Double Dragon (mobile)

For other uses, see Double Dragon (disambiguation).

Double Dragon is a 2011 beat 'em up game for iOS and Android devices developed by Brizo Interactive in collaboration with Aksys Games under license from Million, and published by Bow Mobile Corp. It is a remake/expansion of the original 1987 arcade game of the same name, now introducing brand new artwork and sprites, Bluetooth multiplayer connectivity, online score ranking, and a host of other new and unique features, new to the franchise.

As of 2018, the game has been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play and is no longer available to play.

Plot[]

The game follows the same basic premise as the original Double Dragon. Five years prior to the events depicted in the game, a nuclear holocaust has laid waste to civilization. The setting is the ruins of New York City, where twin brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee run a small kung fu dojo in an obscure area of the city with their few surviving disciples.

One day, a letter arrives at their doorstep containing a picture of their mutual friend Marian manacled and beaten, along with a note reading "If you ever hope to see Marian alive, bring us the Sacred Scrolls of the Sosetsu Arts," signed by "The Black Warriors". The Black Warriors are the largest criminal syndicate in New York, lead by a merciless man known as "Machine Gun Willy".

The heroes set off to the city's slums, beating any members of the Black Warriors that cross their path and gathering clues on Marian's whereabouts, which take them to a factory, a school building commandeered as one of their hideouts, the woods, a nightclub owned by Willy's niece, and finally his personal hideout, where Marian is held captive and where the final confrontation with Willy takes place. Willy obtains the scrolls from the Lee brothers in exchange for Marian’s safety, then leaves them to face three of his subordinates a second time. He then challenges them personally, and resorts to empowering himself with martial arts from the scrolls after his machine gun fails. After a fierce battle, Willy is defeated and the Lee brothers retrieve Marian and their scrolls.

In the game's ending, as the brothers and Marian drive along the highway they pass a biker who stares at them as they drive by. The narrator states that the battle is just beginning and who knows what lies ahead for the Lees. Notably, the mysterious biker shares physical traits with Willy, and there are also statues of an identical figure alongside Willy's in the Black Warriors hideout, implying a connection between both characters.

Gameplay[]

One or two players can play simultaneously via Bluetooth connectivity. The game is played via onscreen controls, where the player must tap dedicated buttons to move around, punch, kick, jump or use their special "dragon" abilities. The game can be set to either Automatic or Manual Mode, according to the player's preferences. Automatic Mode removes some buttons and executes combos automatically, but makes high-level special moves unavailable. Manual Mode gives access to the full repertoire of moves which must be inputted manually. By tapping the d-pad either left or right, the player character can dash, which in combination with the other buttons, allows them to perform more attack combinations. Carried over from the Zeebo version is the ability to juggle enemies.

New to this game is a "Limit Gauge" that will fill up as the player successfully performs combos on enemies. Once it fills completely, a "Limit Break" occurs where the player is momentarily given various advantages, such as an increase in attack strength.

Enemies wielding weapons can be disarmed by hitting them once, the player can then arm themselves with the dropped weapon and either enhance their fighting capabilities or throw them back at foes. However, enemies can also pick them back up or arm themselves with other environmental objects, such as oil drums and boxes lying around.

Before and after each boss encounter, a small cutscene is played in which both parties have a verbal exchange, with the latter usually having the outcome of the defeated boss telling the heroes where to head next in their search on Marian's whereabouts. A results screen is shown at the end of each level, where the player is rated by their performance and is given experience points in relation to their score. These points can then be used to buy/unlock new powered-up special skills.

Two bonus stages occur during the course of the game: the first, Drum Can Crusher, occurs after Mission 2 and challenges the player to destroy every oil drum in the stage in a time limit. The second, A Million Dollars, occurs after Mission 5 and tasks the player with breaking open falling crates to acquire stacks of bills and gold bars while avoiding being knocked off a platform by moving electric barriers.

New characters can be unlocked for replaying the game with; these include both enemies and bosses previously fought in the main game. An enemy list allows to read detailed information on these characters. Achievements are also awarded to the player for satisfying certain criteria. The player's score per level is also displayed on an online leaderboard.

Missions[]

Mission	Name	Boss
1	Slum	Abobo
2	Factory	Burnov
3	School	Lavis
4	Woods	Chin
5	Nightclub	Deena
6	The Hideout	Willy

Credits[]

Executive Producer: Takashi Hanya (Million)
Programmer: Hiroaki Marunaka, Michihiro Okumoto, and Masaki Takeno
Designer: Jiyoung Hwang, Hiromi Isayama, Hiroto Kittaka, Daisuke Nakazawa, Takeshi Toda, and Takahiro Tomiyama
Planner: Masafumi Nangaku
Project Lead: Souta Ichino and Frank deWindt II ("Bo"; Aksys)
Sound Composer: Hideki Asanaka
Recording Studio: Sound Osaka Recording
Voice Actor: Yoshiyuki Matsuura and Yukana Takaki
QA Team: Mihou Okamoto and Naoki Shoji
QA Manager: Keiji Fukushima
Translator: James W. Hove
VP of Sales: Jim Ireton (Aksys)
Marketing Coordinator: Ryosuke Jinno and Mary Sue To (Aksys)
Public Relations Coordinator: James Xie (Aksys)
Assistant Licensing Coordinator: Yukio Abe (Aksys)
Special Thanks: Seiji Ando, Ben Bateman (Aksys), Michael D. Christoffers (Aksys), Michael Engler (Aksys), Michael Manzanares (Aksys), Nobara Nakayama (Aksys), Kazuki Tanaka, Asuka Yamataki (Aksys), and Barbara Young (Aksys)
President & CEO: Yosh Jinno and Akibo Shieh (Aksys)
Developed by: Brizo Interactive Corp.
Collaboration with: Aksys Games
Published by: Bow Mobile Corp.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Like Double Dragon Advance, this game uses a narrated intro and ending.
Unlike other versions of the game, the traditional opening scene of Williams punching Marian and carrying her off is absent.
A second phase is added to Willy's fight. Notably, this phase is the only time in any version of the game where he uses hand-to-hand combat instead of his machine gun.
This remake of the game was developed by the same studio as the earlier Zeebo port of Double Dragon: Brizo Interactive. It appears to be inspired by said game, as they share several features:
- Both games expand the original from four to six missions.
- The updated controls of each game are similar: both add dashing, elaborate combos and juggling enemies.
- Some character sprites in this game are taken from the Zeebo game with added details.
- Both games place Burnov from Double Dragon II as the boss of Mission 2.
- Mission 3 of this game and Mission 4 of the Zeebo game are notably similar, taking place in the hallway of a dilapidated building.
- The bosses of those respective missions –Lavis in this game and Saber in the Zeebo game– are almost identical.
- Enemies in both games can be unlocked as playable characters.

External links[]

Double Dragon iPhone/iPod Touch/Android at Double Dragon Dojo
Double Dragon (iPhone) at Moby Games
Double Dragon (Mobile) at Hardcore Gaming 101
Preserved at Internet Archive