Throwback Thursday: Double Dragon

By on Mar 10, 2011 at 7:46 PM
General March 10, 2011

For this week’s installation of Throwback Thursday, we’re going to journey back to the year 1987. A time when the Iran-Contra Affair was front page news, the term “Black Monday” was coined, and Double Dragon was the most popular game in your local arcade. Developed by Technos Japan, Double Dragon tells the tale of two brothers, Hammer and Spike, who are trying to navigate through gang-turf dominated by the Black Warriors (anyone else noticing some racial undertones twenty years post facto?). The brothers are skilled fighters, and determined to accomplish their goal, saving a common love interest Marian (it’s getting weirder). In the arcade version of the game, Hammer and Spike have to complete four levels – beating four different foes wielding a variety of weapons — in order to rescue their damsel in distress. If both brothers survive the trials and tribulations in multiplayer mode, they then must fight each other to determine who will be the winner of Marian’s love. The game was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System and, in 1994, made into a movie (which currently has rating of 1.5 out of 5 starts on IMDB). Was anyone a Double Dragon master?

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

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  • MikeW

    First biaches!!!

  • KeenanEbony

    This game sucked when it was out and now I’m looking at it again, still sucks. BGR – running out of throwbacks i see… why don’t you post the Motorola Razr while you’re at it.

    • I respond to Trolls

      Don’t get mad at Double Dragon because you suck at video games.

      • McGoo

        While you were playing video games all day, taking breaks beating your meat with a jar of mayo watching scrambled porn, some of us had lives out side the house. Sports, friends and girls. You loser.

      • jungle fever

        there were many people that were like 4 years old when this game was out. so if you think a 4 year old has a social life outside the house is a good thing you have problems

      • Hudie27

        I have to ask…….. Who beats off with MAYO………LMAO

      • BenH

        @ jungle fever You must be smoking your girlfriend’s crack if you think most that played this game were 4 years old! I and most of my friends were in middle school when this came out, some where even in high school when this came out, and yes, some even in college. Don’t assume every person on BGR is in their late 20′s early 30′s – douchebag.

      • jungle fever

        @BenH did you read what i wrote? just wondering because i never said most i said many. and that’s true. you bag of douche

      • Tarpopolis

        I seriously doubt you were old enough for girls in 1987. you sound about 16 now. which would have made you….. yeah pretty much 0 at the time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/christopher.a.davis Christopher A. Davis

    I to this day could never beat this game. The computer cheated way to much.

    • http://www.facebook.com/mmarzett Michael Eric Marzett

      I hear ya man. I wasted many, MANY quarters on this one.

  • Double

    My Mother wouldn’t let me play this game because you could punch a girl. I used to sneak into the arcade when she was shopping and play it.

    • Anonymous

      You shoulda reached back like a pimp and slapped the hoe.

      • Anonymous

        Keep yo pimp hand strong

  • fan of fanboys

    I think it was super Nintendo I would play double dragon on. Almost positive. It was double dragon and battle toads teaming up. I was elementary school so maybe 93-94? I thought was just awesome.

    • Skyy_flyer

      Yeah it was Super Nintendo. Use to also play that as well and have tournaments back when I was in elementary school on the weekends and see who could team up and get the furthest. Fun times.

    • http://twitter.com/mykie242 mykie Gunderson

      You’re thinking of Super Double Dragon, which was a pretty radical (hah) departure from the original…If anything it felt like a knockoff of Streets of Rage (which was a knockoff of Double Dragon).

      But it did have that awesome repeated head-kick.

    • kmegg

      i still own the game you’re referring to. Its stored away with about 50 other NES and super NES games. Classics! =)

  • TBB

    Is it just me or does that cat in the background look big as sh*t compared to the people?!

    • http://twitter.com/mykie242 mykie Gunderson

      Haha, I remember we used to be distracted by the huge cat in the arcade.

      Why is that cat so damn big?!

  • Armadalepoppin

    Wow! This game brings back memories. From the introduction music to the game play. I was about 6 yrs old when I first played the game. I still have Double Dragon2 but the first broke.

  • http://twitter.com/qriusme qriusme

    Punch + Jump = deadly reverse elbow. Key to playing a long time!

    • ajj

      The elbow was the key. I almost always played until the end with that undefendable move.

      • ttownlarry

        Right. on brother. hell yeah!!! The elbow was the “key”. I use to play this game @ 7 Eleven for hours! Dam life is too fast!

  • Kaiyel1

    I used to beat this game on one quarter!

    • Pureluck56

      LIARRR!!!!!

    • Bigrocket34

      Righteous! Same here, but only after many quarters perfecting the “elbow” move. Once you get that move down, it’s pretty easy and even boring after while.

  • http://www.chausse.org/ Jeff Chausse

    I remember that Double Dragon for NES was 10 bucks more than all the other games. $60, I think? I remember thinking it must be a crazy amazing game for that price. It *was* a pretty good game, but I’d take River City Ransom over it any day… *BARF*

  • Anonymous

    IMDb doesn’t rate movies on a 5-star rating scale.

    Great game, though. Honoarable mention goes to the (previously mentioned) game River City Ransom. I liked that one.

  • Anonymous

    ‘tail’ of two brothers? What is this.. Dragonball? lol

  • Davesecx

    Double Dragon & Double Dragon II owned bones. However, Double Dragon III was terrible, and the MOVIE Double Dragon was complete and utter crap.

    • kmegg

      i wouldn’t all DD3 ‘terrible’! I mean, shoot, you could flip over enemies’ heads and toss ‘em off cliffs. I think that’s deserving. =)

  • Ronald Wagogo

    This game was epic and I was a Double Dragon master. :-) Many a fond memory was had playing this game.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZX7I3VN423YBFEWTEQOQ5JR5ME Retro

    Play a short video of the games in the future.

  • Anonymous

    they could have at least posted the correct picture of the original DD. It sure as hell didnt look that nice!

  • Enaybee

    Wow. Nice throw back. Man i used to play this game like crazy and was a skilled player beating the game everytime i played it.
    Wonderful game and wonderful memories.

  • Amart1986

    AHHH….yesss, I remember this game well…I was so obsessed with it that i ended up breaking my gameboy over my forehead when i couldnt beat it!

  • Frank

    I used to love this game on the NES! My little brother and I would laugh so much holding the enemies by the head and kneeing them. You could knee them in the head endlessly if you paced the hits just right. We also loved to pause the game just as you were about the toss the enemy over your shoulder. While it was paused, it would look like the enemy was barfing over your shoulder. Silly stuff, but we were young.

  • EngineerGA

    When I got married in 2002, I discovered my wife’s family had an old arcade game (like 7 feet tall with a big TV built in) that they rented when she was a kid. The rental company went out of business and never came back to get it after her birthday party. It sat there with dust on it for over a decade in their basement. I nearly fell over when I found out it was Double Dragon II. I was so addicted to that game. It still works, and I play it all the time now when we’re at the in-laws’ house! That’s when I knew God was watching out for me, and my love for my wife was meant to be. LOL

  • Anonymous

    This game was the bomb when it was out! The console version blew in comparison to the arcade version, though (like most games in that day). The closest place that had it was the local bowling alley and my friends and I would spend hours there playing it, until we finally beat the game. Move of choice: the elbow!

  • DEC

    The NES version sucked because it was single player- no co-op. The version on the SEGA Master System was two-player co-op like the arcade version (the downside being you had to have wasted your money on a SEGA Master System).

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