Dan Geeks Out: Video Game Review #407: Double Dragon Advance

Double Dragon Advance

Game Boy Advance

Nostalgia Factor:

Mop Up Duty moves into 2003 - the year I turned 21 years old. Video games were on the back burner for me around this time as I was focused on doing 21 year old things like partying and getting drunk. I certainly wasn't playing Double Dragon for the Game Boy Advance.

Speaking of the GBA, I never owned one of these growing up, so expect to see several titles for this handheld system appearing on my Mop Up Duty review tour. This system has a huge library of games I've never played before, so it only makes sense that if I'm attempting to broaden my gaming horizons that I check some of these games out.

Story:

This game follows the same basic plot as the original Double Dragon, where you play as a pair of brothers who are attempting to rescue Marian from a gang of bad guys.

This version of the game tries to squeeze a little bit extra out of the game's thin storyline, adding things like nuclear blasts to the plot and anime-esque cutscenes in between levels, explaining the progression of the brothers from one stage to the next. Honestly, this can all be ignored as it doesn't really add much to the game itself.

Gameplay:

If you're looking for a port of the NES classic, you've come to the wrong place. Double Dragon Advance is a port of the arcade version of the game - with things like extra levels, enemies, and story sequences added to the mix.

There's not much I can say about this title's gameplay, as I've already reviewed the arcade version in the past. This is a beat 'em up. You walk from left to right, punching and attacking the enemies that pop up in your way. You can pick things up like whips and baseball bats to attack your foes. In this version of the game I found some of these pickups almost to be overpowered, especially the whips and nunchuks. They never disappear no matter how many times you get hit and drop them. They have long range. They do massive damage to enemies, and can hit multiple enemies at the same time. My strategy was always to find the longest weapon and hang onto it throughout as much of the entire stage as possible.

Enemies in this game attempt to swarm you from all angles, so that is why having a weapon that hits multiple enemies at the same time is such a big deal. They get stun locked when they are hit, which makes it very easy to get in multiple follow-up attacks. Whenever I got overwhelmed, I would jump kick my way out of the fray, and that seemed to work more often than not.

I found the enemy AI in this version of Double Dragon to be the worst of any Double Dragon game I have ever played. The whole game is very easy. The enemies fall for the trick of going up and down on the plane and then hitting them nearly every single time. The only danger you really have to worry about is getting swarmed on all sides. They can take down your health pretty quickly. You know what else is very dangerous? Falling off the bottom of the screen. This happened to me so many times, I was getting a little mad about it.

It turned out okay in the end. As I said, this game is very easy. When you run out of lives you can use a continue, which drops you off right where you died. You are never sent back to the beginning of a level again, nor do you ever have to really worry about running out of lives or not being able to complete the game.

Graphics:

To an outsider, this is probably the best looking version of the original Double Dragon. The detail added to the characters sets it aside from its NES and arcade counterparts, as do the improved backgrounds and settings. The are new enemy types added to this game which helps add some variety to battles.

To me, I think I prefer the simplicity of the earlier versions of the game. This version is a bit too blocky for me and I think it will not age as well as the other versions.

Sound:

All the music from the original game returns, but now sped up and "modernized" to appeal to gamers in 2003. And I don't like it. Not that the music is bad, but give me the classic version of the Double Dragon soundtrack any day of the week. It's not even a comparison. I understand that the whole point of Double Dragon Advance is to upgrade an old classic with new graphics and new music, but this is one of those situations where the music should have been left alone.

Overall:

This is a decent version of the original Double Dragon. The NES game will always place #1 in my heart, but this version gives the arcade game a run for its money. One thing this game does better is in its length and its replayability. The original arcade game can be beaten in about 25 minutes, and once you are done with it, there really is not much of a reason to come back.

This game took me somewhere in the area of an hour to complete, with the added stages and cutscenes. I swear some of the existing stages were extended as well. Upon beating the game, I realized there were multiple versions of the game to play through, as well as a co-op mode that I am sure is fun to play with a friend. So I would say that this game has the arcade version beat in that area.

All in all, this is a good beat 'em up. If you're a fan of the genre I fully encourage you to check this out. On the flip side, this isn't a great beat 'em up. I wouldn't put it on the level of something like the TMNT games, Final Fight, or the Simpsons. Even as far as Double Dragon games go, this game is lacking that "iconic" hook to it that elevated the series above its peers back in the 80s and 90s. If you were to put this game in front of me along with the NES and arcade versions of the game, this would be the last one I'd come to. I know that doesn't make any sense considering I just said it is probably better than the arcade version, but that is just how my mind works.

THE GRADE:

40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:

1982 reviews:

1983:

1984:

Frogger II: Threedeep!