Support NeoGAF

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Prepare to throw down the Double Dragon way in this fresh addition to the iconic beat ‘em up franchise. It’s the year 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.

The best games in the franchise will always be Double Dragon 2 and Super Double Dragon. Although the best "History" is Double Dragon 3. Double Dragon 3 felt like an 80s-90s action movie thriller.

I'm upset with Double Dragon Neon Video Game reviewers, which is an excellent game with a great OST.

This game was disgusting.



That was a decent Arcade game






The Double Dragon franchise characteristic


"the helicopter kick "

 

[Romulus]

What is going on with this thread? Do I get all the original Double Dragon games with this as a bundle or is this an opinion piece on the whole franchise and also the announcement for Rise of the Dragons?

Btw, the new game's art style is awful. Completely steers away from the gritty feel of the originals

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

One thing I don't get is why every modern anime male character looks like a femboy

Compare the male characters from the two covers.

 

[Synless]

Neon was really enjoyable. I couch co-op’d it with a buddy and it was pretty great. I hope this one is good as well,

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

What is going on with this thread? Do I get all the original Double Dragon games with this as a bundle or is this an opinion piece on the whole franchise and also the announcement for Rise of the Dragons?

Btw, the new game's art style is awful. Completely steers away from the gritty feel of the originals

A bit of everything xD

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I feel like Scott Pligrim vs the World (2010) ushered in a new era of beat-em up. It took a while but we're getting pretty top rate beat-em ups again.

Think they need to work on the pricing though.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

One thing I don't get is why every modern anime male character looks like a femboy

Compare the male characters from the two covers.

The art for NES games in that style was colorful, cool, and artistic.

I like the covers of the 80-90s.

AWESOME AND BADASS

 

[Edmund]

Wish they made the game in Street Of Rage 4's graphic style.

This is beyond ugly...

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Wish they made the game in Street Of Rage 4's graphic style.

This is beyond ugly...

That requires hard work and effort

 

[March Climber]

One thing I don't get is why every modern anime male character looks like a femboy

Compare the male characters from the two covers.

Do you mean the hairstyle of the blonde one?

On both covers they have physiques that would take a ton of time to attain in the gym.

 

[The Pleasure]

One thing I don't get is why every modern anime male character looks like a femboy

Compare the male characters from the two covers.

Bimmy has always had less muscle then Jammy.

 

[CamHostage]

Btw, the new game's art style is awful. Completely steers away from the gritty feel of the originals

Double Dragon Gaiden.

It's meant to stand apart from the originals.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

This artstyle .. not good. I'm all for pixel art but man this doesn't even look like a Double Dragon game to me

 

[Romulus]

Double Dragon Gaiden.

It's meant to stand apart from the originals.

And some separation from the originals I could deal with. Even something completely different I'm open to. The issue is, this mobile shit style is terrible.

 

[Saber]

You guys should discuss with that touchy 8 year old kid member who loves to disagree with the major opinion about this ugly art style by using penis jokes to show how mature he is.

 

[kunonabi]

Eh, I'll take the chibi dragons over Neon's giant monkey arms any day.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

One thing I don't get is why every modern anime male character looks like a femboy

Compare the male characters from the two covers.

Your post is coming across as toxic masculinity

I take it you havent been taking your Soy supplements as of late?

Report to headquaters in the morning for reconditioning.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Your post is coming across as toxic masculinity

I take it you havent been taking your Soy supplements as of late?

Report to headquaters in the morning for reconditioning.

No no...

Slime is a good friend .

 

[CamHostage]

And some separation from the originals I could deal with. Even something completely different I'm open to. The issue is, this mobile shit style is terrible.

Well, could have been worse for those who don't like this graphic style: instead of putting a Gaiden on the title, they could have called this Double Dragon 6.

Who knows if there'll ever be another mainline DD. But the brand holder is still trying stuff with the name. (They keep pulling surprises with this series, especially the wholly-unexpected Double Dragon 2 NES sequel they called Double Dragon IV.) And some developers have a house style; this is what this company Secret Base does (their previous brawler Streets of Red had sort of a chibi style too,) and Arc System Works liked it enough to let them do DD.

 

[wondermega]

While the first reveal of this gave me kind of an "ick...?" feeling, thinking on it for a bit I don't really mind. The game still looks really fun and well-crafted. It's not classic DD per se, I will always prefer the "Kunio" look they had in the early NES games (and 90s post-punk dystopic arcade style as well!) but the brand has been pretty mothballed for a long time. This isn't a bad way to come back, at all. Just make it fun, is all I care about! It looks funky, but not offensive, and could even grow on me..

 

[ReBurn]

 

[Dr.Morris79]

No no...

Slime is a good friend .

Heimdall, I was only joking

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Do you mean the hairstyle of the blonde one?

On both covers they have physiques that would take a ton of time to attain in the gym.

Nah, just the face and haristyle mostly.

It looks like those characters you find in shoujo manga
Usually it consists of males with androgynous faces, mostly soft skin and round curves.

You know, women's "prince charming" figure
I wouldn't be surprised if the cover artist was a woman.

Look at Berserk for instance, Guts is the muscular brute with a square face, and Griffith the slim and elegant swordsman.
Miura designed Griffith as non-muscular so that he would appear more elegant and noble that way.

But a muscular dude with Griffith's face just looks kinda weird.
These are people that fight in the streets. Regardless of who are the "nice guys", they shouldn't look so innocent.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

While the first reveal of this gave me kind of an "ick...?" feeling, thinking on it for a bit I don't really mind. The game still looks really fun and well-crafted. It's not classic DD per se, I will always prefer the "Kunio" look they had in the early NES games (and 90s post-punk dystopic arcade style as well!) but the brand has been pretty mothballed for a long time. This isn't a bad way to come back, at all. Just make it fun, is all I care about! It looks funky, but not offensive, and could even grow on me..

What is kunio?

 

[wondermega]

What is kunio?

Prior to DD, in the early days Technos made a game about a street-fighting punk-type named Kunio Kun, localized in the west as Renegade (which is very obviously the direct ancestor of DD). The Kunio style had a very specific mascot-look which went on to be used in other Technos 8bit games (River City Ransom, Dodgeball, Crash & The Boys, etc). The original NES game very obviously drew from this look, although it wasn't as blatant in the arcade games.

NES Renegade/Kunio-Kun

NES Double Dragon

NES River City Ransom

NES Super Dodgeball

 

[Ceadeus]

I've so many good memories about playing Super Double Dragon with my brother and cousin. I can't remember any of the OST name but they were awesome. After our session on the Snes, we would go outside fighting invisible thugs pretending we were on a mission.

Damn those were the best time.

 

[March Climber]

Nah, just the face and haristyle mostly.

It looks like those characters you find in shoujo manga
Usually it consists of males with androgynous faces, mostly soft skin and round curves.

I suppose I agree on the blonde guy's face. I feel like they're going more for the modern built/athletic types who just either look youthful or practice really good hygiene methods.

When I think of androgynous/shoujo style, I think more of this:

That cover art reminds me more of this:

The bottom two would still look skinnier in T-shirts(aside from maybe their arms). This isn't Arnold or Stallone bodybuilding/juiced builds(of whom most 80s heroes art was designed after), but the bottom two are still physiques that most people wouldn't come close to having unless they put in a ton of time doing so. Honestly aside from faces, they're not that far off from UFC builds/body types:

 

[CGNoire]

This art style is eye cancer.

These retro games are always 8bit never 16bit no matter what they say. Clearly none of these studios have the talent for 16 bit graphics or there just being lazy.

 

[RavageX]

Trash. This is 2023, do better instead of trying to make money by slapping a well known name on a pile of crap.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

modern built/athletic types who just either look youthful or practice really good hygiene methods

This isn't Arnold or Stallone bodybuilding/juiced builds(of whom most 80s heroes art was designed after)

And that's one of the main issues.

They need testosterone and a manly square face that can take many punches.

 

[Edgelord79]

Can’t have them saving the girl either. That would obviously be toxic.

 

[March Climber]

And that's one of the main issues.

They need testosterone and a manly square face that can take many punches.

Just to make you and everyone here feel more old, this guy was an undefeated boxer until very recently:

And he's pretty popular on tiktok too.

 

[kubricks]

And that's one of the main issues.

They need testosterone and a manly square face that can take many punches.

Modern depiction of men are often muscular but a bit feminine looking in comparison to the ultra masculine in the 80~90s.
That's just the way it is.

And come on now pretty boy Garcia is some of the exceptions not the norm.
When I think fighter I think John Jones and Khabib Nurmagomedov and alike lol.

 

[March Climber]

Modern depiction of men are often muscular but a bit feminine looking in comparison to the ultra masculine in the 80~90s.
That's just the way it is.

And come on now pretty boy Garcia is some of the exceptions not the norm.
When I think fighter I think John Jones and Khabib Nurmagomedov and alike lol.

The true answer is that at a certain point it comes down to genetics and timing. The 'everyman' look took over in mid to late 90s Hollywood after the extremely buff/juiced/roided 80s/early 90s look. Keanu, Dicaprio, Travolta, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Denzel, Tom Hanks, etc. So of course other media would start to reflect this change.

I guess I just don't see the problem with the design on that cover, considering the modern inspirations of fit, good looking hollywood stars that they might have drawn from. It's fun to discuss though.

 

[kubricks]

The true answer is that at a certain point it comes down to genetics and timing. The 'everyman' look took over in mid to late 90s Hollywood after the extremely buff/juiced/roided 80s/early 90s look. Keanu, Dicaprio, Travolta, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Denzel, Tom Hanks, etc. So of course other media would start to reflect this change.

I guess I just don't see the problem with the design on that cover, considering the modern inspirations of fit, good looking hollywood stars that they might have drawn from. It's fun to discuss though.

Nah don't get me wrong I am fine with that cover. It's a lot more modern anime compared to previous double dragon entries but I am ok with the changes; it's not necessary better or worse, it's different.

 

[Mobilemofo]

Wish they made the game in Street Of Rage 4's graphic style.

This is beyond ugly...

That would be mint. I'd buy it..especially if the original got some tender love...

 

[ManaByte]

Out now and it’s awesome.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Out now and it’s awesome.

I really like the rouge-like vibe. Def makes it is so much easier to play over and over again imo.