Double Dragon AvP

[classicgamer74]

In my latest I discuss Double Dragon and it's various ports, including the Atari 2600 port.  What was your opinion of that one and/or the others? 

[KevinMos3]

I always liked the 2600 version, but struggled to get to the final mission (as a kid, I would usually run out of time or lives toward the end of mission 3).  The graphics captured my imagination, wondering what the next screens would hold.  At first, I was a little disappointed that it didn't play like the NES version, (you can't just walk up and start punching the enemies).  The strategy I used was to stay in the lower left corner and kick, which took too much time and is why I would end up running out of time somewhere in mission 3.  It wasn't until I started hacking the graphics several years ago that I finally learned the strategy of using the elbow smash to dominate the enemies.  Now, I REALLY enjoy the game.  Mastering the elbow smash opened up the game to learn other gameplay strategies to eek out more points.  I like to taunt the enemies with a few kicks or punches before knocking them down with an elbow smash.  On screens with a weapon, I like to do the same (kick or punch a couple times before I smack them with a bat or barrel.  Knives are still more challenging to acquire).  Any time I sit down thinking I'll only play for a few minutes, I end up getting hooked and play through to the end.

 

I bought the 7800 version from Video 61 sometime around '94.  I really liked the background graphics, but was turned off by the character sprites.  The gameplay seemed more forgiving than the 2600 version, but I still found it too difficult to get very far.  I don't remember how far I used to get back then.  However, like with the 2600 version I became much better at playing the game when hacking the graphics.  Also, like the 2600 version, I REALLY enjoy playing the game now, and easily get hooked any time I start to play thinking I'll just take a minute.

 

The NES version was THE Double Dragon version among my friends, so I always wanted the Atari versions to be more like the NES one.  Looking back at it now, I can appreciate how the Atari versions were more like the arcade, whereas the NES version was reworked to be more suited for a home console.

 

I don't remember playing the SMS version as a kid, but when I finally did play it, I was turned off by the graphics.  I think it's the brown character outlines that didn't appeal to me, so I did a graphics hack a few years back that changed the character outlines to black and tweaked the player sprite.  Although it plays more like the NES version, I think I enjoy the Atari versions more.

 

I always loved the Lynx version.  I was really impressed with the graphics and gameplay.  I love the large sprites and consider it a showcase title.  I didn't notice until recent years that it seems to have the graphics of the Genesis version and it's missing some of the mission transitions to save ROM space.

 

I haven't played the Amiga version, but I don't like the character sprites. I've not spent much time with other computer ports either, Amstrad, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Commodore 64 (although I do own a version of this), etc.