![double dragon 3: the arcade game gb double dragon 3: the arcade game gb](https://archive.org/services/img/Game_Boy_Longplay_076_Double_Dragon_III_The_Arcade_Game/full/pct:200/0/default.jpg)
- #DOUBLE DRAGON 3: THE ARCADE GAME GB FULL#
- #DOUBLE DRAGON 3: THE ARCADE GAME GB PORTABLE#
- #DOUBLE DRAGON 3: THE ARCADE GAME GB PC#
Still, it also expanded on many NES-exclusive elements, such as the 2D sequences and platforming.
#DOUBLE DRAGON 3: THE ARCADE GAME GB FULL#
The Game Boy version hit rewind on some of the NES changes, dropping the RPG elements and allowing you to make use of Billy Lee's full array of moves right from the very outset. (Plus, can you imagine if someone had published a Famicom game with "Dragon" in the title in Japan in 1988 but didn't include any RPG elements? There'd have been blood in the streets.)ĭouble Dragon on NES featured an experience system, which had the weird side effect of turning this pompadoured dude into a punching bag for many players to grind levels out on right at the outset. It was, one assumes, both a reaction to Japanese gamers' newfound collective obsession with Dragon Quest and also an attempt to keep players from cheesing their way through the entire game with the elbow smash, as they could in the arcade. With the NES version, they took the single-player concept to a wild extreme by adding a primitive RPG-inspired leveling mechanic to the action, unlocking the player's skills progressively based on the experience they earned by brawling. So, whether out of technical necessity or simply licensing requirements, Technos turned their Nintendo brawlers into single-player games, restricting two-person play to a fighting mode (clunky, as was the way of all pre- Street Fighter II stabs at the genre). Nintendo's systems weren't the most underpowered machines ever to play host to Double Dragon conversions, but there was no way those systems could hope to even begin to reproduce the beefy arcade brawler. That's why we ended up with truly bewildering creations like the Atari 2600 and ZX Spectrum versions of the game - crude sketches of the arcade hit, recognizable in the abstract but hardly fun.
![double dragon 3: the arcade game gb double dragon 3: the arcade game gb](http://drachenfaust.cenocide.de/media/images/content/screens/double-dragon-3-the-arcade-game-gb-usa-screenshot-4.png)
And console owners wanted to play Double Dragon, even if their system of choice couldn't possibly have produced a decent rendition of the game. Nevertheless, Technos wanted to get a hit as huge as Double Dragon on as many consoles as possible. SEGA wouldn't launch the comparable Mega Drive (Genesis) until more than a year later. When it debuted in 1987, Double Dragon ran on a board that was miles beyond the capabilities of any home console available at the time. except back then developers targeted the powerful arcade hardware first rather than up-converting games from consoles.
#DOUBLE DRAGON 3: THE ARCADE GAME GB PC#
Think of the difference between a console and PC version for a modern game. Whatever the case, arcade-to-console conversions made for tricky business back in the ’80s and ’90s. Technos' own conversions came off as thoughtful variations on a familiar theme, like a great live band improvising on its most popular song, where other developers' works demonstrated the desperate longing for authenticity you hear from a middling cover band. Double Dragon for Nintendo consoles follows the same beats as the arcade game without feeling like an attempt to copy the coin-op slavishly the way outsourced ports did. So perhaps they simply demonstrate the confidence of a creator iterating on its own work. Then again, maybe the difference is that franchise creator Technos Japan seemingly developed the Nintendo renditions themselves. That may have had something to do with Nintendo's imperious edict that publishers had to create unique versions of multiplatform games for NES and Game Boy every other system saw more-or-less direct arcade ports, while Nintendo players ended up with fundamentally similar but heavily altered renditions.
![double dragon 3: the arcade game gb double dragon 3: the arcade game gb](https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/s/31132-double-dragon-3-the-rosetta-stone-game-boy-screenshot-mission.jpg)
Both Nintendo conversions had a style quite unlike any other take on the game.
![double dragon 3: the arcade game gb double dragon 3: the arcade game gb](http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/doubledragon3-arcade-14.png)
Not surprisingly, Double Dragon on Game Boy most closely resembles the NES adaptation of the game.
#DOUBLE DRAGON 3: THE ARCADE GAME GB PORTABLE#
Ive played many incarnations of Technos' classic arcade brawler through the years, from the coin-op original to the tacky-but-fun Double Dragon Neon, but somehow had never bothered with the series' first portable conversion until I stumbled through it as part of my ongoing personal journey through the Game Boy's entire library. I recently played Double Dragon on Game Boy for the first time, and it presented me with a genuine learning experience. After all, game developers today face many of same challenges as designers of bygone eras, just in different forms. Playing a dusty old archival release is fun, sure, but often it helps me to see the successes and failures of modern games more clearly. I never cease to be amazed by how much I can learn from classic video games.