Double Dragon II: The Revenge

aka: Arcade Archives: Double Dragon II - The Revenge
Moby ID: 1840
Arcade Specs
Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

The lovely Marian was rescued from the clutches of the Black Warriors gang by Billy & Jimmy Lee in the first Double Dragon game, but now the gang has killed her in retaliation of their early defeat. The Dragons must now embark on a mission to avenge her death and defeat the Black Warriors for the second and final time.

The original arcade version of "Double Dragon II" was essentially an improved version of the first game. In addition to offering renewed audio and visuals, as well as new traps, moves and enemy characters, "Double Dragon II" discarded the conventional punch and kick buttons in favor of a direction-oriented attacking system similar to the original Technos beat-em-up Renegade.

The NES version offered new stages, new moves and illustrated cut-scenes, as well as a new final boss and a new ending. Unlike the first NES game, it offered 2-Player Co-Op gameplay with the option to turn off the friendly fire.

Spellings

  • アーケードアーカイブス ダブルドラゴンII ザ・リベンジ - Japanese PS4 / Switch spelling
  • ダブルドラゴンⅡ ザ・リベンジ - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 62% (based on 20 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.8 out of 5 (based on 57 ratings with 3 reviews)

Some say “never second parts were good”; it’s completely right for Double Dragon.

The Good
Sincerely… nothing.

The Bad
Double Dragon is one of my all-time favourites, not only as Action game, but as game in general. In fact, I still play it sometimes. The Double Dragon series are somewhat like a rollercoaster: the first part upwards, and the second part suddenly goes downwards.

Double Dragon II, apart from some new enemies and moves, is a bad copy of the I. If you pay attention at the map, you’ll find that, despite efforts to hide the truth, it’s nearly the same. The main botch, however, are the recycled movements: depending on the direction you’re facing, you execute one move or another; the result is an awful and confusing gameplay. They wanted to do something different (and the intention is not bad), but they did something different and BAD. And for graphics and sound, nothing better than Double Dragon I.

The Bottom Line
Although very similar to the first part, DD II doesn’t live up the illustrious name of its big brother. A bad copy worth only playing until you finish it one time; then better left away as a curiosity.

DOS · by Technocrat (193) · 2002

An excellent port for the C64

The Good
It mostly has everything that the arcade version has to offer.

It has the 2 player co-op mode!

There is simultaneous music and sound effects during gameplay, plus some digitized sound samples happen occasionally.

The Bad
One button Atari-style joystick controls. Not very comfortable, but manageable.

It's a bit slow, it feels like you are walking in mud all the time.

The graphics looks ugly, in that dirty/crusty way that rushed C64 ports often look. But it works, and the gameplay is surprisingly intact!

The Bottom Line
Unlike the port of Golden Axe, this is an excellent beat-em-up to have on the C64.

Commodore 64 · by 1xWertzui (1135) · 2024

There is a good reason it was never released in the US.

The Good
Absolutely nothing. I actually bought this game when it came out way back in 92 through a mail order company thinking it was going to be as good as the Arcade. WRONG. $50 pi**ed away. All that allowance up in smoke.

Its two player, but that just means you can annoy two players simultaneously. Crap.

The Bad
The graphics are some of the worst on the Genesis ever. It does not look like a 16 bit game. It looks like a Master System game. Seriously, the graphics are THAT bad. The NES version of Double Dragon 2 has better graphics than this.

The Genesis could have handled a good translation of this as evidenced by the conversion of Double Dragon and Double Dragon 3. The Streets of Rage series proves the Genesis can do Double Dragon style games. Streets of Rage 2, in particular, puts this sorry cart to shame.

This game was obviously rushed through production so that it would be ready to go so that Sega would have more arcade ports to compete with the Super Nintendo which had just come out in 1991. Not only are the graphics terrible, but it was obviously never tested by game players.

To be frank, this game should NEVER have been released. Its a joke and not worth of its namesake. Double Dragon 2 was a decent arcade game and did not deserve this disgraceful translation.

This game also has slow-down problems.

The Bottom Line
The NES version is better. I'd recommend Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, and Final Fight CD over this.

Genesis · by Majestic Lizard (670) · 2006

Discussion

Subject By Date
This entry should be split. BrandeX (73) Jul 27, 2014

Trivia

DOS Version Source code

Disk 1 of the two disk 3.5" floppy DOS version without sound card support inadvertently includes a deleted file named DRGNSRC.LZH. This is an archive containing multiple .ASM assembly language files that comprise the game's source code. The file can be recovered by using an undelete utility.

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Double Dragon
Released 1988 on DOS, 1990 on Game Boy, 2003 on Game Boy Advance...
B.C. II: Grog's Revenge
Released 1984 on Commodore 64, 1985 on MSX, ColecoVision
Final Fight Revenge
Released 1999 on Arcade, SEGA Saturn
Dragon's Revenge
Released 1993 on Genesis
Breakers Revenge
Released 1998 on Arcade
Double Dragon
Released 1993 on Game Gear
Roar of Revenge
Released 2021 on Windows, 2022 on Xbox One, PlayStation 5...
Double Dragon IV
Released 2017 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Android...
Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
Released 1992 on DOS, Genesis, Game Boy...

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1840
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Macintrash.

Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Antstream added by firefang9212. Atari ST added by tbuteler. PlayStation 4 added by Sciere. Amstrad CPC added by Kabushi. ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. Amiga added by Terok Nor. Arcade added by LepricahnsGold. MSX added by koffiepad. Commodore 64 added by Katakis | カタキス. Genesis added by Majestic Lizard.

Additional contributors: Terok Nor, Sciere, Iggi, Johnny Undaunted, HunterZ0, Rik Hideto.

Game added June 30, 2000. Last modified January 26, 2024.