How about First and Second Samurai on SNES and MD respectively?

Would you rather be the first samurai or the last ninja?

I remember First Samurai on the ST - be nice to revisit this.

I was definitely more of a Last Ninja fanboi, though

Double Dragon (Arcade) 

Pains me to say this, but this is pretty terrible, time has not been kind at all.

I was a huge DD fan as a kid and had the whole trilogy of NES games, and played the Master System version with my cousins, so I couldn't resist picking up these arcade versions on Arcade Archives.

Honestly, I think both of the aforementioned console versions are much more playable and fun than this. The controls are very loose and the speed at which your character runs around makes it a chore to even line up with an enemy at times.

The collision detection feels slightly off, and there's no real satisfying feeling when you do land a blow.

The real problem though is the slowdown, it is absolutely crippling. It was a common problem in games back in the day, but this is honestly the worst I've ever seen.

It feels wrong to attach this score to such an important and iconic game, but its just not a good game now unfortunately.

2/5

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Double Dragon II The Revenge (Arcade) 

Everything here is slightly better than the original but not enough. Everything still feels slightly loose and off, and the slowdown still ruins the fun.

The big problem with this one is how much is recycled from the first game. I know it was initially going to be an upgraded version and evolved into a stand alone game, but it doesn't feel like they did enough to justify it to me.

The NES version absolutely wipes the floor with this, I really need to check out the PC Engine version which is based on that and meant to be the best of them all.

Another disappointing arcade classic, and its bonkers to think Final Fight came out one year after this.

2/5

My Reviews

I never rated DD. I saw as a fun 2 player coin muncher but the novelty soon wore off.

But in its day it was massive.

I still think DDII on the NES is excellent and DDIV doesn't get anywhere near as much love as I think it should.

I've not played Neo yet, and have still yet to play Super on SNES. Will probably play them both later in the year.

Sudden urge to mention how much I loved Vigilante, another game I borrowed but never owned. What a time to be alive.

I've got the cart, might fire up the Micro at some point. Or play on the PS Mini.

Might start First Samurai tonight.

I found Double Dragon as pleasant an experience as being Jimmy Lee's girlfriend.

Have you tried Combatribes? It's basically a parody by the Double Dragon creators no longer giving any fucks.

Undercover Cops on MAME is worth a look - if only because one of the main characters is a professor of philosophy.

Time_on_my_hands wrote:

Have you tried Combatribes?

Only for a typical five minute ROM boot up. Didn't seem worth bothering with, is it?

Not yet. I'm up to level two in the SNES one. I don't mind a good train stage so I'll have another attempt before I move on.

Cool, I might give it more time then.

I played a bit of Renegade last week, found it really tough.

retroking1981 wrote:

Cool, I might give it more time then.

I played a bit of Renegade last week, found it really tough.

Renegade was nails. If I recall it had a left/ right attack option without needing to turn for crowd control, that was put back in for either DD2 ir 3 (can't remember off the top of my head).
Seemed an interesting mechanic that I haven't seen used very often.

Fair summary.

Heh, looking forward to it now.