Double Dragon tells the story of two brothers, Billy and Jimmy Lee, who start a journey in order to save Billy's girlfriend Marian.

Double Dragon is a classic NES game which was immensely popular in its day -- so much so that it led to a string of sequels. Predictably the NES conversion of the arcade original made some compromises and changes to the game. The levels are laid out differently and there are now only four of them.

In addition to this, you cannot play simultaneously with a friend in the main game. This is a sad loss, especially for a beat ‘em up game such as this. At least it isn’t as easy to get through this version of the game by just using a well timed elbow, which is all it took in the arcade!

The game begins with Jimmy Lee’s (your) girlfriend being beaten up and kidnapped by a ruthless crime lord. Outraged at this turn of events, it is your task to fight through a series of dastardly henchmen and rescue your woman.

With your top martial arts skills you are indeed a force to be reckoned with, but it is still a good idea to take advantage of the knifes, whips, and baseball bats you can pick up and use against all who get in your way.

You can also pick up barrels and boxes to throw at your opponent. Before you can move on to the next part of the level you must take out all of the fiends who block your path. At the end of each level there is the usual big boss to contend with, who will be harder to take down. See if you can knock the level one boss off the conveyor belt with one kick to his doom!

In addition to the main game there is a VS mode where you can fight against the computer or another player. In this mode you get six characters to choose from, even bad guys. This can be fun for a while and is a nice addition to the game.

For a game of its time, the graphics are not bad and the animation is pretty decent too. The music from the arcade is captured nicely in typical boppy NES style and accompanies the proceedings nicely.

All in all there are no complaints on this score. Despite its limitations on the NES hardware, the conversion of Double Dragon still manages to provide lots of entertainment. You will probably be able to complete the game in less than half an hour, but it is always fun to go back to from time to time.