Double Dragon review: two brothers, a borrowed bat, and one girlfriend

The Black Warriors gang has taken Marian, Billy's girlfriend, and two brothers go after her. Billy Lee and his twin brother Jimmy walk into the Black Warriors' part of town, and for the rest of the game the city scrolls forward and the thugs keep coming.

A street that keeps going

Double Dragon grew out of Renegade, an earlier fighting game from the same company, but it made a crucial change: instead of fighting in small arenas, you move through a continuously side-scrolling world. That forward motion gives every fight a sense of progress.

The controls are a joystick and three buttons, kick, jump and punch, and combinations give you elbow strikes and throws. There is also a time limit on every stage, so you cannot just stand back and wait for enemies to wander in.

Take his bat

The single best idea in Double Dragon is also the simplest: knock an enemy's weapon out of his hands and pick it up yourself. A thug swings a baseball bat at you, you put him down, and now the bat is yours. It turns every fight into a small scramble, because the enemies want those weapons back, and so does your brother.

In Double Dragon the best weapon in the game is whatever the last guy was holding.

Better with two, until the end

With a second player it becomes two-player cooperative play, and the game changes. One brother can grab an enemy from behind and hold him while the other beats on him, and the enemies can do the same to you. It is the kind of teamwork that makes two strangers at a cabinet feel like partners.

The title itself nods to that two-player play and to the film Enter the Dragon, while the ruined streets owe a lot to Mad Max. And then comes the ending. If both brothers reach the end together, they have to fight each other to decide who wins Marian. After an entire game side by side, the last boss is the person standing next to you.

What it meant back then

Double Dragon was America's highest-grossing dedicated arcade game in 1988 and 1989, and in those years it felt like every arcade and pizza place had one. Two kids would put in their quarters, clear the streets as a team, and then turn to each other at the very end with a look. Friendships were tested. Brothers argued all the way home.

It also set the pattern that a whole wave of street brawlers followed through the late 80s and early 90s, which means if you loved any of those, you loved them because of this one.

Playing it now

Double Dragon is still a great two-player afternoon. Take every weapon you can, use the hold from behind, and keep an eye on the time limit. Play it with someone you trust, and then find out at the end exactly how much you trust them.