The game features the original staff of the arcade version of Double Dragon, including producer Takaomi Kaneko, director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, character designer Koji Ogata, composer Kazunaka Yamane, and programmer Kei Oyama.
Read more at
Seems to me that they just felt they needn't reinvent the wheel, that NES DD was perfect for what it was - not a portrayal of something to be improved upon. 8 bit style (and not retro style graphics) are an aesthetic choice today, same with gameplay. This is an a temporal time - in culture in general. As I say I wouldn't even say this is retro.
All that said and done I am at odds with this approach.
I have yet to find a worthwhile street based beat em up in the last 20 years. Would have really liked to have seen the employment of cel shaded graphics in the genre. Cel shaded just doesn't get old.
I honestly hope to see games like this using digitised graphics once more. Just for kicks
I agree with your point about the design approach. This wasn't exactly the ASW Double Dragon game I was hoping for, but I can't say I'm surprised that they are taking the nes nostalgia route. Gameplay is king though, so I'm sure ASW will deliver a fun title when all is said and done.
There's been a couple great street beat em ups over the years. Aside from Double Dragon Advance and the psp Ikki Tousen games, Urban Reign was a fun street brawler that I find myself returning to every now and then.
what bout DDNeon
20 year covers a lot of "street based beat em ups."
Aside from the ones mentioned, how do you feel about Spikeout, Demolish Fist, and to cheat slightly, Streets of Rage Remake?
I just got the new River City 3DS game, and I can't wait to try that out.
I'll be honest. I'm not impressed by any of it. Spikeout I may have once had a soft spot for but the Zombie's Revenge style it shares just isn't my cup of tea. I reckon God Fist is the most fun beat em up but it's not 'street based' per se, and it goes off at a tandem gameplay wise too.
I don't know why all these company's that made fighting games designed the games the way they did. Horrible ideas and boring play mechanics. I'm sorry to repeat myself over and over, I will shut up about it. But how hard can it really be to get the variables right and make an original modern beat em up?
Looks interesting. I thought Super Double Dragon was called Double Dragon 4 in JP.
It's your opinion, so if you didn't like any of the ones mentioned, that's fine. I enjoyed the Sega arcade beat em ups of Dynamite Deka 1/2, Zombies Revenge, and Spikeout. The over the top cheesiness of the first two series was/is funny to me.
I just wonder what exactly you think would make a beat em up something original.
I just wonder what exactly you think would make a beat em up something original.
If it's cheesiness winning you over, perhaps you're easy to please.
When I said an original beat em up I wasn't talking about originality I was talking about something that wasn't a sequel or reboot or remake.
I think a limited and sober moves list with decent hit detection (generous without being sloppy), a good idea about what makes for a good side scroller without trying to please everyone. Characters that are appealing moreso amongst the villains, not just walking planks of wood.
Backgrounds well enough integrated that makes you feel like you are there and what you do impacts on the surroundings and visa versa. Character. In a fighting game having an angle about what you want to put across goes a long way. A game that feels was made by a team of people interested in animation, not because it has to be silky smooth but because it is just as important as graphics. It seems that it's hard to get right because of how many dull examples exist in all these aspects.
I don't know, there are enough old games for me not to care too much that they can't make newer ones that are half decent.