Double Dragon (Arcade) Co-op Playthrough / There can be only one..... in this classic beat'em up.

Double Dragon (1987) by Technos Japan is one hell of an adventure in a world where apparently even brothers have no idea what brotherly love means. In terms of the beat 'em up genre, you can hardly get more classic than this. Once one of the most recognizable arcade games in the world, Double Dragon helped establish many ideas that later became standard for countless street brawlers. The story could hardly be simpler. Marian is kidnapped by the Black Warriors gang, so Billy and Jimmy Lee travel through the city beating the living hell out of everybody standing between them and her rescue. It is pure 80s arcade storytelling – a few seconds of introduction and then straight to business. Fortunately, the combat system offers considerably more than the plot. Billy and Jimmy can punch, kick, jump, throw enemies, perform knee strikes, headbutts and use the famous backward elbow smash. Baseball bats, whips, knives and other weapons can also be taken from enemies and used against them. For a game from 1987, the amount of different ways available to hurt somebody is actually pretty impressive. The elbow in particular became almost legendary. Once you understand how effective it is, a large portion of the game can be reduced to turning your back toward incoming enemies and smashing them in the face when they approach. Balanced? Probably not. Satisfying? Absolutely. Graphically, Double Dragon still has plenty of charm. The sprites are large enough to make attacks look powerful, the stages have that unmistakable dirty street atmosphere and enemies such as Abobo became recognizable characters in their own right. Music is also surprisingly pleasant considering the age of the game. Naturally, later beat 'em ups would completely destroy it technically, but in 1987 this must have looked and sounded impressive. Unfortunately, there is one technical problem that is impossible to ignore. Slowdown. When too many characters appear on screen, the game can noticeably lose speed. Animations become sluggish and everything suddenly feels as if the entire street has been covered in glue. It does not completely ruin the experience, but it is easily one of the most obvious signs of the game's age. Still, I do not have many serious complaints about Double Dragon itself. The combat is enjoyable, there is a decent selection of moves and weapons, and playing together with another person was one of the features that helped make the game so important for the genre. Although perhaps "together" is not the correct word. If both players survive the entire adventure and defeat the final boss, the game suddenly decides that cooperation has lasted long enough. Billy and Jimmy now have to fight each other to determine who gets Marian. After crossing an entire city together, defeating an army of thugs and saving her life, apparently the logical conclusion is to beat your own brother senseless. Now THAT is brotherly love. And Marian apparently has absolutely no problem with this arrangement either. Quite a b***h when you think about it. For many years the Double Dragon franchise felt like a decaying corpse of its former greatness. Double Dragon Neon was one attempt to bring it back, and later games continued trying to revive the name, but none changed the historical fact that the original series once stood near the very top of the arcade world. Today the first Double Dragon is obviously primitive compared with titles that followed it. The slowdown is annoying, the stages are simple and later games greatly expanded the combat formula. But this is where much of that formula came from. It is old, rough around the edges and technically outdated, but still enjoyable and absolutely worth experiencing at least once if you are interested in the history of beat 'em ups. Just remember – save Marian together... Then beat the crap out of your brother. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- #DoubleDragon #Arcade #TechnosJapan #BeatEmUp #CoOpGaming #RetroGaming #ArcadeGameplay #ClassicGaming #RetroMatter #Playthrough #Longplay #NoCommentary In the video I used animations made by "RoyaltyFreeTube", which were modified by me to fit the whole. Links below to original unedited animations: Outrun Grid Animation Loop - Creative Commons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvomD... A music track created by "ULTRAWAVE" is also used, modified to fit the whole thing. Link below to original unedited track. Oceandrive 🌴 Synthwave (No Copyright Music): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7jU0...