Double Dragon: Master System or NES?

[rhindlethereddragon]

Despite the Master System version having 2 players and nice touches like having enemies breaking through walls, I've got to go with the NES version.

What do you think?

[Gribble101]

I would have to say the NES version as I've never played the Master System Double Dragon was a heck of a fun game, as a kid I spent hours on that cart.

[number six]

People forget how big Double Dragon was when it first hit the arcades. I mean, I remember trying for weeks to play it.. there was always a line of much older kids on it. I used to actually dream about playing the game before I played it.

 

The actual game turned out to be amazing.. the Street Fighter 2 of 1987 for sure.

 

I remember when my friend got the NES port.. it was a big deal. Like whoaaaah big. Then we played it. No 2 player first off, what the hell? It's double[/i] dragon. Sure there was the versus mode which was cool but still. Then there was the moves.. you had to earn them? I guess this was supposed to give the game more depth but this wasn't something like Strider where the NES version is pleasantly different we were expecting the arcade game and the NES was well off that. I never really card for it.. especially the oddly muddly color palette.

 

A bit later I got a hold of the SMS version and that was the trick. It's a flicker fest but it's double dragon. 2 player, moves and arcade layout Double Dragon. If we're comparing I'd say the SMS all the way. The NES might be good in it's own right but its a poor analog to the arcade game and thats what I loved most.

[BassGuitari]

NES. The Master System may be more faithful to the arcade version, and it has two players, but it's a chore to play compared to the NES version. The hit detection is notably suspect; you can wail away at enemies and not hit them. Double Dragon on the Master System is a game I *want* to like (I don't have many Master System games, after all) but I'm always a little let down every time I come back to it. Even with infinite continues up until the last level, I rarely have the motivation to push to that point -- I usually shut the game off in tired irritation halfway through level 3.

The NES version sort of does its own thing a little bit (different levels, twin bro Jimmy is the true leader of the Shadow Warriors or whatever they were called), but is more playable IMO. I also like the level-up system where you learn new moves along the way; I think it lends to the game's sense of adventure. The 2-player versus mode wasn't very interesting, though, and feels tacked on. But the single-player "campaign" is colorful, good-looking, and playable in all the ways the Master System version is not. Which isn't to say it's a perfect game, but at least playing it doesn't feel like work.

I can see how arcade purists would prefer the Master System version, since the Master System version is the better port. But if you can forgive its differences, the NES version is the better game.

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

The soundtrack on the NES Double Dragon was truly remarkable for an 8-bit title! I would just love to listen to the title screen theme without pressing the start button. I would also purposely play the 2 player vs. mode and just hear the different character themes without attacking each other.

 

Despite that DD on the Master System was much more polished, the NES is my favorite thanks to the music!

 

Anthony...

Edited March 12, 2015 by fdurso224

[+thegoldenband]

NES, easily. The only thing the Master System has going for it is the 2P simultaneous, and that suffers from horrendous flicker.

 

I beat the SMS version within an hour of playing it, didn't much enjoy it, and felt no urge to play it again anytime soon. The NES version, OTOH, remains one of my go-to games to this day.

[0078265317]

I had the nes version as a kid and it was awesome. Well at least for back then.

[Austin]

NES version as well for me. Lack of a two-player mode aside (something I don't really need), the hit detection and how enemies respond is leagues above the SMS version. In the Master System game, enemies are like brick walls and barely react when you hit them. The colors in this version are all kinds of weird as well and just don't look very good at all despite having more of them on-screen than in the NES version. I do like how it's truer to the arcade game, but the NES version just does a better job in execution and it feels like a much more complete package that is still worth going back to today.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Austin

[+Random Terrain]

I didn't know much about any version, so I went YouTubing.

 

 

Arcade:

 

youtube.com/watch?v=rVAV9G1IukE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVAV9G1IukE

 

 

NES:

 

youtube.com/watch?v=VMJXZm21faY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMJXZm21faY

 

 

SMS:

 

youtube.com/watch?v=sdwWu-i4WyE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdwWu-i4WyE

[R.Bear]

I prefer the Master System version.

 

Its one of the games that I grew up playing. Also the 2 player mode was a blast to play with friends.

[AtariORdead]

Love both, leaning slightly towards the MS simply because of the times playing 2 player with my cousin on his MS.

 

However, Double Dragon II on the NES is ( apart from double Dragon 1 in arcades ) is the best Double Dragon game Ever.

[Crazy Climber]

Well, Double Dragon 2 (NES) and Double Dragon advance (GBA) are the only 2 you should play...but between the 2 choices....NES

The only leg up the Master system has is 2 player, but lets be honest, none of us really have any friends that are going to come over and play through all of Double Dragon with us anyways, you know it's going to be a solo affair, lol

[Greg2600]

I was never a huge fan of any of its ports, but the NES port was the best performing. I played it as a kid at friends', I didn't have it. I did get the 2600 version around that time from the Kay-Bee dollar bin, ha ha ha ha ha!

[imstarryeyed]

Master system version to me.. I hated the NES version, I thought it played really sloppy and I could not play it with my friends at all. It was agony having to watch one player play while the others watched.

[+FujiSkunk]

Master system version. And I was the friend that went over to someone's house to play it with them.

[+GoldenWheels]

NES all day, every day for me.

 

I agree that DD2 is better but it also has more crappy platforming/jumping, that is harder to get around, in it. That disappearing platform level is horseshit, pardon my french. The only thing that cheap in DD1 is the pop out walls.

[Papa]

I was shocked the first time I rented Double Dragon for my NES and realized it was only one player! I liked that the little one-on-one fighting game was included, but felt that unlocking moves gradually and not being able to play with a partner made it quite a bit different than Double Dragon (like, uh..no double!!)!! I was very pleased with the Master System, as two people could play together and it retained the same look and feel of the arcade version. You could use all the moves from the start and all the enemies were there. A negative would be that there is a lot of flickering and the art is a bit on the SD side. I eventually had fun with both, but the Master System version seems better to me.

[+chicgamer]

I prefer the Master System version. I played the game a lot with friends. It was an easy game for anyone to pick up and play, especially since the game had infinite continues (even in the last level, if you jump, I think, 50 times at the beginning of the level).

[Torr]

I had to put my vote for the SMS version. The NES version IS a solid game, and if it was an NES original not appearing originally in arcades or being on any other system there would would be little to fault about it, but when you compare it to it's source material and the other ports it just can't hold up.

 

Enemies on Screen: SMS wins. With only two enemies being on screen at a time and those enemies being clones of each other it's on the same level as the Atari 2600 port.

 

Fighting Moves: SMS wins. Having to "level up" your character just doesn't make sense to me. Again, if this was a console exclusive this wouldn't be such a flaw, but I'm used to having all my moves from the get-go.

 

Level Design: SMS wins. TOO many liberties were taken in porting this from the arcade, and the platforming levels are not only unnecessary but drag the whole game down.

 

1P vs 2P: SMS wins. Aside from the title being DOUBLE dragon, ALL fighting games are more fun when playing with a friend. Even Final Fight (SNES) is heavily criticized for being 1 player only. Hard to find someone these days that wants to play DD with me, but back in the day it REALLY made a difference. Even the Atari 2600 port allowed 2 player simultaneous play.

 

Graphics: SMS wins. With some exceptions, SO many NES games are just very lackluster in the color department with dull muted tones and not much variety. The SMS took some liberty in palette swapping the enemies as they increased in difficulty, however MANY fighting games that followed did the same thing.

 

Sounds: SMS wins. They both recreate the arcade tunes very faithfully but I'm personally a fan of the SMS sound chip, maybe it's just nostalgia.

 

Weapons: Unfortunately both systems fail equally here. It always bugged me that weapons disappeared when the screen scrolled to the next segment.

 

There are two good points the NES has over other versions, I like that they added a character, Chin. As well, the 2 player one-one-one mode was a fun little extra. If you could play as any character versus any character and each fight had a random weapon to be picked up rather than the same character for each player and sometimes a preset weapon depending on the character chosen it would have been MUCH MUCH better and could have been good enough to be a stand alone game. As it is, I'd still rather play THIS one-on-one version of Double Dragon over Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls!

[Cynicaster]

I have a feeling this is one of those polls that gets decided based upon which version each voter played more back in the 80s, rather than on an objective assessment of the merits of the two versions.

 

I played the NES version a lot when I was 12, and enjoyed it--the Game Boy version as well.

 

I never played the SMS version until I tried it via emulation about 2 years ago. Honestly, neither of these games holds up well for me today--heck, the arcade game doesn't either, as great as it was back then--but if I'm being honest, the SMS version looks and feels like the better game.

 

As somebody already mentioned, the GBA Double Dragon is where it's at. That game might be the best "re-make" of a classic game that I've ever played. It keeps all of the stuff that was good about the original and fixes just about everything that was bad.

[Tempest]

The Double Dragon Dojo has some nice write ups of the various versions: http://doubledragon.kontek.net/games/index.html

The NES and Arcade versions are the only ones I've really played (well I tried to play the Lynx and 2600 versions, but they were too hard). As for which one is best, it depends on if you're going for the 'closest arcade experience' or 'overall gameplay'.

[BassGuitari]

 

As for which one is best, it depends on if you're going for the 'closest arcade experience' or 'overall gameplay'.

This. The Master System version is the better arcade port, but the NES version is the more playable game.

[+thegoldenband]

It's interesting, but while SNES Final Fight is practically ruined by the lack of 2P play, I don't mind the fact that NES Double Dragon is 1P-only. The gameplay is more tactical and methodical than the arcade original, and the revamped levels make the whole experience almost as much of an "action-adventure" as a beat-'em-up.

 

Of course, both ports are horribly flawed since they don't fully emulate the massive, pervasive slowdown of the arcade original.

 

The SMS version would have more going for it if the FM sound expansion had been released in the US. Austin's on point about the colors, too -- it suffers from that all-too-frequent SMS problem of having lots of colors, yet using them in the weirdest and most garish way possible, like some thrift-store leisure suit gone wrong. The NES has fewer colors, but uses them better.

 

But it's the gameplay that really sinks the SMS version for me. It's just not fun; everything feels clunky, repetitive, and "off". And the combination of infinite continues in the first 3 stages, but none in Stage 4, results in stupid situations like having to intentionally commit suicide against the Stage 3 boss so you start Stage 4 with a full set of lives.

 

In truth, most ports of Double Dragon stink! The ones I've played do, at least. The Game Gear version is a totally different game, and kind of an abomination -- like a fourth-rate Streets of Rage. The Genesis port looks and sounds great, but the gameplay is all wrong.

 

The Atari 7800 port...speaks for itself. The Atari 2600 port, well, it's kind of like the old saw about a dancing bear: "The marvel is not that the bear dances well, but that the bear dances at all." The two-button controller hack helps to make it playable, at least.

 

The Game Boy port isn't bad, though. Like most versions of the game a single tactic works for pretty much everything, but it still plays well and resembles the NES version, which is still my favorite of them all.

[bohoki]

never had a sms so my options back in the day were on my commiedoor or nes i loved the invisible enemy power up cheat

 

i just got a sms not sure if i want to pay for double dragon

 

if anybody has any duplicates they want to get rid of cause the only game i got is black belt and it is really causing me to swear

[+FujiSkunk]

Interestingly enough, the Commodore was where I played Double Dragon the most at home, back in the day.