Double Dragon II: The Revenge (Genesis) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
489A playthrough of PALSoft's 1991 beat 'em up arcade port for the Sega Genesis, Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
Played on the default difficulty level.
Double Dragon 2 The Revenge on the Sega Genesis is the only console "port" of the arcade game. Whereas the NES version was a complete reimagining of the original and the PC Engine version was a remake with completely overhauled graphics and sound, the Japan-exclusive Mega Drive game retains the same style and level layout (generally speaking) as the original Technos coin-op.
Sounds great, right? Even if it didn't earn any gold stars, the original Double Dragon Genesis port by Accolade was a good reflection of the arcade game that was based on. Double Dragon 2 was not quite so fortunate.
The graphics are pretty poor by Genesis standards, with its dark, drab use of color, shrunken sprites, and its ability to display at most two or three enemies on screen at the same time. While this might have been a fair compromise if the game ran well, it doesn't. There's a heavy amount of slow down that plagues the game quite frequently throughout. The audio doesn't fare much better with ugly, beepy renditions of the original tunes that tend to drown out the badly muffled grunts and yells.
Gameplay is, to be blunt, piss poor. The collision detection can be wildly off at times, and the enemies constantly scooch back and forth at the last second, making it incredibly frustrating to get hits in. Not helping matters is that the timing on the special moves is extremely particular, often leaving you wide open when you're surrounded by enemies because your spin kick decided to not work.
Also, if you try to play it, make sure you disconnect any six-button controllers from the system. For whatever reason, using a 6-button controller will create a delay in the controls, as well as inexplicably slow down enemy movements.
It's frustrating to play overall, though it's not terribly difficult if you figure out how to exploit the stupid AI. If you don't do that, good luck. The game is nearly impossible to get through without spamming jump kicks and leading enemies into pits.
It's also missing the original ending, and the one it has been replaced with completely ignores the fact that you saw Marian being shot to death at the beginning.
It's a good thing it's Sega decided to not drag this game out of its home territory. it certainly wouldn't have done them any favors, especially not when competing with the excellent NES game. You might want to check it out if you're a die-hard Double Dragon fan, but otherwise, you're not missing a whole lot.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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