Double Dragon Trilogy

The Good
Well of the additions/changes to Double Dragons 1 & 2 in this re-release, the remixes of the theme music are what impressed me the most. I think they did an excellent job of re-producing the music with real guitar, drums, horns and better synths and making it sound like it was produced in the '80s i.e it sounded just like much of the radio music of the '80s(the remix of Double Dragon 2's stage 1 theme has a very obvious likeness to "Easy Lover"[Phillip Bailey & Phil Collins, 1984]).

As for the original Double Dragon content, I think Double Dragon 1 & 2 stand out among the beat-em-ups of the '80s and early '90s. The gameplay differs from the likes of popular games like Final Fight and the Streets of Rage series in that there is more strategy involved. I think you have to be more careful and precise with your attacks to avoid opening yourself up to a counter attack (unless of course you exploit the enemy's main weakness: they're not programmed to anticipate your elbow smash the way they anticipate your baseball bat swing). If you don't learn good strategy, you can end up being continually beaten up and knocked down(which can admittedly be frustrating). I find the gameplay very satisfying though. I also think the realism of it is good. I think the graphics, animation and sound effects help it feel like real gang fighting. It has a very serious feel to it and the realism is especially impressive for 1987 and 1988.

The Bad
I sympathize with those who find the first Double Dragon too tough to like. Unless one resorts to using the elbow smash, it can be really hard to get past the enemies' defenses, especially the giants (the bald one is apparently named Bolo and the one with mohawk named Abobo). The traps in the last stage, the temple, are also very hard to dodge. The second Double Dragon, while much the same in appearance, plays differently, but again there are some frustrating moments e.g trying to land a hit on the bosses.

I also want to acknowledge the treatment of Marian, the victim in both games. It is a bit offensive even if it's only a small portion of each game. So basically the artists have dressed her up as a cheap hooker(I guess the idea being, that's the kind of woman who associates with gangs) and give the players a good look at her bare legs and underwear when she's kidnapped at the start and when she's rescued at the end. I also think that the game makers' solution to the problem of having two men alive at the end of the game, but only one girl, is questionable. As fun as it might be to occasionally play fight with your brother, are Billy & Jimmy Lee so ruthless as to fight to the death right after having beaten the gang together? I think a better solution would've been to have two "Marians" so that each brother can have one, if that's the kind of "gang mentality" they were going with.

Oh and Double Dragon 3 is barely connected to the first two games. Different styles of artwork, animation, gameplay and everything. I feel that if you love or learn to love Double Dragon 1 and 2, you'll probably be very disappointed by Double Dragon 3.

The Bottom Line
It's definitely worth the effort of learning to play, learning how to best use the different martial arts moves. I think that Double Dragon 1 & 2 are still great to play. I think it's also worth getting this re-release of them so you can hear the excellent remixes of the music. Ok, to be fair, the some of the the remixes of the themes from the first Double Dragon, I felt were slightly inferior to the originals, but the excellent remixes of Double Dragon 2's themes completely make up for that.