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Post by derboo on Mar 7, 2016 4:55:07 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/doubledragon/doubledragon.htmHardcore Gaming 101 takes on the Lee brothers, but to avoid biting off more than we can chew we're gonna spread the fight out across the entire month. Check back every Monday this March to find us brawling our way through the series. For now we're starting with the initial two arcade classics and their many mutations across multiple platforms.
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Post by ranzor on Mar 7, 2016 10:02:01 GMT -5
Cool side bars. Is every article getting them from now on?
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Post by derboo on Mar 7, 2016 12:20:40 GMT -5
Not every article - it depends on whether or not we can think of an appropriate image that's representative enough but not too distrating, and also the size of the article. (There have been a few in the past, btw., including some retrofitted older ones, like Space Harrier, Castle of Shikigami, pre-SF2 fighting games and one or two more.)
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Post by Elvin Atombender on Mar 7, 2016 12:58:07 GMT -5
A notable thing about the first C64 conversion (other than being very bad) is that the programmers discussed some of the technical aspects of the conversion in a note written at the end of the manual (you can see it here): BTW, great article so far!
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Post by llj on Mar 7, 2016 13:25:00 GMT -5
It is a shame the Genesis port sucked control wise. It really does look great. Although the sound in it is pretty bad, and 60% of Double Dragon's appeal is the awesome soundtrack.
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Post by alphex on Mar 7, 2016 15:39:33 GMT -5
YES.
YES.
Thanks a lot for doing an article on this series!
This is gonna be my goodnight read for today. I see you mentioned Trilogy getting rid of the slowdown - which IMO is an incredible improvement over the original. But I'll see whether you agreed with that or not tonight :3
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Post by drpepperfan on Mar 7, 2016 16:59:54 GMT -5
Oh this is wonderful. Love the in-depth articles on franchises like this. Especially when they discuss the insane number of ports in depth. I'm certainly looking forward to the rest. ESPECIALLY Wander of the Dragons.
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Post by alphex on Mar 7, 2016 18:52:52 GMT -5
Beforehand: Excuse me if any of these points may seem pedantical in nature, it's just, well, I love the series, so little things pop out more to me than it would be the case with, say, an article on Tomb Raider. -Thanks for mentioning the Ocean version of DD1 having actual music - I was not aware of that, and these chiptune renditions are awesome! -I also was not aware of the XBox version actually fixing the slowdown and having updated graphics. The remix of the title theme is not exactly stellar, though. -I think even on hard, the Trilogy release is easier than the arcade originals. I remember bosses taking way less hits. -In the Japanese Famicom release of DD2, you could fight the final boss on all difficulty settings, had continues, and the notorious platforming segments were easier, too. See TCRF for details. -Double Dragon 2 introduced the spinning kick, arguably the most popular special move of the series, so to say "the available moves are mostly the same, except for the removal of the headbutt" is a bit misleading. -No mention of the stage 1 song of DD2 being a ripoff off Easy Lover either? -I kinda miss statements about the quality of the game itself for the Arcade and NES version of DD2? I mean, I am aware that they are fun, but the article doesn't do much to indicate whether the game itself is good or not, especially for the NES version. -"However, the Amiga version justifies its existence thanks to the great chiptune music alone, even if it's only one melody playing the entire game." - are Amiga tunes really chiptunes? -The PC version of DD2 is barely playable or rather, beatable, as the AI is incredibly aggressive. There is a playthrough on Youtube if you're curious. -"The PC Engine CD version by Naxat Soft is surprisingly modeled closely after the NES game, from the exact same levels" - they are not "the exact same levels". You fight about 4 guys before you go up the ladder in the NES version; the PC Engine version throws in a lot more enemies and footwork for that part. They are similiar, but not identical. Also, since that game is upcoming: The Game Gear DD game has, for some reason, various nods to the US band Skid Row, with the first stage being called Skid Row, a background painting reading SKIDS using the font of the band's logo, and a ship with the sign BASTIAN BACH on it - Sebastian Bach was Skid Row's lead singer at the time of the game's release. The game also features obvious tracings of the Terminator 1 movie poster in the subway level, and the pic between levels seems straight outta Karate Kid.
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Post by magic89 on Mar 7, 2016 19:33:27 GMT -5
I rymenber playing a lot DD2 on one NES clone on my childhood, gotta love it that music durning last boss. but most memorably moment in series are 2 boss on NES Double Dragon. You just climb down on ladder you used before AND BAM you win without fight. Its kinda olso ironic when i find out on Double Dragon Wikia 2 boss are Chin Taimei Double Dragon 2 Boss appears Chin Taimei.FACE ME! if you wanna see your girlfriend alive! (Billy lee climbs down) Chin Taimai.HEY COME BACK HERE IM NOT DONE WITH YOU YET! Double Dragon III Billy Lee with his brother Jimmy beat all thugs inside capin somewere in china (Chin Seimei enter cabin) Chin Seimei.I have waited for this moment for a long time, Lee Brothers. What's wrong? Don't you remember me? I'll remind you....Before I destroy you. You killed my brother in your battle with the Shadow Warriors. Now get ready to feel the force of my revenge. My Kung Fu is without Equal. Jimmy Lee.Brother you killed that man brother HOW DARE YOU! Billy Lee.No ive swear im not killed him, i just climb down and goes directly to stage 3 Jimmy.Suicide? Billy.Most likely Chin Seimei.Ahem can you just stop chit-chat and fight me? Bimmy & Jimmy NO! (and Skip to next level by Hold Start and press A + B)
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Lord Dalek
Full Member
WHY DOES HE HAVE A SECOND/THIRD/FORTH/ETC. FORM?!?!
Posts: 249
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Post by Lord Dalek on Mar 8, 2016 11:08:42 GMT -5
OH MY GOD YES! I've been waiting for a Double Dragon article for a long while.
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Post by derboo on Mar 8, 2016 11:20:57 GMT -5
-Double Dragon 2 introduced the spinning kick, arguably the most popular special move of the series, so to say "the available moves are mostly the same, except for the removal of the headbutt" is a bit misleading. Darn, of course! Somehow my brain assigned that do Double Dragon 3 when compiling the article. Obviously, I'm gonna need to fix this before posting the next part. -"However, the Amiga version justifies its existence thanks to the great chiptune music alone, even if it's only one melody playing the entire game." - are Amiga tunes really chiptunes? Technically it's tracker music, but people use the term "chiptune" interchangeably for tracker music that is made to sound like chiptunes. -"The PC Engine CD version by Naxat Soft is surprisingly modeled closely after the NES game, from the exact same levels" - they are not "the exact same levels". You fight about 4 guys before you go up the ladder in the NES version; the PC Engine version throws in a lot more enemies and footwork for that part. They are similiar, but not identical. Yeah, that was phrased poorly...
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Post by windfisch on Mar 8, 2016 11:41:15 GMT -5
Wow, this looks huge! And in terms of design I like the sidebars.
However, the color palette for the Gameboy screenshots does not look good. I appreciate the effort to mimic the original harware, but the palette feels wrong (e.g. the brightest hue should be a lot closer to yellow) and is lacking contrast in general. I prefer the usual black and white greyscale screenshots instead of experiments like this. Unfortunately this also applies to other articles (like the one for the Gradius series). Any chance this might be changed in the future?
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Post by derboo on Mar 8, 2016 11:53:18 GMT -5
The colors of the pixels themselves are correct (well, according to one very specific contrast setting on the device - or was that dial called "brightness"?), but they are made to look darker because they lack the space in between that lets them "breathe". Short of actually fiddling with retroarch filters that simulate that look, like I mean to do /someday/ since years ago (although those undoubtedly come with the downside of not scaling well to thumbnail size), I still vastly prefer these over the "better looking" grey palettes, so the only thing that can change them to that is a policy hammer from Kurt coming down upon me.
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Post by lanceboyle94 on Mar 8, 2016 15:24:41 GMT -5
-I also was not aware of the XBox version actually fixing the slowdown and having updated graphics. The remix of the title theme is not exactly stellar, though. Also interesting about that port is that the emulation itself is based off of MAME, even moreso as one of the lead programmers was MAME creator Nicola Salmoria, who had already worked with Empire beforehand on the two Taito Legends games (which were also based off of MAME, except for the PS2 version of Legends 2, as that one was developed by Taito instead and was like the Taito Memories titles) Also, since that game is upcoming: The Game Gear DD game has, for some reason, various nods to the US band Skid Row, with the first stage being called Skid Row, a background painting reading SKIDS using the font of the band's logo, and a ship with the sign BASTIAN BACH on it - Sebastian Bach was Skid Row's lead singer at the time of the game's release. The game also features obvious tracings of the Terminator 1 movie poster in the subway level, and the pic between levels seems straight outta Karate Kid. I'm not sure if the Terminator one is a stolen one, as at the time this one was released, Virgin had released a Terminator game on Sega systems, and since that stage has ads for other Virgin-published games, it's likely that the Terminator there was an ad for that game.
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Post by derboo on Mar 8, 2016 15:39:49 GMT -5
Also, since that game is upcoming: The Game Gear DD game has, for some reason, various nods to the US band Skid Row, with the first stage being called Skid Row, a background painting reading SKIDS using the font of the band's logo, and a ship with the sign BASTIAN BACH on it - Sebastian Bach was Skid Row's lead singer at the time of the game's release. The first boss IS Sebastian Bach.
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