"The Excellent Guide by John K Harvey/ edited by Cousin Vinnie"
Double Dragon is a video game classic. Almost every gamer over 25 would agree, that this is one of the greatest games of all time. It has a classic storyline, classic looking characters, and classic gameplay. Obviously, Double Dragon was a huge influence on future fighting games: Pit Fighter, Bad Dudes, Streets of Rage, and even the modern classics Street Fighter and Mortal Combat. The 7800 port is a very good one. It did a heck of a lot better at capturing the original gameplay and feel of the arcade game than the NES version, and it is a tricky game to beat...unless you know a secret or two. Thanks to John K. Harvey's excellent work, the following game guide will make this one easy dragon to slay.
COMMON KNOWN STRATEGY:
There's a few things noticeable about gameplay that'll make the game a heck
of a lot speedier.
- If you're going to keep jump-kicking someone repeatedly, they'll
eventually figure it out and hit you back. Never do a straight up repeated
jump-kick attack unless you mix it up with a few regular kicks, unless you are using the next tactic.
- Repeatedly jump-kicking someone never seems to fail if they're coming
onto a screen that's scrolling (i.e., screen scrolls right when you move
right, so everything slows down). This also generally works whenever there
is an invisible "barrier" between you and the next baddie, caused by your
not killing enough thugs to make the screen scroll again. It also works
with killing offscreen baddies, by repeatedly knocking them back offscreen.
Here's the scoop: if your enemy is in front of you, you can seemingly do
endless jump-kicks in a row, until the screen stops scrolling without ever
facing any counter-attack. You have to time it just right, though, and it
generally only works for one enemy at a time, or 2 bunched together.
"***Shadow Boss Tactic***"
If you want to kill the Shadow Boss easier, concentrate your attack on him and ignore his Green Goons. If you defeat him, the Green Goons give up...
- If you're just starting out, a simple technique (but boring) is to scroll
a screen across slowly. In some situations, 4 baddies will appear at once.
However, this is not entirely true. Usually, the bad guys are placed at different frames. So, instead of fighting 4 enemies at once,
you can take them on separately if you "unveil" them one at a time by slowly scrolling the screen.
-You can easily beat the bridge in Level 3 by this simple trick. Instead of attempting to jump over the hole in the bridge, go as far as you can to the top of the screen before you reach the bridge. When you cannot walk any further, do two jump kicks pressing towards the right hand of the screen. You will be able to walk along the grassy path to the left of the bridge!!! Sweet and Easy!!
***You get more points for whuppin the Shadow Boss's 3 green goons, though
you don't have to kill then to finish the game.***
LITTLE-KNOWN STRATEGY:
Here's some little known tactics that will make this game a breeze.
"***The 2 Modes***"
Above, three baddies are chasing our hero in "Attack Mode". The key is to shake them off into "Intimidation" mode...making it easier to kill the evil regime.
***Baddies move in 2 modes; "Attack mode" and "Intimidation mode". To
discern from the 2 is easy. Just go to the top of a screen and hold "up"
on your controller. Those who keep moving are in "Intimidation mode".
Those who are standing still are in "Attack mode". Bad guys in "Attack Mode" can counter-attack if attacked. Those in "Intimidation mode" can be sucker-punched (or kicked). To move characters
into "Intimidation mode", just wiggle the joystick around until the bad guys start walking around aimlessly instead of chasing you. You should always try to get the bad guys in "Intimidation Mode", because they are defenseless and easy to kill. This is a useful technique to prevent 4 baddies from
picking on you at once, and to get them into a position to be easily taken
down***
- The over-the-shoulder technique; In my mind, this is the most powerful
attack. One hit always takes them down. To better facilitate this
technique, find a good hard wall, stand about 1.5 character lengths away
from it, facing away from it, and force the enemy into "intimidation mode".
When this happens, just keep over-the-shoulder attacking the baddie, and
they'll hit the wall, and get up right behind you, where another blow is
inevitable before they can retaliate. An enemy can be taken out in less
than 10 seconds with this technique. There are lots of screens with useful
side walls, including the final scene with the shadow boss.
- The knife; Your best friend. If you see someone with a knife, or know
that someone is coming on-screen soon with one, stay near the top of the
screen. When you see them, hold the joystick up. Jiggle it to get them
into "intimidation mode", and then hit them with a good solid kick.
Prevent the baddie from picking it up again later, by jiggling the joystick
(putting them in "Intimidation Mode"), and then pick up the knife. As an
interesting note, you can still kick when you have the knife. Don't throw
the knife away, but instead kick everyone. Normal baddies will be down in
2-3 hits, and big baddies will take 4. And they'll always be knowcked down
by even a standing kick. Also, you'll get 500 points for each kick
(whenever you're holding a weapon, regardless of what attack you use, you
always get the amount of points attributed to that particular weapon).
KNOWN GLITCHES:
"***The Box Bug***"
Williams may be a 400 hitter, but he forgot his bat when it came to the moment of truth.
***A bug with the Release Box***
***There's a picture on the box with a caption "Williams is a 400 hitter.
Avoid his lumber or he'll swat your melon into the cheap seats". There is
no bat available at this portion of the game***
From Digital Press:
- "Walk in mid-air: On mission 3, when the computer moves your character
over to the 2nd half of the level, push UP. You will go to the
top of the screen!"
(I believe this is what you're talking about) To add to this, if you kill
off the first 4 baddies, you can go left to the climbing wall, climb about
halfway up it, press left, and eventually, you'll appear on the right hand
side of the screen! This puts you in a place you don't have the ability to
enter (i.e. the scrolling stops before you get this far right, generally).
I just found this one out tonight! It's a major bug, i.e. a gamestopper.
If you kill one of the bosses, and then jump off of a cliff to kill
yourself, but haven't completely died and been restored yet (the easiest
place to try this is at the end of Mission 2, but I've done it after
mission 4 as well), then the funky "you made it" music will play, and
you'll start the next mission. The problem is, you'll have zero health,
"***An Abobo Boo-Boo***"
The bug happens right after this scene, where you fight the two big green guys at the end of mission 3.
and can no longer move your character, because he is effectively dead! The
time still counts down. If you wait for it to time out, it'll expire and
say "Time over", which would generally kill you, but the timer will just
reset to its default starting time, and nothing else will happen. You're
an eternal zombie!
The second glitch to note occurs on the "Invade the Enemy Base" mission...When you're fighting the 2 big green men
("Abobo"), if you didn't scroll too far to the right, you should still be
able to see the cut-in-stone ladder that you climbed to get up to the level
you're at. Go back and descend it. Try to get a green guy to follow you.
When he comes down the ladder, there are no graphics defined for big-guys
climbing ladders, so the graphics pointer actually ends up pointing to
graphics of the little green guy. It's a weird thing to see, but it
doesn't screw up the game.
Cousin Vinnie would like to thank John K Harvey for his excellent information, which made up 90% of this guide. Also, many thanks goes to Mitch Orman of the 7800 Page for three screen shots of the guide. His site rules!
