I grew up playing Double Dragon games all over the place from arcade cabinets to handheld on Game Boy and on my Nintendo consoles (NES and SNES). I even watched the Double Dragon movie back in the 90s, multiple times.

*To this very day I still own my copy of Battletoads/Double Dragon for the SNES. I had the chance to play for a bit the other day and that game is still as punishingly tough as I remember.

Last year, my girlfriend and I started getting into more couch co-op games. We’ve mostly focused on beat ‘em ups. We started off with games like Streets of Rage 4, Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Video Game, the River City Girls series, and we are always searching for more.

In recent years, I’ve been drawn to many indie titles. Mostly indie games falling under specific genres — Platformers, Metroidvanias, Beat ‘Em Ups, Roguelikes and Roguelites. While I’ve become obsessed with many traditional games within these categories, I’m always impressed when a game comes along and challenges the traditional formula with a twist or something new.

Last week, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons was released on PC and consoles. While the combat and gameplay style feel very much like a traditional beat ‘em up, there are a few elements sprinkled in to add some new flavor to the experience.

“The year is 199X, and nuclear war has devastated New York City leaving its citizens to fight for survival as riots and crime engulf the streets. The city has been overtaken by criminal gangs who terrorize its ruins as they fight for total dominance. Unwilling to endure these conditions any longer, young Billy and Jimmy Lee take it upon themselves to drive the gangs out of their city.”

-from publisher, Modus Games

Choose Your Own Adventure

Most beat ‘em ups follow a linear path — complete level one, move onto level two, and so on and so forth. In Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons players get to choose their own adventure with this dynamic level structure. From the onset, all four levels are available to play. However, the difficulty of each mission changes depending on your order of operations.

There are four gangs to take down, or four scenarios. The length of each scenario changes depending on how far along you are. Taking down the Okada gang in your first mission will be much easier than taking them down later on. With each gang the number of levels and boss fights within the scenario increase — along with the difficulty.

Tag Team

Lucky for you, In Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons players get to choose two characters to play as. At first, I thought of the “secondary character” as more of a quick “special partner attack.” Instead you get to fully control both of your characters in a balanced tag team fighting experience.

The more we played the more I learned how to use both characters together. For instance, if your current fighter takes some damage, you may quickly switch over to your other fighter and regenerate some health (blue health meter). 

Over time, as you purchase new skills, you may even gain more benefits by switching between fighters. Tagging out can bring your new partner in with an instant attack, taking down enemy gangsters.

Arcade Cabinet Roguelite

This game is quite clever in the way it disguises itself as a roguelite using classic arcade cabinet features. In between levels players must choose to spend their hard earned money on new skills or tokens. Tokens which may be used in the moment to keep your run alive, or for permanent upgrades in the main menu.

There are three ways to play Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons — Permadeath, Infinite, and the classic arcade mode (with “continues” costing three tokens). With each new run there are many accessibility features to help adjust the gameplay to your liking. The token shop will make any trophy hunter or digital collector want to replay the game over and over to purchase everything in the shop — New Characters, Game Tips, Artwork, and Music.

Overall, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is a relatively short game, with tons of room for replayability. Each run is different depending on the order you choose to take down the gangs, which skills you upgrade, and the characters you choose.

Final Thoughts

When we first gave this game a try, we had just completed another game. I remember thinking, Oh great, it’s another beat ‘em up, but we weren’t quite in the mood for that yet. The main differences between previous beat ‘em ups came in the form of difficulty (easy vs hard), move sets (simple vs complex), and each game’s aesthetics (art style, music, sound design). 

When we jumped back into Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons this past weekend, I realized how this game offered so much more. This game will satisfy fans of the iconic Double Dragon series, while changing it up just enough to bring a new challenge with much more to do. Thanks to the tag team fighting it works both as a solo and local co-op adventure.

We still have yet to beat Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, but we did get pretty close. We made it to the “Final Fight.” I’m sure we will make it to the end by this weekend — and continue to play after that. I’m mostly excited to unlock different characters, and try them out.

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Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is now available on PC and all consoles.

*myVGBC.com was provided a review code for Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons by the publisher.