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I’m a huge fan of the Double Dragon series, and the larger Kunio Kun/River City Ransom fictional universe that it belongs to. These games, originally produced by Taito and now published by Arc System Works, have a solid legacy of brawling fun going all the way back to 80’s arcades and home consoles.
Across their entire history, the Double Dragon games have cultivated a very specific feel, visual style, and set of characters over the years. Once you learn how to play one of them, you’re well on your way to being good at them all. The original Double Dragon helped establish the very genre of the side-scrolling arcade brawler, with satisfying action mechanics and varied levels and enemy encounters that are still more or less the template for this sort of game today.
More recent installments in the series have stuck close to the established concepts. I wasn’t super stoked about Double Dragon IV in my ancient review of it seven years ago, but time has been kinder to that game inside my brain. It’s now a fascinating attempt at making a retro game in a modern context, and I’ve actually had fun replaying it. More recently, Arc System Works ported classic entries in Double Dragon Advance and Super Double Dragon to current machines, and though they’re basic emulations, it’s still…
