Super Double Dragon (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.0.1 Update

Super Double Dragon, released in Japan as Return of Double Dragon: “Sleeping Dragon” has Awoken (リターン・オブ・双截龍, Ritān Obu Daburu Doragon), is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. It was published by Tradewest in North America and the PAL region and by Technōs Japan in Japan. Super Double Dragon is the fourth console game in the Double Dragon series developed by Technōs Japan, following Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones for the NES. The game did not have an arcade release and was made specifically for the home market.

In 2018, a slightly enhanced Japanese version, Return of Double Dragon, was re-released by Tommo in Japan and under its Retroism brand in North America. Despite being officially licensed, this release is only guaranteed to work on third-party hardware.

GAMEPLAY

As with previous installments of the series, the player takes control of martial artists Billy and Jimmy in their fight against the Shadow Warriors gang. The objective is to proceed through each stage and defeat all enemies, including a boss.

The game consists of seven stages, which include a casino, an airport, a martial arts dojo, a fight atop a moving truck, a city slum, a forest, and the hideout of the boss. In addition to the punch, kick, and jump buttons, the player now has a guard button for blocking attacks.

If the player times the guard button right, their character can not only defend against an enemy’s punch, they can also put certain enemies in an arm grab, leaving the enemy vulnerable to successive attacks.  The arm grab only works on Williams, Roper, Steve, Jackson, and the Chin brothers.

There’s also a “Dragon Power” gauge under the life gauge, which the player can fill by holding down the L or R buttons. While the gauge is filling up, the player can perform special attacks which vary depending on how much power the player has accumulated, which includes a flying hurricane kick.

If the power gauge is filled, then the player’s regular attacks will gain extra strength for a limited period.

Super Double Dragon is one of the few games in the series where the protagonists of Billy and Jimmy Lee were differentiated, not just in their in-game character designs (where the brothers were given different hairstyles), but also in their fighting abilities. Particularly, the two characters have different basic punches (in Return of Double Dragon, Jimmy’s roundhouse kick is also different).

KEY FEATURE

• Defend against enemy assaults using the Guard command.
• Accumulate the newly introduced Dragon Power gauge to unlock new techniques.
• Dispatch foes with the assistance of items like sandbags and punching bags scattered throughout the stages.
• Opt for Mode B to introduce friendly fire into the equation.

Seize the reins of the twin Dragons and leave your mark in the contemporary era!