Double Dragon

Story & Game Mechanics:

Double Dragon is the story of Billy and Jimmy Lee, twin brothers trained in the fighting style of Sou-Setsu-Ken. Together, they manage a small martial arts training school, teaching their students in self-defense. One day, Billy's girlfriend, Marian, is kidnapped off the street by the "Black Warriors", a savage street gang led by a man named Willy. The Black Warriors demand the Lee brothers disclose their martial arts secrets in exchange for Marian's freedom. The Lee brothers set out on a rescue mission to crush the Black Warriors and save Marian.

The game was the spiritual sequel of the earlier Technos game, Renegade (Nekketsu Kouha Kunko-kun), and featured similar game mechanics. The player controls a fighter(s) that travels from left to right, vanquishing enemies with punches and kicks, and can actually maneuver around them due to a an isometric playing field. Both games were primarily developed by Yoshihisa Kishimoto and were inspired by films like 'Enter the Dragon' and 'The Warriors'.

Hardware & Cultural Significance:

Double Dragon's arcade hardware was complex as a cost saving measure. During development in late '86, use of 16-bit CPUs was cost prohibitive (adjusted for inflation, over 300 USD for a 68000). Instead, Technos utilized a low cost clone of the 6809, the Hitachi 8-bit/16-bit hybrid 6309 (adjusted for inflation, about 50 USD) and an embedded Hitachi 63701 micro-controller. A Yamaha YM2151 FM and an OKI MSM5205 were used for sound and voices. In the early days of MAME, this complexity made emulation of the hardware sluggish.

Double Dragon quickly became a ubiquitous sight in shopping mall arcades and the lobbies of theaters and departments stores throughout North America. It can sometimes be seen in the background of films made in the late 1980s when characters travel through a shopping mall or amusement park setting. When the Nintendo & Sega versions were released, they were major sellers for those platforms.