There sure were a lot of Double Dragon names and the numbering system got really confusing somewhere along the way. This game is called ‘Double Dragon V’ and as far as I can tell, that’s based on the fact that Super Double Dragon was the fourth game in the series. However, it gets more confusing. For this game the IP was licensed from Technos (the original developers) and developed by Leland Interactive and published by Tradewest. More recently, Technos released a Double Dragon IV that seems to be a direct sequel to Double Dragon II. They might as well stick a random digit after these names.
Double Dragon V was released in 1994 for both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis and the following year for the Atari Jaguar. It is sort of the odd man out among Double Dragon games because it is not a side-scrolling beat-em-up like the previous (and later) games in the series. Instead, it is a 2D fighting game…basically a Street Fighter II clone that tried to capitalize on the 2D fighting game craze of the time. It’s also based on the animated series so it has more of a cartoon look and feel.
The game features a roster of 12 fighters including the two “Double Dragons” and eight Shadow Warriors plus two bosses. Most of the characters come from the animated series though a few original characters are thrown in as well. A couple of the characters can only be accessed via a code on the SNES and Genesis versions while the Jaguar version removed a few characters.
As far as the quality of the game, as you might expect, it is pretty average. There isn’t anything especially wrong with it but it does not stand out from the crowd of 2D fighters. Moves in general are easier to perform on average vs. most similar games though at least one Genesis review claims the special moves are hard to perform. However, because of its relative simplicity and the fact that it was based on the animated series it probably appeals more to a younger crowd.
Unless you are a die-hard 2D fighting game fan I probably wouldn’t recommend this one. If you have a passing interest in 2D fighters there are so many better ones to play. Having said that, if its your favorite genre then you would at least want to give this one a try. As far as I know there aren’t any re-releases so you’ll have to find an original or use emulation. Despite the Jaguar’s superior hardware, the SNES and Genesis version seem to be the best. This was mostly because of the Jaguar’s poor controller and the fact that the Jaguar version was a quick/cheap port that did not improve upon the graphics or sound of the SNES version.
Screen shots above are from the Sega Genesis version of the game.
