Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: c9tqc@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Sherman Chan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Double Dragon Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games Date: 8 Apr 1993 13:21:59 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 138 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1q18tn$kkn@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: c9tqc@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Sherman Chan) NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: game, arcade, fighting, commercial PRODUCT NAME Double Dragon DESCRIPTION An arcade beat 'em up. Adapted from the 1985 Taito arcade game of the same name. PUBLISHER Name: Arcadia (Virgin Mastertronic) Address: 711 West 17 Street, Unit G9 Costa Mesa, CA 92627 USA Telephone: (714) 631-1001 LIST PRICE Unknown. I bought it used from a netter for $6 (US). SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 512K Amiga, one disk drive, one or more joysticks. No mention is made of compatibility with any specific model of Amiga, processor, or Kickstart version. TEST HARDWARE Amiga 500 w/68000 7Mhz CPU 512K Chip - NTSC only 512K Slow RAM 2 Megs of Fast RAM Kickstart 1.2 A1010 External floppy drive Kraft one-button joystick COPY PROTECTION Disk based. The game does not appear to be hard disk installable, and it requires a reboot to start and exit. The ASDG recoverable RAM disk VD0: does survive the reboot to exit. The game attempts to save high scores to the disk. REVIEW I was somewhat excited when the package containing Double Dragon (and a few other pieces of software I bought from a fellow netter) arrived. Double Dragon was a milestone in the development of the martial arts fighting game as important as Karate Champ and Streetfighter II. It was also the last arcade game I spent a significant amount of money on. The arcade Double Dragon had a simple premise. The player had to battle through five levels of enemies to meet the boss, defeat him, and rescue his girlfriend. If a second player were involved, the game would be cooperative, and the players fought the gang members together. However, the players could injure each other, and a careless move often knocked down a partner, rather than an enemy. I remembered the horrible C-64 conversion, and the somewhat disappointing Nintendo (8-bit) cartridge, and hoped the Amiga version wouldn't also disappoint. To my dismay, I found that it too fails to capture the feel of the arcade version. The graphics, while somewhat grainy, are generally acceptable facsimiles of the originals. But the design team's greatest sin is not including any of the soundtrack. Any former player of the arcade game would've told you the music was an integral part of a game. It broke the monotony of the thuds of connecting punches, the groans of defeated opponents (these effects are present in the Amiga game), and helped edge the player along. If the music were present, I'd forgive some of the other gaffes; but since it isn't, I won't. First, why doesn't this game use a hi-res screen? The arcade graphics weren't particularly colorful, and 16 colors would've been sufficient, as the IBM PC version proved. The additional resolution would've allowed for more detail in the characters and smoother animation. They designers compounded this arguably minor omission by dropping animation frames present in the arcade version. This makes punches and kicks jerky and ruins one of my favorite animations in the original: when a player managed to grab one of his opponents by the hair and unleashed a barrage of knee-butts to his head, the speakers would emit a furious series of thuds, while the opponent's body convulsed with each hit. I performed the same manuever on the Amiga game, and found the game makes absolutely NO SOUND, and the animation is jerky and slow. The arcade game used a two button/joystick combination for the controls; and as Double Dragon was programmed in 1988, no provision was made for a two-button controller. The controls are adapted fairly well for a one-button joystick, with one glaring exception. The backwards elbow, the most important move in the player's arsenal, for some reason is programmed to require joystick movement PRIOR to the button press, rather than simultaneously like all the others. I often find myself performing an about-face followed by a punch when I try to elbow an opponent. The various enemies in the arcade game had "personalities" and fighting styles unique to them. They were nowhere as pronounced as the nuances in Streetfighter II (or even Streetfighter I), but they were important. While enemies could generally be defeated by some combination of a fast knock down followed by a series of elbows, there was a need to tailor-make some moves for the tougher ones. I find that the Amiga game's enemies are fairly stupid, and often stand around for me to hit. Even without a reliable elbow move, I do OK in the game and am able to get to the end of the third level without a continue. CONCLUSION Even by the standards of 1988 Amiga gaming, Double Dragon is a failure. It's a study in lost nuances. Graphically the game is only slightly below average, but the various other omissions make it an unacceptable conversion. It could be excused if the Amiga hardware were incapable of performing better (if this were a C64 port, I'd have to say it's pretty impressive), but that's clearly not the case here. I'd have to say Double Dragon for the Amiga is for the less discriminating nostalgia buff only, and only if it can be purchased for a meager price. If you must have a decent Double Dragon game in your collection, consider purchasing the Nintendo version. While it's inferior graphically to the Amiga version, it has the music and it's considerably more playable with the two button controller. Note that there are two versions of the Nintendo cartridge: an older one that only allows one player, and a later reissue that allows two. -Sherman Chan C9TQC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu