Thoughts on Double Dragon (SMS)

Back in the late 80s, when Sega's Master System was competing with Nintendo's NES for America's video game dollars, Sega scored something of a coup when it came out with the first two-player cooperative version of the arcade hit Double Dragon. Of course, the NES had its own version of Double Dragon, but the NES version differed from the arcade in numerous ways. Not the least of these differences was that it was single player only. For many Double Dragon lovers, this was blasphemy - the game was called Double Dragon for a reason. Accordingly, I imagine Sega sold a few Master Systems to Double Dragon diehards on this basis alone. NES owners would not get a two-player cooperative Double Dragon experience until the release of the sequel on that console, Double Dragon II: The Revenge.

Not being a big multiplayer fan, I've always liked the NES Double Dragon. The gameplay was solid, and I loved the mechanic in that version whereby you gain new moves as you progress through the game. That being said, I was always curious about the SMS version. I never owned an SMS as a kid (then again, neither did very many Americans according to the sales data). Recently, I bought a Power Base Converter, which allows you to play Master System games on the Sega Genesis. One of the first SMS games I bought was Double Dragon.

Well, I can finally say that I did not miss much. The game follows the arcade version very closely, with the same stages, music, and, of course, two-player cooperative action. Nonetheless, the Double Dragon feeling is missing. The controls are not as responsive as they should be. Because the SMS controllers only have two buttons, you have to press them simultaneously to jump. This was also in the NES version, but it seemed to be better implemented there. The feel is simply wrong. The biggest problem, though, is with the graphics. The amount of sprite flicker is incredibly annoying, to the point of making the game almost unplayable. Your character and the enemies blink in and out of existence constantly. Aside from the flicker, the graphics are simply worse than the NES version, despite the SMS having graphically superior hardware.

Overall, I give this version of Double Dragon a 3/10.