| paleface [sys=NES; cat=Beat_em_up; reg=NA] |
| | | Ah, man, I love this game. It couldn't match the arcade version for graphical punch, but Technos Japan really had a way with cute tough-guy sprites on the NES. Instead of having all the moves from the get-go like you do in the arcade version, they chose to string things out a bit by keeping moves hidden until you hit a certain combat level (ie until you've wasted enough low-level goons). But eventually the intricacies of such moves as the reverse elbow and the sit-on-them-and-punch-their-face will be revealed to you, and you will be one bad-ass post-apocalyptic punk.
Doesn't actually have two-player co-op, which is a real shame; the added "battle mode" thing doesn't make up for the loss. I also hate the stalactite-dropping cave platform sequences toward the end, but then again Technos seems to have included some sort of annoying platforming sequence like that in all of the DD platformers I've played (even the superlative PCE CD sequel--see entry 505). |
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Playing through Technos Japan's 1988 NES port of their 1987 arcade beat-em-up, "Double Dragon," in the emulator Mesen in Windows! The game runs at 30 fps.
Had this game back in the day as a kid, when I was a huge fan of the arcade game, and liked this version, too--but I don't think I ever beat it; and playing through now with cheat codes, I *think* the furthest part I fuzzily remembered was somewhere around the 6 Rowper encounter at the top of the rock wall climb near the start of Mission 4; after that is a platforming teleport door maze that I don't think I remembered at all.
I don't know if it was because I'm using my own dump of the game, but Mesen's built-in Infinite Lives cheat-- EEUTLZZE (Game Genie)--did NOT work for me, and in fact limited me to ONE life (worse than the default 3!!)! OOPS.
So once I realized I was messed up with that, I tried to save scum, which sucked anyway, but was also moot because I also soon after hit the time up GAME OVER. ; D
That was a bit of the way through Mission 3, so rather than start over (which hm the first two missions took just 10 minutes so I might as well have ; D), I used Mesen's "Start on Mission 3" cheat to get back to close to where I'd been up to--but that one's touchy: turn it off too soon and the game starts to stream in Mission 1 midway in Mission 3, which becomes unplayable; turn it off too late and the game will load you back into Mission 3 rather than advancing to Mission 4 (I ended up turning it off right before the final door of Mission 3).
By that time I'd imported a fresh, working Infinite Lives cheat-- 0043:04 (Standard format; "Custom" in Mesen), from https://gamehacking.org/game/29402 --and also applied Mesen's "Infinite time" cheat. These two cheats were working swimmingly until the very end of the game, when it locked up with the final room repeated awkwardly halfway across the screen, instead of returning to the main menu!
Fortunately, turning off all cheats and reloading the save state right before the end scene finale allowed the game to end "normally"--although I did notice the main menu afterwards had no background music, unlike the main menu at the start; not sure if that's normal. = P
So, a cheaty mess by me! But still a darn fun game. ; D At the moment it's still calling to me more than the arcade version, which seems weird! But also awesome. The platforming parts in this actually aren't all THAT bad once you realize you have to jump past the respawning jerks in the teleport door platforming bit; and also once you work out the teleports in the caves of mission 3, which aren't tooooo complicated really.
Not sure I'll ever get through those last two missions with the non-cheat default 3 lives, but heck, beat em ups SHOULD have infinite lives and infinite time anyway, that's how they pretty much work in the arcade, that's what they're based on, durnit! So yes that's my excuse for cheating the heck out of it. ; D
The elbow--one of the later moves to "unlock" in the funky level-up system inserted into the NES version--feels maybe slightly less cheap than in the arcade game, but still pretty cheap. The two high-kick moves are too easily dodged by the AI and kind of make the game HARDER; the FAQ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/563405-double-dragon/faqs/23206 advises learning to kick from max range, which will use the normal third kick--the one the AI can't crouch under--rather than the high kicks.
Forgot how much the quasi-fighting-game MODE B sucks. ; D I guess maybe they put that in because they didn't manage to do two-player co-op in the beat-em-up mode.
The music rules.
Oh, that '50s hairdo Technos Japan likes is the pompadour. ^ _^ |
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