Double Dragon II (Game Boy) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
299A playthrough of Acclaim's 1991 beat 'em up for the Nintendo Game Boy, Double Dragon II.
Played through on normal mode.
Double Dragon II is a pretty nice looking and sounding Game Boy title, especially given that it's not really a Double Dragon title. Acclaim had the publishing rights for the DD series in the US, and instead of producing a small-screen adaptation of DD2: The Revenge on NES, they commissioned a few changes to be made to an already existing game (Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun: Bangai Rantouhen) from Techno's Kunio-kun series, which featured such games as Renegade, River City Ransom, Super Dodge Ball, Nintendo World Cup, and Crash 'N The Boys.
Technos changed the music and the character sprites, and voila: an instant Double Dragon! The only thing, though, is it doesn't feel like a Double Dragon game (though it's far closer than the Game Gear version that gives you a gun in the first stage!). The controls have been simplified by dropping separate buttons for left and right attacks, and there are no longer any weapons to pick up. The game's flow and feel make it feel like an updated take on Renegade, though their similarities aren't a huge surprise, since Renegade is related to both series.
Thankfully, it is pretty good. The graphics and sound are great, the controls are painless, and it even supports two players via the link cable! I had a lot of fun playing it.
It's pretty easy for a Technos' title, though. Once you figure out which moves are your most powerful, you really don't have to fear death very often. Until then, though, you'll probably get stuck being pounded by the boxer over and over!
There weren't many good beat 'em ups yet on the Game Boy by 1991, and this "Double Dragon II," while not Double Dragon II, was a thoroughly solid addition to the system's library.
A thumbs up from me on this one!
(I recorded this using the Retroarch DMG shader to mimic the look if the original hardware.)
Here are a few related videos if you'd like to see more:
Double Dragon (Game Boy):
https://youtu.be/Z0SzYe4-08s
Renegade (NES):
https://youtu.be/5NWByyxT9ak
River City Ransom (NES):
https://youtu.be/g7xeGpoCScs
Double Dragon 2: The Revenge (NES):
https://youtu.be/vZMDXe3ZlQs
Double Dragon 2 (PC Engine CD):
https://youtu.be/RgDb-clhL9g
Double Dragon 2 (Genesis):
https://youtu.be/Nx2_pjyUoNE
Double Dragon Advance (GBA): https://youtu.be/_Y679jl5pcY
Double Dragon (Game Gear):
https://youtu.be/CwtF1v1aQiA
Double Dragon (Lynx):
https://youtu.be/oNe50MGHmBM
I've done plenty of others too if you want to check out my various playlists, but that's a good start!
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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