- This article is about the video game series. For the video game, see Double Dragon (video game). For other uses, see Double Dragon (disambiguation).
Double Dragon (ダブルドラゴン Daburu Doragon) is a beat 'em up video game series created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto and originally developed by Technōs Japan.[1] The first title was released as an arcade game in 1987, turning the game into a franchise, and igniting the popularity of the beat 'em up genre. The series stars twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various street gangs, adversaries, and rivals.
Technōs, as well as all of its franchises, is now property of Arc System Works,[2] the company that had ported the original Double Dragon to the Sega Master System console in way back in 1988.
Games[]
The Double Dragon series consists of the following titles:
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Legacy[]
Sequels[]
Double Dragon was followed by two arcade sequels: Double Dragon II: The Revenge in 1988 and Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone in 1990. Both games were also followed by various home versions. Technōs produced a fourth game in the series titled Super Double Dragon, released for the SNES in 1992. A crossover game with the characters from Battletoads was released in 1993 by Tradewest titled Battletoads/Double Dragon, which was released in North America and Europe for various platforms. Also in 1993, a Game Gear game by Virgin Games was released titled Double Dragon: The Revenge of Billy Lee. Billy and Jimmy also appeared in the 1990 NES game Super Spike V'Ball. The characters of Randy and Andy in the 1989 NES game River City Ransom are based on Billy and Jimmy; in Japan, they are known as Ryūichi and Ryūji, and they appear in later Kunio-kun games as well.
Related media[]
Due to the popularity of the game series, Double Dragon also spawned a series of related media in the United States. These include a six-issue comic published by Marvel in 1991, an animated TV series which ran for two seasons from 1993 to 1995, and a live-action film in 1994. In turn, the animated series and movie inspired their respective video game spinoffs as well, both which were fighting games. The cartoon inspired the Tradewest-developed Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls, released in 1994 for the SNES and Genesis (also ported to the Atari Jaguar); while characters and plot elements from the movie were adapted into the 1995 Technōs-developed Neo Geo version of Double Dragon.
Double Dragon was a major influence on other beat 'em ups such as Final Fight, The Simpsons, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games.
Related pages[]
- Double Dragon (series)/References - References to the Double Dragon series in other media.
References[]
- ↑ "The man who created Double Dragon" at Polygon (October 12, 2012)
- ↑ "Arc System Works buys Double Dragon rights: BlazBlue studio also gets Kunio-kun rights as part of IP deal with Technos Japan Corp." at Games Industry.biz (June 12, 2015)
External links[]
- Double Dragon at Yoshihisa Kishimoto's Teacup Blog (Japanese) (Archived: May 18, 2022)
- Double Dragon at Game Kommander (Japanese)
- Double Dragon Dojo Official site
- Double Dragon series at Moby Games
- Double Dragon Franchise at GameFAQs
- Double Dragon series at Strategy wiki
- Double Dragon series at Hardcore Gaming 101
- Double Dragon series at The Cutting Room Floor
- Double Dragon Community at Reddit