Double Dragon

1987

Taito

Rise up. Billy & Jimmy!

Clean up the streets of the city’s slums with a roundhouse kick and a fistful of fury! Billy’s girl has been taken by the Shadow Warriors and imprisoned in their hideout. Rescue her and send those punks flying to the concrete in the original twin beat-em up, DOUBLE DRAGON!

2 Player
Brawler

Twin brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee were not known by these names until a later home console conversion to the NES, though outside of Japan they were called Spike and Hammer by Taito in promotional material for the arcades.

Description

Double Dragon (ダブルドラゴン Daburu Doragon) introduced the gaming world to co-operative side-scrolling beat-em up action in 1987. Expanding on the concept of the original beat-em up, Kung Fu Master (1984, also at the club), it became the blueprint for two player brawlers to follow, including household names such as Final Fight and Streets of Rage.

You play as Billy and his twin brother Jimmy as you fight your way through six screens of intense rivalry. Some of the bigger enemies burst out of the scenery and others just loiter in the streets waiting for punishment. Though it’s split into six missions, gameplay is without intermission. The path to revenge takes you through the derelict brick city, past distant skyscrapers into an industrial area, and through woods to the Shadow Warriors’ hideout, all in one continuous movement.

Each mission ends with a boss fight, during which Kazunaka Yamane’s synthesised soundtrack becomes frantic. You’ll take your final revenge on Machine Gun Willy beneath the gaze of two golden dragons and your girlfriend, bound by ropes and hanging from the wall.