Last month we looked at Streets of Rage — Sega’s 1991 masterpiece of the beat ’em up genre, with Yuzo Koshiro’s extraordinary soundtrack and three of gaming’s most satisfying playable characters. The natural question is: where did Streets of Rage come from? The answer is Double Dragon.
Double Dragon arrived in Japanese arcades in April 1987. It was developed by Technōs Japan, distributed internationally by Taito, and created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto — a designer who had already made Renegade, the game that first brought the street-fighting brawler to arcades. Double Dragon was conceived as a spiritual successor to Renegade, with one crucial addition: two players, fighting together, side by side.
That decision changed everything.
Yoshihisa Kishimoto and the Enter the Dragon Brief
Kishimoto conceived the idea for Double Dragon on July 20, 1986 — the 13th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death. The influence was explicit: the game’s title references Enter the Dragon, Lee’s final film. The characters Billy and Jimmy Lee carry his surname. The martial arts framework, the urban setting, the sense of two men moving through a hostile world using their bodies as weapons — all of it traces back to the Hong Kong martial arts films of the 1970s.
Renegade had established the belt-scroll brawler format — a game where you moved along a scrolling street, fighting enemies who attacked from all sides. But Renegade was a one-player game, and its levels were arena-based rather than continuously scrolling. Kishimoto’s ambition for Double Dragon was considerably larger: a cinematic side-scrolling adventure that felt like being in an action film, with a friend by your side.
The co-operative two-player mode was the game’s defining innovation. Not taking turns, not split-screen — both players on the same screen, fighting the same enemies, moving through the same world simultaneously. It sounds obvious now. In 1987 it was extraordinary. The arcade cabinet had two sets of controls facing the same screen. You could see your friend next to you. You could hit him if you wanted. You could hit the same enemy at the same time and feel the combined impact. You were, genuinely, doing this together.
The Weapons and the Moves
Renegade had given players the ability to pick up and use weapons. Double Dragon expanded this into a central mechanic. Enemies entered carrying baseball bats, knives, whips, and oil drums. Knock the weapon from their hands and you could pick it up. The bat that was being used against you became the bat you used against them. The power dynamic shifted in a single button press.
The move set was also the most sophisticated in the genre to that point. Elbow strikes, jump kicks, hair grabs followed by knee strikes — a vocabulary of combat that felt genuinely earned rather than just button-mashing. The elbow strike in particular became iconic: step beside an enemy, press the button, watch them crumple. Clean, decisive, satisfying in a way that basic punches rarely are.
The game was technically ambitious to the point of causing its own problems. The hardware was plagued with notorious slowdown that occurred whenever a large number of fighters appeared on screen — a consequence of pushing the arcade hardware harder than it was comfortable with. Nobody cared. The slowdown was part of the experience. When four enemies surrounded you and the screen stuttered, it was practically cinematic.
The Twist Ending
If two players reached the end of Double Dragon together — having fought through four missions side by side, having survived every enemy the Black Warriors could throw at them — the game rewarded them by making them fight each other. The rescued girlfriend, Marian, stood in the background while Billy and Jimmy Lee faced off. One of them would win. One of them would go home with Marian. The other would not.
This was either a brilliant piece of game design or an outrage, depending on who you ask. The argument for it: it gave the co-operative mode genuine stakes, a built-in climax that turned allies into rivals, and a payoff that rewarded the better player rather than just the one who happened to press the final button. The argument against it: you and your friend had just spent money cooperating, and the game was now actively trying to destroy your friendship.
Both arguments are correct. That’s what made it memorable.
The Home Conversions
Double Dragon was ported to almost everything, with wildly varying results. The NES version — developed by Technōs themselves — made the controversial decision to remove the two-player co-operative mode entirely, replacing it with alternating play. The reason was technical: Technōs were relatively inexperienced with NES development and couldn’t get two simultaneous players working satisfactorily. To compensate, Jimmy Lee became the final boss rather than a second playable character. The game was longer and had a progression system to make up for the missing co-op. It sold enormously.
The Commodore 64 version, handled by Melbourne House, retained the co-op mode and is fondly remembered — the music in particular holds up. The Amiga version was more impressive technically. The Master System version was solid. The Atari 2600 version, released at the very end of that console’s commercial life, is a curiosity rather than a recommendation.
The Game Boy version deserves a mention for historical reasons: it exists, it is Double Dragon on a Game Boy, and it demonstrates that some ports are exercises in optimism.
The Genre It Created
Double Dragon didn’t invent the beat ’em up — Renegade predated it, and earlier games had elements of the genre. What Double Dragon did was codify it. The conventions it established — co-operative two-player play, usable weapons, continuously scrolling urban environments, a kidnapped character as narrative motivation, a final boss with genuine weight — became the template that every subsequent beat ’em up followed.
Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, TMNT, The Simpsons Arcade Game, Battletoads — all of them are playing by rules that Double Dragon wrote. Sega’s designers who built Streets of Rage in 1991 had Double Dragon in mind. The genre’s golden age, from roughly 1987 to 1994, exists because Double Dragon proved the concept and provided the blueprint.
Technōs Japan filed for bankruptcy in 1996, the rights passing through various hands until Arc System Works acquired them in 2015. Double Dragon Revive was released in October 2025 for all current platforms — the latest in a series of attempts to bring the franchise forward. The most successful modern entry remains Double Dragon Neon from 2012, which played the nostalgia angle with genuine wit. Double Dragon IV, released in 2017, was more divisive.
The S&M Question
It would be dishonest not to note what Streets of Rage and Double Dragon share beyond their genre. Both games feature female enemies with whips. Both have a certain leather-and-chains aesthetic running through their villain design. Linda, Double Dragon’s whip-wielding female grunt, set a template that the genre returned to repeatedly. Whether this says something meaningful about the genre’s design sensibility or is simply a reflection of the martial arts and action films that inspired it is a question best left to the reader. The whip is, at least, a practical weapon in a scrolling brawler. Very satisfying to pick up and use against the person who was just using it on you.
Where to Play It Now
The arcade original is available via MAME emulation — the definitive version, including the two-player co-op and the twist ending. The NES version is on Nintendo Switch Online. The Mega Drive version is available physically and emulated. Double Dragon Advance for Game Boy Advance is widely regarded as the best home version of the original game and is accessible via emulation.
Double Dragon Revive (2025) is available on all current platforms and is the most approachable modern entry point.
Check Double Dragon Revive on Amazon UK
Looking Back is a monthly series revisiting games that mattered. Last month: Streets of Rage (1991). Next month: Sensible Soccer (1992). For more on classic gaming, see our Best Retro Consoles 2026 guide.
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