Abobo (アボボ Abobo ) is a recurring enemy character in the Double Dragon series, usually serving either as a miniboss, the end boss of an area, or in a few occasions even as a minor antagonist. He is normally depicted as a shirtless, tall, and bald strongman.
Appearances
Double Dragon
Abobo is a recurring enemy and sub-boss in the arcade version of Double Dragon, first appearing midway through Mission 1, making a rather dramatic entrance by breaking through a wall by punching it with his bare fists. This strongman is tougher and more menacing than the other grunts in the game. Due to his large stature, his punches and kicks have a better reach than the other minor enemies. His signature technique is the "Atomic Throw", in which he picks up and tosses the player to his back.
He and his variants are the only male enemies in the game who cannot be grabbed by the player. After the initial encounter, Abobo appears again a few times throughout Mission 3 (including twin versions before arriving at the enemy hideout's gate) and one last time as part of the final set of enemies prior to the final battle with Willy in Mission 4.
Like Roper, Abobo has the ability to pick up and toss large objects, but he only has the opportunity to use this ability in Mission 3, where the twin Abobos of that stage can pick up and throw a couple of large rocks.
There are three variants of Abobo. A standard bald and mustachioed Abobo with a scar that can pick up barrels, originally called Zack according to a 1987 issue of Beep.[1] This variant commonly appears throughout the game.
Jick (or Jack), a bearded and mohawked Abobo with larger eyes who has traded the ability to throw barrels in exchange for a powerful two-handed clap. This Abobo initially appears as a singular enemy at the end of Mission 1, but later appears with a clone as a miniboss in Mission 5.
There is also a green-skinned palette swap of Jick at the end of Mission 3, originally just called Abobo, but later retroactively renamed Mibobo. Green Abobo (or Mibobo) has more health, deals more damage, and moves faster compared to the Jick and Zack Abobos. According to Koji Ogata, these variants can also be considered under the "Abobo" name.
There are unused sprites of Zack Abobo performing the two-hand clap, as well as Jick Abobo and Green Abobo throwing barrels.
The NES version of Double Dragon only features one version of Abobo, who visually resembles the Zack Abobo without a scar, but has a moveset from all Abobo variants. He serves as the end boss of Mission 1, replacing the Jick variant. The player fights him inside a warehouse with a conveyor belt at the bottom. This allows the player to easily defeat him by making him fall into the pit at its end; however, the player also risks that Abobo manages to knock them out first and the player instead be the one who falls into the chasm.
Abobo's standard palette is similar to the arcade-exclusive enemy character Jick, that is, dark skin and blue pants - while this palette only appeared in Mission 3 of the arcade game. His moves consists of a standard punch, a kick, and a hand slap to the face. He later appears a few more times in Missions 3 and 4. One variant has white skin and wears green pants, while another variant has green skin and white pants (the same color scheme as the Mission 3 boss in the arcade version, later renamed "Mibobo"). All the Abobos after the initial one fight in pairs, although only the white ones will fight the player together at the same time, while the black and green Abobos will take turns.
Abobo is also a playable fighter in the VS Mode. Unlike the other fighters, his sprite is almost unchanged from the main game (reused probably due to hardware limitations), aside from the addition of a running animation and other new moves. Moves exclusive to VS Mode include a two handed slap (similar to the one used by Jick in the arcade game), a running punch, a knee kick, and a shoulder tackle performed by pressing A and B simultaneously. The Abobo controlled by Player 1 has light skin and blue pants, while the one controlled by Player 2 has dark skin and purple pants.
In the Game Boy port, Abobo once again appears as the end boss of the first stage inside a warehouse, much like in the NES version. He now has a special move where he grabs and lifts the player with one hand and then starts punching them in the stomach, knocking them away on the third hit (very similar to Burnov's special attack in Double Dragon II: The Revenge).
Abobo appears much like his NES counterpart but with more detail to his sprite.
The Sega Genesis port, much like other versions, combines the Zack and Jick Abobos into one singular enemy that can hand-clap and pick up barrels. Thus, both standard enemy and boss Abobos are more threatening than their arcade counterparts. Abobo's standard and main palette is dark-skinned with light blue pants. There is only one other Abobo palette, used for Mibobo, who has the ability to jump in this version.
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
In this game, Abobo is replaced by a similar enemy named Bolo, who resembles the bald Abobo but with long mop hair. In the Mega Drive port of the arcade game, this character is actually identified as Abobo in the manual. Sprite artist, Koji Ogata, says Bolo, like Jick, is considered a variant of Abobo. Bolo's head-swapped counterpart is named O'Hara in the same version of the game.
Battletoads/Double Dragon
“ | He' big, he's bad and he's really MAD! You're intruders in his territory, and he won't rest until he's pounded you into the ground. | „ |
~ Official description from the manual |
Abobo acts as the end boss of the first level of the game, guarding the rear entrance to the Dark Queen's Ratship. During the game's introductory cutscene, and also before the level starts, he can be seen threatening the heroes with trash talk, using a speech mannerism similar to the Marvel superhero Hulk, and referring to himself in the third person in a crude manner (e.g.: "Abobo not like intruders").
Once the player reaches the rear gate of the Colossus, Abobo makes his dramatic entrance by destroying it with his bare fists. He advances menacingly toward the player, and once near enough, he starts pummeling them with a quick barrage of punches that is almost impossible to break out from. However, being the first boss of the game, he is relatively easy and all it takes are dashing attacks to both damage and stun him at the same time, leaving him open for another quick dashing attack. Repeat the attack until he's no longer able to get up and punch/kick him off the ship into the emptiness of space.
Abobo is one of the few Double Dragon villains who closely resembles his design in the original Technōs games (the other being Linda), resembling his arcade counterpart and only differing in having a clean-shaven face. His palette is dark-skinned and wears light blue pants (purple in the Sega Genesis version), which in many home ports of Double Dragon was Abobo's standard palette.
In the Genesis and NES versions of the game, Abobo's sprite retains his mustache; however, his portrait does not have it. After being defeated, Abobo appears at the clear screen to trade barbs with Professor T. Bird, calling him a "scrawny buzzard" and gloats that Big Blag is up next.
In the SNES version of the game, when Abobo is defeated, he is kicked toward the foreground, showcasing the system's Mode 7 effects. He doesn't appear in the resulting cutscene in this version.
Double Dragon (Neo Geo)
“ | The New York city fighters fear him as "the strongest man". At times, his opponents lose just from being frightened by his size. With his superhuman strength as his weapon, it is nothing for him to bring down any number of enemies, left and right. He is currently Koga Shuko's right hand man, but he is always getting his victories stolen by Burnov, also of the organization, so these two get along very poorly. | „ |
~ Official description from the manual |
Abobo is a playable fighter in this one-on-one fighting game. His background and occupation as a henchmen of Koga Shuko is very similar to his live-action incarnation from the Double Dragon film. Despite working for Shuko, he seems to be on friendly terms with the Lee brothers and Marian (again, like by the end of the film). He has three special moves: the Hammer Punch, the Hyper Bomb, and the Giant Swing; as well as two super moves: the Grand Smash and the Pressure Bomb. When performing one of his super moves, Abobo briefly morphs into his mutated form from the film. His ending shows him eating at a restaurant, asking the waiter to give him some meat, which actually resembles dinosaur meat, which he eats.
In gameplay, Abobo's fighting style is labeled as "street fighting", although his actual fighting style is pro wrestling. He can utilize wrestling techniques such as the Hammer Punch, Hyper Bomb and the Giant Swing. Abobo also enables him to briefly mutate during execution of his super finishing moves, the Grand Smash and the Pressure Bomb.
Personality
Abobo loves to show off his brute strength and his muscular build, as seen in his win quotes toward his opponents. He seems to have a romantic interest toward Marian, and conversely has horrible remarks toward the Lee brothers. He has a fair fight against Dulton, who claims he is the strongest man on Earth, only for Abobo to respond him that he has to get in shape, and criticizing Burnov, not to lose against a "porker" like him, due to his overweight. Abobo also detests different hairstyles from other people, which is notable in his win quote against Cheng-Fu, detesting his long hair and comparing it against his own mohawk style. His ending shows his love of meats.
- Personal data
- Voice: Daisuke Gōri
- Birthplace: New York
- Height: 7′ 2″
- Weight: 336 lbs.
- Fighting style: Street fighting
- Hobbies: Body building, fighting
Double Dragon Advance
“ | A member of the Shadow Warriors who possesses extreme superhuman strength. Having strengthen his body as a living weapon with his experience in street fighting and playing football, he has been put in charge of expanding the Shadow Warriors' territory, punishing those who oppose the gang. He is very loyal to Willy. | „ |
~ Translated description from the Japanese manual |
Since Double Dragon Advance is a remake of the first game, Abobo's role in the game isn't much different, although his fighting style is a bit more refined, with the double-handed slap his variant Jick had in the original game being replaced with a Hammer Punch, similar to one of he used in the Neo Geo fighting game, called the "Abobo Hammer". However, unlike the original game and most of his other appearances, he can now be grabbed and punished like the rest of the lesser enemies.
In addition to the bald and mohawked variants (Jick), this version also introduced a third variant of the character that has an afro hairstyle (Afrobo). Only the mohawked head-swap of Abobo has a different face, possessing larger eyes. In addition to the standard black and white skin tones, Double Dragon Advance introduces an entire army of Abobos with all sorts of weird skin colors, such as blue, silver, gold, and charcoal black. The green version of Abobo/Jick appears as the boss of Mission 5, where he's given the name of "Mibobo" (a combination of the Japanese word midori, for "green", and Abobo's name).
Double Dragon (Zeebo)
Abobo appears in the Zeebo version as the first boss of Mission 1 and is no longer a common enemy. He is greatly inspired by his Double Dragon Advance counterpart. Abobo has lightly tanned skin and large muscles, however, he isn't as tall as his Advance inspiration, and in fact, he is almost the same size as all other characters. He has been given a new special attack where his body first briefly flashes in black and then he smashes his hand on the ground, liberating harmful waves of electricity that travel in four directions along the floor.
Abobo is accompanied by a red-skinned variant with a mohawk (similar to Jick), the returning afro variant (Afrobo), and green-skinned palette swaps of himself (Mibobo).
Double Dragon (mobile)
“ | A leader of the Black Warriors. He, like Burnov, is a minor boss. He's admired by his henchmen and entered the gang with Burnov. He always trains to polish his moves and has mastered the Screw Upper. | „ |
~ Official description |
Abobo appears much like he does in previous games, being a tall and bald musclehead, although his fighting pose in this game could make one wonder if he's really trying to look menacing at all. Besides standard punches and kicks, Abobo has the following special moves: Abobo Hammer (from Advance), a powerful block, the two-handed clap, and the Screw Upper.
After the game is beaten, Abobo can be unlocked and played as in extra mode. His palette can be changed to turn him into Mibobo. Abobo's Screw Upper can hit multiple foes lying on the ground, making him one of the most powerful playable characters.
Conversely to his Neo Geo counterpart, where he is stated to have a rivalry with Burnov, in this game, he is best buddies with him and plays the axe in a band with Burnov on the drums and Cindy on vocals.[2]
A Facebook post by the developers says Abobo recently shaved his mohawk.[citation needed]
- Personal data
- Age: 29
- Height: 215 cm
- Weight: 125 kg
- Hobbies: Playing the guitar
Double Dragon Neon
“ | Brick-Busting Bruiser | „ |
~ Official description from Double Dragon Neon |
Abobo, along with Williams and Linda, are the only classic villains to appear in Double Dragon Neon. All three bad guys appear in the very first stage of the game, where he acts as the area boss and later appears as a common enemy on following levels. His techniques include a headbutt, an uppercut, a kick, a powerful throw, and a two-directional punch that he uses as a counterattack. He is resistant to stuns and knockdowns, and cannot be grabbed.
Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons
A giant character who looks like B. A. from the trendy drama The A-Team from the '80s. He used to have a similar hairstyle as his hero B. A. and be treated as a boss before, but was demoted to a middle boss after Marian's kidnapping. Therefore, he waits for his revenge.[3]
- Profile
- Body type: Boss D (giant)
- Gender: Male
- Age: Late 30s
- Personality: Naively honest
- Features: Grabs and pitches, powerful attack with his strong body.
Double Dragon IV
“ | A buff macho man. Honed his tackle technique by playing football. His hobbies are singing and dancing. | „ |
~ Official description from Double Dragon IV |
Abobo returns as a member of the Renegades. He resembles his NES counterpart but now has boots. He also now has running and jumping attacks.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
“ | Known as the strongest (and dumbest) man in New York City, Abobo is often sought after by gangs hoping to recruit him. What many don't know is that he is a loyal and protective family man. He works hard, and fights even harder, all in the name of family. |
„ |
~ Official description |
Abobo is a miniboss and a unlockable playable character in this game.
Other appearances
Double Dragon (animated series)
In the animated series, Abobo is one of two main henchmen of the Shadow Boss, along with Wild Willy, who appear in the show's pilot episode, "The Shadow Falls". He is a large thug with blue skin, red eyes, and monstrous strength who works for the Shadow Boss. Unlike other incarnations of the character, here he is shown to be fairly intelligent, to the point of knowing to fear both the Shadow Boss and the Shadow Master. He is certainly smarter than Willy and berates him for being so reckless. In the show's second episode, "The Legend Continues", he and Willy are absorbed into the Shadow Master's Shadow Mural as punishment for their constant failures and are only seen for the remainder of the series as images inside it.
He was voiced by Blu Mankuma.
Double Dragon (film)
Bo Abobo (played by Nils Allen Stewart and Henry Kingi) is the leader of the "Mohawks", one of the many gangs under the employ of Koga Shuko. He's charged with recovering the missing half of the "Double Dragon" medallion in possession of the Lee brothers, but after failing to accomplish this task, he's punished by Shuko and is mutated into a hulking monster (played in costume by Henry Kingi). He later reforms and helps the Lee brothers fight Shuko, exposing his weakness to light.
River City: Tokyo Rumble
Abobo appears as one of Lee's goons during the game's finale in Hong Kong. He will spawn as a mini-boss upon defeating the waves of regular enemies.
River City Ransom: Underground
In this installment of the Kunio-kun franchise, Abobo appears both as the Mayor of River City, as well as the school principal of River City High. He appears randomly in some areas of the game to attack the player. The player can also fight him in his office on the third floor of the school if they dare to attack any of the teachers.
River City Girls
“ | Hoo-Ha! Welcome to the gun show, boy! It's time for you... to die. | „ |
~ Abobo |
A massive brute who has been causing trouble for years, known to kidnap people for money; although since kidnapping doesn't pay as much as it used to, he also does freelance work, such as acting as a security guard. He also appears in an educational film about "puberty" shown in River City High. He acts as the game's fourth boss, fought in Downtown. Defeating him increases damage of sharp weapons by 10% and allows access to Ocean Heights.
River City Saga: Three Kingdoms
Abobo plays the role of Hua Xiong, a general in Dong Zhuo (Sabu)'s army.
In the story mode, Hua Xiong first appears in the second chapter at the Hulao Pass with some troops who are unamused with Sun Jian (Maeda) and his troops.
In the comedy route, Tian Nu (Momozono) will send a letter to Liu Bei (Gōda) asking that they put a stop to Dong Zhuo's "Project Abobo" in Luoyang. Upon arriving in Luoyang, Dong Zhuo is seen finishing the last Abobo and gets ready to initiate his world domination plan, though is interrupted by the Guan Yu, Liu Bei and Zhang Fei (Godai). Dong Zhuo threatens to turn the brothers into the first Abobos, though Guan Yu refuses and vows to stop his plan. A dozen Abobos will then assist Dong Zhuo in his fight against the brothers.
In the fifth chapter, Hua Xiong is seen as the leader of a group of bandits now under the name Zhang Wu as a part of Zhao Yun (Sugata)'s sidequest and will fight against him and Guan Yu.
Abobo was added to the China Heroes game mode as a bonus character that is unlocked by default in the English release of the game. Abobo has access to various moves seen from his appearances in the Double Dragon. He has the slowest movement speed and will instead throw any weapons or enemies picked up.
River City Girls 2
In this game, Abobo appears as one of the assist characters. He can be hired for a fee to aid the player during battle.
Gallery
Artworks and portraits
Screenshots
Sprites and models
Trivia
- Abobo mostly appears with fair skin in the original arcade version of Double Dragon (the only exception is in Stage 3, where black skinned Abobos appear), whereas Jick, the boss of the first stage, is a black race head-swap of Abobo. Jick was cut out from the enemy rosters of nearly all console versions of that game, and was replaced by black versions of Abobo instead. Probably due to these changes, Abobo's race was changed to black in many of the sequels and spin-offs of the series.
- Despite his iconic horseshoe style mustache in his sprites for the first two games, their ports, and a few other appearances, Abobo is almost never seen with it in official artworks (Double Dragon Neon and River City Girls being some of the few exceptions).
- Similarly, Zack Abobo has a scar in the arcade game and a few home ports (like the Sega Genesis version), which is omitted in most artworks. The Abobo of the NES game, who was based on all variants, lacks this scar, as do many following variants of this character.
- The green-skinned Jick appearing in the first Double Dragon (and later renamed "Mibobo") was turned into an Abobo palette-swap in the home version.
- Mibobo was initially named Abobo, as revealed in a Famitsū issue shortly after the release of the arcade game. Interestingly, while the issue named him "Jick", it didn't refer to the basic bald giant (later known as Abobo) by any name, although Beep magazine said the bald version of Abobo is known as Zack and wrote the mohawked Abobo's name as Jack. The Beep article goes on to refer to the mohawked variant as Abobo in Mission 4.
- Koji Ogata has stated several times on Twitter, the name "Abobo" refers to all giant characters (bald Abobo, Jick and Mibobo) in the original Double Dragon.[4][5]
- In Double Dragon Neon, Abobo was voiced by Len Smith, who also voiced Williams and the Shopkeeper.
- Abubo Rao, a character appearing in the Double Dragon inspired one-on-one fighting game, Rage of the Dragons, is loosely based on Abobo.
- Abobo is featured as the main protagonist of his very own video game, Abobo's Big Adventure, an unofficial Flash game which parodies several popular NES games.
- Due to his popularity, which was greatly increased thanks to the favorable reception of Abobo's Big Adventure, as well as his numerous guest appearances in other franchises, such as the Kunio-kun series, Abobo has become sort of an unofficial mascot of the Double Dragon franchise.
- Abobo has made multiple cameos in the Kunio-kun series, with his first guest appearance taking place in River City: Tokyo Rumble.
- The character Mordov from Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club (Super Dodge Ball) was originally named "Abobo" while under development, and retains a physical resemblance to Abobo.[6]
- In the horror adventure role-playing video game, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, there is a reference to Abobo in the Medical Clinic's morgue computer. On the "cadavers" list, the name "G. Abobo" appears at the top; the body's log says: "This patient was beaten to death with a baseball bat", a reference to one of the iconic weapons that can be used in Double Dragon.
See also
References
- ↑ @Arc_Hound at X (March 22, 2021).
- ↑ "She put a band together and sings its vocals. Abobo wields the axe, Burnov on drums." – Cindy's in-game description.
- ↑ An Introduction to Characters | Black Warriors at The Legend of Fighting Action Game: Double Dragon II.
- ↑ @food2han at X (September 5, 2019).
- ↑ @Arc_Hound at X (February 19, 2019).
- ↑ Initial character designs for Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club drawn by Koji Ogata. Mordov (first on the bottom row) appears labeled as "Abobo" (アボボ).
External links
- Abobo at the Battletoads Wiki
- Abobo at the Kunio-kun Wiki
- Abobo at the Villains Wiki
- Abobo (Abobo's Big Adventure) at the Villains Wiki (archived: January 23, 2021)