News Article

US VC Releases - 28th April - Double Dragon

Posted Sat, 26 Apr 2008 by Darren Calvert

Knock him in the hole Billy Lee!

Knock him in the hole Billy Lee!

Hot on the tails of River City Ransom from last week the theme of violence continues with the legendary Double Dragon on the NES punching its way to the Virtual Console.

The NES version is a fun adaptation of the original arcade classic however there is no 2 player simultaneous option in the main game which is a crying shame (even the Master System adaption managed this). That being said there is a VS mode added in to allow you to take out your aggression on a friend. At the end of the day the single player game is still a hoot to play so we think Double Dragon still deserves its classic status on the NES, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.

And that’s it for this week, only one game! Next week in the series of NES beat ‘em ups we’ll be getting Renegade. Let’s hope there is another game to go with it as it is not in the same league as Double Dragon or River City Ransom sadly.

Note: This game will not be available in the North American Wii Shop Channel until 9 a.m. Pacific time on Mon 28th April.

Tags: Virtual Console, US releases, NES.

Game Screenshots

User Comments

MultiPLAYA79

1. MultiPLAYA79 Canada 26 Apr 2008, 08:09 BST

The NES version of this wasn't very good. Here's hoping for the Genesis version :)

JJ

2. JJ United States 26 Apr 2008, 08:10 BST

I have more memories of this game from my childhood than any other nes game. An instant download!

brooks83

3. brooks83 United States 26 Apr 2008, 08:50 BST

Double Dragon is cool, but I was hoping for three games like Europe :( Oh well, I'm hooked on Paper Mario and River City Ransom now, it's enough to hold me over.

mummydaddy

4. mummydaddy United Kingdom 26 Apr 2008, 10:15 BST

I think Nintendo should think about a MAME emulator. just think of the thousands of actual arcade roms that we could download on the worlds no. 1 console.... Double dragon being one of them. If I remember rightly, no conversion felt like the arcade original Double dragon with its muffled sound. Most arcade roms aren't that large and would fit in perfectly with the other VC consoles.

Phalyn

5. Phalyn United States 26 Apr 2008, 11:04 BST

Yaaaaay
Double Dragon. I have many memories of playing this game in the arcade in my Uncle's bowling alley. Was challenging to me back then. Never played the NES port, so we'll see how it fares.
REALLY want Double Dragon II though, one thing at a time, one thing at a time.

Atlantis1982

6. Atlantis1982 United States 26 Apr 2008, 11:35 BST

Thats it? BAH

accidental

7. accidental New Zealand 26 Apr 2008, 11:56 BST

More like Single Dragon.

Viral

8. Viral United Kingdom 26 Apr 2008, 12:25 BST

Single Dragon. lawl. True that. America is gettin' the shaft this time....at least we got Wii Fit! :D

Kevin

9. Kevin United States 26 Apr 2008, 12:30 BST

I'm surprised we aren't getting anything with Double Dragon. Oh well, we finally get Mario Kart tomorrow and the NES version is good enough for me this week. How's Wii Fit? We don't get it until 5/20.

Bass X0

10. Bass X0 United Kingdom 26 Apr 2008, 12:36 BST

Yeah, I think Europe isn't doing too badly these days. Okay, so we're still missing a few SNES and NES games but still, the C64 is still our exclusive console.

Lugia2

11. Lugia2 United States 26 Apr 2008, 12:46 BST

...The heck? We have like 7 consoles supported now and they can only find one game- the inferior version of an arcade port that is STILL inferior to last week's Beat-em-up that at least had a #2?

Hey Europe! Nintendo is saying sorry for Smash!

Mike

12. Mike United States 26 Apr 2008, 14:13 BST

One game this week! That is terrible. Double Dragon is a decent game but...at least I'll have Mario Kart Wii tomorrow.

By the way, you can have the C64 and Wii Fit Europe; neither interests me.

Versus22

13. Versus22 Canada 26 Apr 2008, 14:34 BST

Re: Mike

Yeah, this week was kind of disappointing. However, after the week of the #3 NES beat em up, it will be the best Wii-kly update Monday of all time with WiiWare launching & the possiblity of the Nintendo Channel! I love Nintendo again! :)

Jupiter Adept

14. Jupiter Adept Canada 26 Apr 2008, 14:40 BST

Meh. I was expecting EarthWorm Jim.

slangman

15. slangman United Kingdom 26 Apr 2008, 14:59 BST

Only one game ouch. Good job us europeans get C64 games too.

DDR Paladin356

16. DDR Paladin356 United States 26 Apr 2008, 15:47 BST

Id be up for the Genesis version or the Master System version...

AlexSays

17. AlexSays United States 26 Apr 2008, 15:50 BST

oh my god.
i don't even care about the VC anymore.

bring on WiiWare.

7th lutz

18. 7th lutz United States 26 Apr 2008, 15:56 BST

Double Dragon is a good game as long you don't consider it as an arcade port. The nes version is not a true arcade port to me. No 2 player simultaneous option and not starting with all your moves is a turn off to me. I don't think there is a great arcade port of this game. I played 4 arcade ports of Double Dragon and the best one is the Genesis version.

There is no reason for having a 1 vc game week in North America.

AlexSays

19. AlexSays United States 26 Apr 2008, 16:03 BST

i think Nintendo is releasing mediocre games at best to ensure nobody will download them,
which gives Nintendo time to come up with a storage solution.

kevenz

20. kevenz Canada 26 Apr 2008, 16:28 BST

^double dragon isn't mediocre, if you ever lived in the 80s during the nes craze.... that serie was very popular.

Andrew

21. Andrew United States 26 Apr 2008, 16:30 BST

Majoras Mask...

Tides of Chaos

22. Tides of Chaos United States 26 Apr 2008, 17:24 BST

Only one game? Oh well, it's not like I really need more games anyway. I never beat the ones I already have! XD

Adam

23. Adam United States 26 Apr 2008, 17:34 BST

"oh my god.
i don't even care about the VC anymore.
bring on WiiWare."

Sadly, I agree entirely. At least WiiWare is there as a ray of hope. Perhaps Nintendo's plan is to drive VC-ers into despair so that we will eat up their new WiiWare games. ;)

MasterMario

24. MasterMario United States 26 Apr 2008, 17:41 BST

Only one game on the VC on monday? That's bad.

MrPoo6321

25. MrPoo6321 United States 26 Apr 2008, 18:04 BST

They should just call it Single Dragon for the NES.... but yeah this is one of the lamer updates we've ever had. Why don't they start giving us some things that are only in Europe... like Vectorman and Mega Man.... Boo Nintendo, Boo!

Kenryoku_Maxis

26. Kenryoku_Maxis United States 26 Apr 2008, 18:17 BST

WOO HOO! ONE GAME! YEAH!!!!

I can remember the days when we use to get One N64 game and a NES game, as if they were afraid to give us only an N64 game alone and needed to give us an NES game along with it.

Now they think a 'classic' like Double Dragon is big enough to be put on the VC alone.

Tim

27. Tim Canada 26 Apr 2008, 18:50 BST

America might never see the 2 player master system or genesis version. It seems as though that if there are more than one versions of a game then Nintendo only releases the Nintendo version regardless.

jg233

28. jg233 United States 26 Apr 2008, 19:16 BST

:( One game... T.T

konkerdoodle

29. konkerdoodle United States 26 Apr 2008, 20:06 BST

Previous three weeks:
EU VC releases--8
US VC releases--5
Grr...

DEMON212

30. DEMON212 United Kingdom 26 Apr 2008, 20:23 BST

Yeah, but Konker, don't you guys have like 20 games more than us?

The_Indigo_Effect

31. The_Indigo_Effect United States 26 Apr 2008, 21:07 BST

Simultaneous, 2-player action is what made Double Dragon great. Without this feature, I really don't see the point. I remember being so disappointed when I bought this for my NES, but I still played the crap out of it.

deadly.by.design

32. deadly.by.design United States 26 Apr 2008, 22:56 BST

I enjoyed this game, but wouldn't buy any Double Dragon title that didn't also include Battletoads.

dark moogle

33. dark moogle Australia 27 Apr 2008, 08:35 BST

Ha, how does it feel to be treated like an Australian? Cruel isn't it? Now imagine this level of VC releases for over 4 weeks straight!!!

konkerdoodle

34. konkerdoodle United States 27 Apr 2008, 12:54 BST

@DEMON212: Probably. That's just the selfish thought that struck me when I saw this week's release :)

Bass X0

35. Bass X0 United Kingdom 27 Apr 2008, 12:59 BST

but how long did america have the virtual console before europe? I wish we had Mighty Final Fight coming too. I'd download that. I know many people say Double Dragon and River City Ransom are better games but I prefer Mighty Final Fight because of its characters and series. I'm a Capcom/Street Fighter fan. And its 10 not 20 more.

Mike

36. Mike United States 27 Apr 2008, 14:14 BST

"Ha, how does it feel to be treated like an Australian? Cruel isn't it? Now imagine this level of VC releases for over 4 weeks straight!!!"

Actually we don't know what it's like because we already have Super Smash Bros Brawl and you don't!!!

Starwolf_UK

37. Starwolf_UK United Kingdom 27 Apr 2008, 16:13 BST

America might never see the 2 player master system or genesis version. It seems as though that if there are more than one versions of a game then Nintendo only releases the Nintendo version regardless.
I wouldn't be so sure. I mean both Wonder Boy and Adventure Island came out and they are the exact same game. Similarly there is Wonder Boy in Monster World and the Dynastic Hero again both same games. And also Dr.Robotniks Mean Bean Machine and Kirbys Avalanche. Exact same game.

Sure all of those listed have thier differences but isn't it the same as Doulbe Dragon in the end? One is single player and other isn't.

Funny how people don't like this Double Dragon being single player but didn't care about Final Fight being the same :S. Though Double Dragon does have a viable alternative (Final Fight CD isn't viable until we see Mega CD games).

stinssd

38. stinssd United States 27 Apr 2008, 19:03 BST

I bought a used copy of Double Dragon last week for my imported Famicom clone. ;-)

As for the VC having mame titles, it'd be great to see:
1. The Simpsons Arcade Game.
2. Dungeons and Dragons :Tower of Doom

stinssd

39. stinssd United States 27 Apr 2008, 19:07 BST

THREE TALKING POINTS:

  • I'm surprised Nintendo hasn't released Battletoads or Battletoads + Double Dragon for the VC. Those were some hard games.
  • In 1993,I got so fed up with the difficulty level of those games, I sent myself through time to the future to 2009, grabbed a printout from gamefaqs, as well as got President Obama's autograph before heading back to get my head kicked in by Jimmy and Bimmy. True story.
  • Well, not.

SuperTarin

40. SuperTarin United States 28 Apr 2008, 00:31 BST

I want: Rondo of Blood + Mega Man 1&2 by the end of the summer.

Rapadash6

41. Rapadash6 United States 28 Apr 2008, 15:17 BST

Well, Double Dragon is an alright game but why only one game today, Nintendo? Today would've been the perfect time to release the long over due Vectorman.

v404

42. v404 United States 28 Apr 2008, 16:03 BST

While DD on the NES is certainly not the best port, I don't think the possibility of seeing the SMS & Genesis versions are that unlikely. If anything, it's probably quite likely. Seeing how keen Nintendo is of releasing virtually identical titles on the VC under the pretense that they're something new. They just usually release the inferior versions first..

Regardless, I was rather surprised to see only 1 title this week even though DD is a pretty big name. I'd still have guessed we'd see at least 2. Releasing just 1 game, especially when it's nothing special/a non-major franchise title just gives the impression that the VC is already scraping the bottom of the barrel.

And w/ the release of WiiWare titles just around the corner, the argument that there are only so many VC titles available to be released & that they need to be rationed out over the duration of the Wii's tenure doesn't hold water anymore. If anything, WiiWare should substantially alleviate that concern & allow Nintendo to boost VC releases. Or so one would think.

Drake

43. Drake Netherlands 28 Apr 2008, 17:11 BST

stinssd, Rare owns Battletoads, so I'm almost positive it won't come.

2hip2beskware

44. 2hip2beskware Canada 28 Apr 2008, 18:45 BST

Solid Phail. I want Earthbound.

Ryu-mithril

45. Ryu-mithril United States 28 Apr 2008, 20:36 BST

Got it now:)

will

46. will United States 28 Apr 2008, 23:39 BST

Lame, I am starting a blog and I encourage others to join me in saying just how let down wii all are in Nintendo as a company. I mean after so many years of playing the Big 3 ( mario, zelda, metroid) I have to say that I am rather disappointed. Don't get me wrong... I love nintendo but I am feeling that they as a company are going to leech us for our every last dime, all while keeping our hopes up for the next big game. I have spent $300(console) + $40x2(wiimote) + $20x2(nunchuk) + $20x2(classic control) + $60(crap VC games)... So that adds up to...over $500 on Basics!!! And I have a few games too... My point is, I'm not going to waste any more time or money on a system that cannot offer quality 3rd party games because they ticked them all off so much in the past that now they won't work together. Nintendo once said they were not trying to compete with Xbox 360 PS3... I think what they should of said is there was no way they could even think about competing with them. I have to wait until June 25th for survival horror that may suc and after that sept???? for a star wars that will pale to XB360 or PS3... WoW whats wrong with us guys??? Where are the options NINTENDO??? Its been two years already!!!!!!!

Fireballmario

47. Fireballmario United States 29 Apr 2008, 00:04 BST

I think this will be a pretty good VC game, but come on Nintendo get some of the better titles over here and start handing out multiple games!!!!!

JJ

48. JJ United States 29 Apr 2008, 03:52 BST

Is it just me or is this vc version of double dragon more difficult than what the original nes cart was?

Cowmansr

49. Cowmansr United States 29 Apr 2008, 19:53 BST

Double Dragon 2 on the NES has 2-player, so that's the one to wait for.

YULIN SAMUELS

50. YULIN SAMUELS United States 01 May 2008, 17:47 BST

DOUBLE DRAGON 3 WAS ONE OF THE BEST GAMES EVER MADE ON NINTENDO.

toffeeman30

51. toffeeman30 United Kingdom 01 May 2008, 18:58 BST

YULIN, WELL SAID! HARD THOUGH WASNT IT.

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