Double Dragon returns in January. Here's everything you need to know about Double Dragon 4...
Developer Arc System Works are releasing Double Dragon 4; the first numeric sequel to the franchise since Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone launched in 1990. The game comes just in time for the 30th anniversary of Double Dragon's arcade release.
Double Dragon 4 is set to debut on PlayStation 4 and PC on January 29, 2017, but you can get a taste of what's to come by watching the teaser trailer included below:
Arc has recently launched a website, which provides lots of details for its belated sequel. First, there's a traditional story mode, which continues the story of Double Dragon II: The Revenge, where Billy and Jimmy fought against the evil gangland boss, Willy (stop sniggering at the back). In addition, there's a two-player battle mode, which, as it sounds, allows two players to fight each other, either as Billy and Jimmy or as enemy characters unlocked by playing the story campaign.
A tower mode puts players in a reprise of Bruce Lee's unfinished film, Game of Death: the goal is to fight through multiple floors of an enemy building, defeating as many goons as you can along the way. Again, playing this mode will unlock more characters for the battle mode mentioned above.
There's lots more detail on the website itself, including a PlayStation 4-exclusive share play mode.
Arc System Works is, perhaps, best known for their work on the Guilty Gear series, but since Double Dragon developer Technos Japan went out of business in 1996, they have held the official rights to the historic 2D brawler franchise. For the most part, they've focused on ports and remakes of the original Double Dragoninstallments, but this latest endeavor looks to officially continue the epic adventures of street martial artists Billy and Jimmy.
They will not be alone in this effort as many key members of the original Double Dragon development team will be along for the ride in order to ensure that Double Dragon 4 maintains the series' excellence. So far, director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, designer Koji Ogata, programmer Kei Oyama, composer Kazunaka Yamane, and producer Takaomi Kaneko are all confirmed to be a part of this project.
The return of the game's original creators, as well as the brief glimpses of gameplay we see near the end of Double Dragon 4's teaser trailer, makes it clear that this will be a pure, retro Double Dragon game. In series tradition, that means you can expect, punishing traps, brutal bosses, a two-player duel modes, and a spin kick maneuver that your brother can get to work all of the time but you still struggle with even though he insists that there is a trick to it that he won't tell you.
Sorry...got a little reminiscent there.
