The Lee brothers are back and continue to bring greatest for the popular series.
THE GOOD
-Nice variety of attacks
-Good control scheme
-Fun with a friend
-Challenging boss fights
-Great level design
THE BAD
-Pace of the action is a bit sluggish
OVERVIEW
The Double Dragon series was a huge step forward for the beat'em up genre. The NES produced three popular games, for the series, and they all pretty much had the same storyline; Marian gets captured and it is up to the Double Dragons (Billy and Jimmy Lee) to rescue her. Not much has changed with the story in Super Double Dragon. Marian gets captured by a man named Duke and it is up to the Lee brothers to fight their way through gangs of enemies on seven different levels. Even though the story is repetitive, you'll once again enjoy punching and kicking bad guys around with some sweet martial arts.
GAMEPLAY
Like the other games in the series, player-one controls Billy Lee (Blue) and the optional player-two controls Jimmy Lee (Red). Whether you're playing alone or with a friend it's still a fun experience; although I personally think playing with a friend is little more exciting. Super Double Dragon lets you perform a variety of punches, kicks, and grapples. You can combo these attacks to switch things up or pick up a weapon and dish out some more pain. Like all the other games in the series, there are a bunch of fun weapons to use like the Bo-Staff and Nunchuk (my personal favorite).
Not only can you play offensively but this time around you'll have the opportunity to block and play defensively. If you time your block correctly, right before and enemy attacks you, you can perform a counter attack which, in all honestly, is really fun to do. There are times when you feel like Mr. Miyagi, from the movie The Karate Kid, with all the blocks and counters. This is a nice new feature that keeps the action from getting too repetitive. Unfortunately, there is one slight drawback to the gameplay in that it seems like the fighting is flowing at about 80% normal speed so it may seem that your button mashing doesn't fully respond 1:1.
The control layout, aside from the slower movement, is intuitive and will make any fan of the series feel right at home. You punch with "Y", kick with "A", jump with "X" and block with "B". Once you start playing you'll notice that it's really easy to combo attacks together. The R and L buttons' sole purpose is to charge up the Dragon Power Meter. When powering up this meter, you're attacks become stronger and if you max it out your character will go into "Incredible Hulk" mode (just my own reference). With a full meter you'll be able to knock down enemies in one hit which is great for large groups and makes you feel like a superhero.
Most of the enemies in this game are a bunch of pushovers by themselves but, in a group they can be quite tricky. Now throw in a boss, which are easy to pick out because they're taller than everybody else, and now you have a tough situation. The boss fights are particularly challenging because they fight smarter and most of them have lackeys sucker punching you the entire time. All in all the boss battles make for some really intense and memorable moments.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
It's really nice to see an old classic series on the NES get a makeover in the graphics department. The visuals for the game are quite stunning, especially for a beat'em up type game. The level design is another fantastic feature for Super Double Dragon. Each of the seven stages are uniquely themed that'll have you fighting from an airport, through Chinatown and even on a moving truck.
The soundtrack isn't anything special but works for the most part. The music does a decent job fitting in with the mood of the level you're playing. The sound effects, on the other hand, are actually quite good. Each smack you do to your opponent is backed up with a gratifying sound which is quite enjoyable.
CONCLUSION
Super Double Dragon basically rehashes the same formula that worked on the NES and moved it to the SNES. The game added some new features and clearer graphics but for the most part it's still the same beat'em up experience that you know and love. Fans of the series will surely enjoying rescuing Marion one more time and the intuitive control scheme will make it easy for newcomers to pick up and play. The Double Dragons are back and ready for some more heart pounding action.