Double Dragon (Master System) Playthrough

A playthrough of Sega's 1988 beat 'em up for the Sega Master System, Double Dragon.

Double Dragon, the beloved spin-off/pseudo-sequel to the rockabilly brawler Renegade (   • Renegade (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete  ), was one of the biggest arcade hits of the late eighties. As such, it was no surprise when adaptations quickly made their way to every game console and popular computer of its day.

The 8-bit Master System version of Double Dragon was created for Sega by Arc System Works. They're primarily known for the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series nowadays, but games like Double Dragon highlight just how deep fighting games run in Arc's DNA. The company had only been established five months prior to the game's October 1988 international release, and Double Dragon was the fledgling developer's third title, preceded only by their Master System ports of Final Lap and Vigilante.

Double Dragon was a good effort for such a new studio. Unlike Technos' own in-house conversion for the NES (   • Double Dragon (NES) Playthrough - Nintendo...  ), the Master System version adheres closely to the design of the original. It retains the arcade game's simultaneous two-player player gameplay, all four of its stages (albeit in simplified form), all of the enemies, and Billy and Jimmy's complete moveset. They even carried over the Road Avenger (   • Road Blaster (PS1) Playthrough - NintendoC...  ) reference in the intro.

The colorful graphics are decent by 8-bit standards, though the screen scrolling is prone to judder and the sprite animation is choppy, and when played on a Japanese system equipped with the FM expansion unit, the soundtrack is nearly as good as the arcade game's.

The gameplay can be fun, especially with two players, but the controls make it difficult to pull off some of your moves reliably, and the game is entirely too difficult. The enemies are damage sponges that aren't at all stunned by regular hits and can immediately counter most of your attacks. Given the amount of damage they do, the only dependable way I've found to get through the final stage is to submit to the slow and tedious grind of running in to throw a single punch, retreating, and lining up to do it again, dozens of times in a row.

There is a groove to be found, and that's where the fun lies, but it feels like more work than it should be getting to that point. It did for me, at least, especially in comparison to the better balanced, better controlling NES game. Still, it was an ambitious project for such an inexperienced team to take on, and all things considered, it was decent. It's not the best port of Double Dragon, nor is it the best beat 'em up on the Master System, but it's easy to imagine being a kid in 1988 and having a total blast with it.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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