A good Double Dragon fighting game? The story of Rage of the Dragons.

In the previous blog I talked about how EXA-Arcadia was rereleasing / remastering Daraku Tenchi: The Fallen Angels, and Rage of the Dragons W for the arcade. I mentioned “the godfather” of brawling games was Double Dragon in 1987. It had inspired the creation of Rage of the Dragons, a fighting game from 2002. A little more on that in just a moment. Technōs essentially launched the brawling game genre, and influenced the fighting game genre as well. Despite being important to game history they were incapable of creating a sequel that was as influential as the first game. Not long after Capcom released Final Fight, Konami released Vendetta, and Sega released Streets of Rage. Each was essentially a better version of Double Dragon. In fact post 1989 there were dozens of great titles which were superior to Double Dragon in every regard.

The sequels to Double Dragon failed because in my book they did not innovate the format. The studio played it safe, and made only marginal changes to the game. Worse yet they looked for ways to make arcade players pay more money through micro transactions. In the early ‘90s the arcade market had shifted. Fighting games were the hottest titles, and brawlers had taken a back seat. The biggest hits of the entire decade all came out within three years; Street Fighter II (1991), Fatal Fury (1991), Art of Fighting (1992), Mortal Kombat (1992), Virtua Fighter (1993), Tekken (1994), Primal Rage (1994), Vampire / Darkstalkers (1994), and Killer Instinct (1994). By the middle of the decade it was hard to break in with a new fighter. That was exactly when Technōs decided to throw their hat into the ring. Had Technōs released a Double Dragon fighting game four years earlier then it would be more relevant today.

The mistakes of Technōs could be understood through their fighting game. Being slow to market was one of the biggest issues. Double Dragon (the fighting game) was similar to the hundreds of other titles out in 1995. There were two main characters Jimmy, and Billy Lee. They studied the fictional Sousetsuken “Twin Sever Fist” style of fighting. The Japanese, and western lead characters with their own trademark fighting style had also been seen with Ken / Ryu (Street Fighter), Kazuya / Paul (Tekken), Akira / Jacky (Virtua Fighter), Ryo / Robert (Art of Fighting). Granted Billy, and Jimmy were the ones that started the trend. Double Dragon also had the token big guy, girl, strange character, etc which had been pulled from the franchise. The sprites were large, and colorful. They were not unlike the sprites, and cast of Street Fighter II which was something that other studios had also poached.

Technōs didn’t realize their visual presentation was becoming dated. It took them too long to bring a game to market. Having a recognizable brand, and going through the motions was not enough. Other studios were trying out bold new ideas in the early ‘90s. In order to stand out from the crowd it wasn’t enough to have bigger, or slightly more colorful sprites. Sega had polygon models, Namco had textured polygons. Rare had SGI workstations creating sprites that looked like computer graphics. Midway used live action footage, and Atari used stop motion figures. On top of everything the popular aesthetic, the art style was shifting. There was a blending of western comic book formats, and Japanese anime in a new sprite art form. Capcom designer BENGUS broke the mold in 1995 with Street Fighter Zero / Alpha.

The game was amazing given that a number of the staff that worked on Street Fighter II left Capcom to join SNK,a nd ARIKA. Noritaka Funamizu, and the remaining team at Capcom was able to create something amazing with a bare bones staff in a relatively short amount of time. The large cartoonish sprites designed by BENGUS were revolutionary. The entire industry had to respond. I would argue that SNK’s first counter were the sprites featured in Real Bout: Fatal Fury Special from 1997. The game featured sprites which were touched up, and made more colorful from those featured in the previous Real Bout game from 1995. That was a small step for their art department. The actual response to Street Fighter Zero was seen in Garou Mark of the Wolves. The fan favorite game from 1999 had a style, and presentation that was close to BENGUS, but still had the classic SNK fingerprints all over it. The sprites, and character designs that Technōs featured in Double Dragon in 1995 simply didn’t capture audiences in the ways that the Capcom sprites did. A few years later there would be another chance to get it right.

The developers at Noise Factory was not happy with the version of Daraku Tenchi: The Fallen Angels that was published by Psikyo in 1998. They did not have the time, or money to develop an upgrade kit either. Arcade business was slowing down globally at the end of the ‘90s. Any arcade title that was published had to be more polished right out the gate, rarely did any studio have a chance to release upgrades for arcade operators. While they couldn’t go back, and add more content to the Fallen Angels, they did think there was a chance to make a sequel to the 1995 fighting game inspired by the ill-fated live action movie. The history of Rage of the Dragons was unique. It was created by Noise Factory, and BrezzaSoft for the NEO GEO. BreezaSoft was founded by Eikichi Kawasaki, who also founded SNK. What made it truly unique was that it was designed by the Mexican studio Evoga.

Unfortunately they couldn’t get the rights to the Double Dragon characters or name. Million was made up of former Technōs employees, they were sitting on the rights, and didn’t seem eager to strike a deal. To make negotiations more difficult SNK was going through a bankruptcy at around the same time. South Korean developers Eolith were hired to help finish a few projects. Steel Hearts team members helped SNK as well. They figured out that they could move forward with their own game if they slightly changed the names. Billy, and Jimmy’s last name went from Lee to Lewis. The girlfriend Marion became Mariah, Abobo became Abubo, etc. This didn’t stop Million from filing a legal challenge. Fans of the franchise could tell what this new fighting game was actually based on. To set it apart from the earlier game it was made a tag-team fighter. Visually the team at Evoga was able to find a perfect blend of the style of Street Fighter Zero, and Garou Mark of the Wolves. In just about every regard it was superior to the fighter from ’95. Sadly Rage of the Dragons just didn’t have the balance, and game play of the more popular titles. It was rarely seen in arcades, and didn’t build too much of a following.

I was happy that EXA-Arcadia was going to give the titles by Steel Hearts another go. I hoped that the developers would reunite to add some polish, and perhaps add a few more features to the games. Rollback anyone? Maybe, just maybe this would help them get to modern consoles sooner, rather than later. Of course I want to know if you played any of the Steel Hearts games. Or did you play any of the classic Double Dragon games? Did you have a favorite? I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

The Fallen Angels, and Rage of the Dragons. Two rare fighting games get a second chance in arcades!

The EVO tournament in Japan at the end of April 2024 had a few gems announced. I talked a little bit about Fatal Fury City of the Wolves not too long ago. There were a couple of other announcements by EXA-Arcadia that surprised me. In case you weren’t familiar with the company, they created arcade boards mostly on fighting games. They handled mostly small indy studio releases, and not big titles like those from Capcom, or SNK. Even though arcades weren’t as big as they were in the ‘80s, and ’90s there was still a market for them, and EXA-Arcadia was filling it. They said that they were working on getting The Fallen Angels Revenge (Directors Cut) exclusively for the arcades.

Daraku Tenchi: The Fallen Angels (1998) was one of the most important fighting games of all-time, not for what was delivered, but for how ambitious it was. Developers Steel Hearts spent three years, and untold amounts of money trying to make the highest quality sprite based game ever made. It was going to be even visually more impressive than Street Fighter III, and superior to the work that went into SNK’s Dot graphics for KOF XII. I wrote a two-part blog detailing the game. The Fallen Angels, part 1 and The Fallen Angels, part 2. Sadly the game published by Psikyo lacked polish, and balance. It was embraced not too long ago by the fighting game community when ROMS turned up for emulators. The idea that the directors wanted to finish their masterpiece after a 26 year pause was nothing short of inspiring. That wasn’t the only bomb dropped at EVO.

Rage of the Dragons W was slated to be a rerelease of a rare arcade fighter. I had never done a deep dive on the game for this blog, but I did point out several characters in various posts. I wrote a little bit about Pepe, and Pupa as part of the history of Capoeira in fighting games. I talked about Jae-Mo Kang when looking at fat fighting game characters. I talked about Abubo Rao when talking about the origins of giants in fighting games. Lastly Mr. Jones was mentioned as being a caricature of Back martial arts movie stars like Jim Kelly, and Ron Van Clief. In order to understand the importance of Rage of the Dragons in the history of fighting games then we have to put it in context. Rage of the Dragons was a fighting game homage to Double Dragon, the foundation of the brawling genre.

I cannot understate how important Double Dragon was to the history of brawlers, as well as fighting games. The template for Double Dragon was Nekketsu Kouha Kuniou-Kun aka Renegade by Technōs of Japan. That and Takashi Nishiyama of Irem / Capcom / SNK / DIMPS deserved all of the flowers. They put brawlers, and fighting games on the map. There would be no Final Fight, or Street Fighter II if Double Dragon had not been a massive hit. A fighting game with a storytelling narrative was revolutionary at the time. We wouldn’t have the modern gems like Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, or Mortal Kombat 1 if not for the seeds that Technōs planted in 1986. Unfortunately for them they didn’t understand how game sequels needed to evolve. They retreaded the same ground with Double Dragon II, and III, which were stale when compared to Final Fight. When fighting games were taking off in the early ‘90s Technōs decided to stage a comeback.

Technōs created a fighting game for SNK’s popular NEO GEO arcade platform. Visually the game was impressive. The sprites were absolutely massive. The game engine was capable of scaling in, and out of the action similar to the Art of Fighting. This made the experience feel bigger, and better than the various Street Fighter II upgrades. Unfortunately for Technōs, it turned out that game play, balance, and control meant much more to audiences than graphics alone. People might be attracted to the game if it looked nicer than the other titles, but if it played like trash then people would never return to it. The release of this game coincided with the development of an animated series for the US, as well as a comic book, and even live action movie. This multi-pronged marketing strategy was great in theory.

By hitting every form of entertainment the company would remind the US that Double Dragon was the original arcade fighting hit. It predated Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, and every other title out there. Except for Karate Champ, and Kung-Fu Master of course. Double Dragon should be at the top of the mountain of fighting entertainment. We should have Billy, and Jimmy Lee in our vocabulary as much as we have Ryu, Kazuya, Terry, Kyo, or Scorpion as popular characters whenever we discussed fighting games. The thing about the saturation of Double Dragon in the early ‘90s was that there was no consistency. The cartoon was decent, but it seemed to have nothing to do with the comics, which also didn’t really follow the story of the arcade games. It was as if there was no bible, no consensus that any of the studios had when creating their projects.

The absolute worst of the lot was the Double Dragon movie. It wasn’t the worst video game movie ever made, it was among one of the worst movies ever made period. It had a decent-sized budget for a small studio film. It had lots of money for sets, makeup, practical, and special effects. It was directed by James Yukich. Mr. Yukich made his mark directing music videos for some of the biggest acts in the ‘80s, including Michael Jackson, Cheap Trick, Gloria Estefan, and Phil Collins. It had a strong visual language, but that all fell apart when it came to the writing, and acting. It was written by Michael Davis, and Peter Gould. Mr. Gould would work on Breaking Bad many years later, showing that he had some actual chops. Mr. Davis on the other hand I would argue was the person that really stunk up the project.

Indy films, cartoons, and new comics would often get screened at the monthly Los Angeles comic book convention at the Shrine Auditorium, next to the USC campus. My brothers, friends, and I made the trip circa 1994 when we found out they would be previewing the Double Dragon movie. They would also have a Q&A with the director, writers, and some actors. We were unimpressed with the nonsensical, and silly film set in the post apocalyptic future of 2007. Many people questioned the crew, and we gathered that none of them were really that familiar with the game, or games in general. They thought that they should go off on their own ideas. They were fairly rude, and condescending to many of the questions they received. My big brother asked why the roving gangs didn’t have firearms, even if guns were banned they would still be able to make a a zip gun, or improvised firearm. Mr. Davis told my brother “I doubt that you’re smart enough to make a gun.” Just about everyone in attendance groaned. Needless to say few people stuck around to get a signed poster.

The film was a critical, and commercial flop. As for the Double Dragon franchise, it would be lost just outside the zeitgeist of gaming, and pop culture. It would get remakes from various studios over the years. In different platforms, in different styles, and aesthetics, they would try to recreate the magic of the original arcade hit. These games while well intentioned didn’t really work with audiences. Perhaps because the transition from 2D sprite-based game play to 3D mechanics were difficult to pull off. Or because sprite based brawlers were very niche. Brawling games were popular in the fighting game community, but nowhere near as big as dedicated fighting games were to all audiences. That plus the lack of an arcade scene, the ability to easily have multiplayer on the same screen made it a hard sell.

The 1995 fighting game by Technōs was the perfect example of being too little, too late to the market. I want to talk about this in the next blog. Until then I’d like to hear your thoughts on the Double Dragon series, cartoons, comics, or various sequels. Were you a fan? Have you played any of the games? Tell me about it in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!