Game Boy: Double Dragon GB Games

Double Dragon. That's all you need to say and 30-year old dudes turn into 10-year old ninjas. The first two NES games are iconic. As Billy and Jimmy Lee you made your way through some mean streets and beat the tar out of anyone who crossed your path. Sure they were stripped way down in comparison to the arcades. But honestly they were so cool that it didn't matter. Who needed the arcade, man? Not me. And not a whole slew of other kids who blew the time after school and before dinner with some NES Double Dragon.

Now what we didn't know back then was that video games were a business. And sometimes games materialized not because they were good and deserved to exist, but instead because they'd make somebody else some money. It was a good lesson for us though. I know the 10-year old me had to learn that sometimes life just wasn't fair. Sometimes it punched your girlfriend in the stomach and threw her over its shoulder and carried her off fireman-style and then you and your brother had to go rescue her and then sometimes even he was a jerk too!

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The first Double Dragon game was ported to the Game Boy in 1990 by Tecmo, and it's actually kind of good. It's basically a miniaturized version of the NES game. It's got different level layouts, but they're basically all inspired by levels from the NES game. All of the characters from the NES release are also pretty much recognizable here as well. Of course it's not as good as the cult-classic, but it actually does a great job of being what it sets out to be: a portable substitute. It knows that it's a little-brother, and it's okay with that identity. If you want to have a good time playing a brief version of Double Dragon, well here it is.

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Then things got worse. You see the NES release of Double Dragon II was a huge hit. It remains the coolest game in the series. Just owning the cartridge ~~literally~~ figuratively put hair on your chest. So Acclaim knew they had to release a Game Boy port of the game. They had two options: (1) they could pay a developer to re-create the awesome experience of Double Dragon II on the Game Boy in a similar fashion to the first GB game. Or (2) they could just take a really abysmal River City Ransom sequel that had already been released in Japan, change the sprites to look like a Double Dragon game, keep all the horrible gameplay and call it Double Dragon II. Guess which one they felt would be more cost-effective?

However Double Dragon II does have one thing going for it; it's not Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game.

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Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game is bad. I mean really bad. Like if you ever find yourself on a long car-ride with a Game Boy that has this game loaded in it, you'll just start counting cars instead. It's biggest problem is the AI. You will be constantly surrounded by unmerciful enemies that will beat you to death really quickly. And considering the poor controls, you really have no choice but to just take it.

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After two total letdowns, it's surprising that the Double Dragon license lived on on the Game Boy, but surprisingly Battletoads/Double Dragon actually turned out pretty good. It's an ambitious port of the SNES title, and features all three 'toads along with both Lees as playable characters. The levels take cues from both series, and the gameplay is actually quite good on the Game Boy. Of course this comes from experience on the part of Tradewest who had already published two excellent Battletoads games on the Game Boy. If anything, they were kind enough to pull the Double Dragon name out of the mud with this one.

And then nothing happened for ten years.

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In 2003 Double Dragon Advance was published by Atlus for the GBA. This came as a total shock as the series had been dead on Game Boy systems for the last decade. Even as other classic NES titles like Super Mario Bros., Ghosts 'N Goblins, and 1942 were seeing re-releases on the portable-NES-ish Game Boy Color, nobody dared bring up Double Dragon. So what a relief this one was when it finally saw the light of day. It was actually a very faithful port of the arcade original which is actually quite impressive in and of itself, considering the NES version being the most recognized in this day and age. Though this would prove to be the final Game Boy-related release for the series, at least it went out on the sort of dignified high-note that the series deserves.