (William Lewis)
*flagicon|USA Lynn (Lynn Baker)
*flagicon|Russia Sonia (Sonia Romanenko)
*flagicon|Japan Annie (Annie Murakami)
*flagicon|Europe Radel
*flagicon|Mexico Pepe (Jose Rodriguez)
*flagicon|Brazil Pupa (Pupa Salgueiro)
*flagicon|South Korea Jae-mo Kang
*flagicon|USA Mr. Jones (Jones Damon)
*flagicon| Oni
*flagicon| Cassandra
*flagicon|Ireland Elias (Elias Patrick)
*flagicon|UK Alice (Alice Carroll)

There are also two boss characters in the game, who are fought by the player at the end of the single player tournament. Unlike the regular characters, these bosses only fight by themselves with no partners.
*flagicon|India Abubo (Abubo Rao)
*flagicon| Johann

Production

Evoga originally envisioned "Rage of the Dragon" as a sequel to the Neo Geo fighting game version of "Double Dragon" released in 1995. However, Evoga were unable to use the intellectual rights for the characters (which were purchased by the company Million, the developers of "Double Dragon Advance"), and thus "Rage of the Dragons" was turned into a homage to the "Double Dragon" series instead of an official sequel. The two lead characters in "Rage of the Dragons", Billy and Jimmy Lewis, share their names with the protagonists of the "Double Dragon" series, Billy and Jimmy Lee, while the boss character Abubo is based on Abobo from the original "Double Dragon". Two supporting characters in "Rage", Linda (Abubo's female assistant) and Mariah (Jimmy's deceased girlfriend), are also based on "Double Dragon" characters.

Jimmy, Lynn, Elias and Mr. Jones would later appear as hidden guest characters in "Power Instinct Matrimelee", a fighting game also produced by Noise Factory. Ironically, Atlus, the company that originally produced the "Power Instinct" series, published "Double Dragon Advance" for Million.

External links

* [http://game.snkplaymore.co.jp/official/rod/rod_top.html "Rage of the Dragons"] at SNK Playmore
* [http://www.noise.co.jp/game/rod/ "Rage of the Dragons"] at Noise Factory
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* [http://www.neo-geo.com/reviews/neo-reviews/rotd/rotd.html Review of "Rage of the Dragons" at Neo-Geo.com]