'Double Dragon Gaiden' Announced With Scott Pilgrim-Inspired Visuals And Gameplay

Wow! I am very happy that they went with this art style rather than SOR4 art style.

@Axlroselm I liked the Streets of Rage 4 art style.

Yes. I will enjoy this.

Quality beat ‘em ups are always welcome! I’ve found that art style is secondary to gameplay with these types of games - I’ve enjoyed cartoony brawlers like Fight n’ Rage just as much as realistic-looking ones like SOR 4. Don’t put style over substance!

I’ll keep an eye out for this one.

Wow now this is fantastic, Double Dragon 4 was a failed 8-Bit attempt and Double Dragon Neon just look too generic looking more like a flash game but this is pure 16-Bit goodness. Goes to show the 16-Bit era art style and gameplay is the best.

This has my interest. Double Dragon deserves the kindve treatment turtles and streets of rage has gotten.

This looks like a dragon skin on Scott Pilgrim, why they can't just make a real Double Dragon game with upgraded visuals of the arcade game?

I mean, this move worked wonders for River City, so it could be very good. But something about this is shouting ""hey look, we can do it too!"

It has a lot of potential, so I'll be keeping an eye on it at the very least.

I swear, Matt McMuscles must be some kind of video game prediction God. Right after he does a video on the Double Dragon series, a new game pops up. Same thing when he did a video on Alan Wake - 2 months later, Alan Wake 2 was announced.

The look is a mixture of Scott Pilgrim with TMNT Shredders Revenge... they should innovate with a more adult graphic and keeping the essence.

Looks great. Wishlisted on Steam!

Looks like a generic indie brawler with no imagination. Hard pass.

Was a big fan of Streets of Red. The art style (if not the colour palette) is similar, chibi-looking, like this.

I'll be picking up a physical of this if it makes it to a standard, non-limited release. I hope it does. DD is a big enough franchise with a strong enough following that it should sell well enough amongst gamers of a certain vintage.

Looks cool! Adding to wish list now.

Judging by the developer, it's going to be subpar at best.

Why does it seem like they keep flipping back and forth between games on which bro is the blond one and which is the dark haired one?

@Gitface Each game is like its own reboot perhaps. I wouldn't be surprise if later on one or both got turn into female in future games, it'll be like Betty and Jimmy or Billy and Jenny or Betty and Jenny.

My switch and PC are ready.

After being shot in stomach during Double Dragon 2 and miraculously surviving, Marion has decided that “if you can’t beat em, join em”.

Scott Pilgrim isn't the first to have these kinds of visuals nor gameplay. It's like saying Harvest Moon has gameplay similar to Stardew Valley.

Despite this obviously being a different take on the DD universe, this does like really good!!

... put it on a disc or cartridge and I'll buy it!

Looks great. I would have preferred a Kunio game specially with this art style, but another good beat'em up is always nice.

Hmm... I'm interested, but I'm not sure how excited I am. I'm a massive fan of the original arcade game - it's literally the first coin-op I was ever excited about - but the sequels never quite capture the essence of it. I like the look of this a bit more than Double Dragon 4 or Neon, but I still hope one day someone makes something that truly feels like an enhanced version of the original.

I have enjoyed the resurgence of beat 'em ups lately. I've started replaying SoR4 and exploring more of the extra content/DLC that I kind of just skimmed when it first came out. That has really enhanced my appreciation for how good the game is. The TMNT one was fun, but for some reason didn't hold my interest. It wasn't bad, and I can't put my finger on what why I haven't gone back to replay it after beating story mode.

Hopefully this has more in common with SoR4 to hold my interest. Looks promising... now I need to figure out where the music in the trailer is from. So recognizable to me, but I can't place it yet.

I hope it plays better than Scott Pilgrim does.

@Daggot I’m in the same boat with the two, for me turtles didn’t have as much content and unlockables to keep me going like streets of rage did. I did love them both tho and put them at the top of the beat ‘em up genre. My favorite beat ‘em up tho is final fight, that I’d love to see a resurge from.

It reminds me more of Shredder's revenge than Scott Pilgrim, still it looks really good and gameplay seem fun. Will keep an eye on this one.

More double dragon is always good, but I wish they retake nes like art style, like more gritty and violent instead of your average anime boy. Double dragon II art cover might be my favorite art cover ever.

Looks great. Secret Base used a very similar art design for their 2014 game "Devil's Dare", which they later ported in 2018 to consoles as "Streets of Red", albeit with a much brighter color palette. Streets of Red had solid, fun gameplay mechanics and some cool ideas that were unique for a Beat 'Em Up and that I'm glad to see are being brought to Double Dragon Gaiden in some form, such as the mission structure. Looking forward to this one.

Looks okay. Might be fun. I would have liked an art direction with closer to realistic proportions like SOR4, but the gameplay looks solid.

Gameplay looks fun but not sold on how the game looks. I’ll definitely take this over DD4 though.

Regarding the Streets of Rage 4 art style, I also was not a fan of the direction they went(in fact, I thought some of their unused concept art was better). However, to their credit, the retro CRT filter largely addressed my issues and I thought it looked wonderful that way. It's worth looking at again for those who may have found SOR4 unappealing and were not aware of the retro filters.

As for this, I think it looks good in some ways, but I also have concerns. I don''t hate the visual design, though I probably would have preferred they just build on Double Dragon Advance, which I think is peak Double Dragon. I'm not sure the tag-team mechanic is something I want in a beat-em-up, so we'll have to see how that turns out. I also find it weird how Marian has yet another version of herself. Based on design only, I am partial to the River City Girls 2 version. Besides that, there's the typical concerns I have regarding general gameplay, screen shake, and other visual effects. I'll definitely want to see a review, but it's definitely interesting to see this as a concept.

I hope the Skeletor bad-guy is the final boss.

Never been one of my favourite beat em series. I just find them to be brutally difficult. Even Double Dragon Neon on the 360 was tough as nails, due to having very few continues if I recall. This does look good though.

ugh they switched the hair colors again. I'm not sold on this one but will look out for reviews. I'm good with River City Girls giving me my Double Dragon fix (Marian FTW).

I mean, it looks far superior to Ark’s own DD4, and that awful Neon game, but that isn’t saying much. Why not just make an outright Kunio game? Wish they’d do something with elements of Super and Advance, imo the best games in the series.

YES! Matt Mcmuscles will be pleased...probably. Also for fans of the genre, Fight N' Rage is getting another physical release this summer!

Surprised no one has said anything about it being a roguelike.

Come on, ASW, just sign off on a high-res port of the GBA game, already.

I'm not a fan of the art style, & the voice overs sound pretty annoying, imo, & are way too frequent.

Looks OK, but Double Dragon Advance is so great, it's a shame it's less well known. I recall I had to import my copy from the US as it never got a PAL release. They should add it to NSO! I actually quite liked Neon too, as it's own thing, has some truly great remixed and original music on the soundtrack which I still listen to now.

I still remember playing the original coin op back in the 80's, when it got frustrating, you could just back elbow your way to the end then fight your friend, good memories!

How about a Double Dragon inspired Double Dragon game instead? I'd much rather have a remaster of Double Dragon Advance, which is still the best Double Dragon game and will probably remain so. They understood what made Double Dragon great. These developers clearly do not.

HELL YES.

Double Dragon is my favorite 2.5D fighting series. This is great news.

It won't stop me from getting the game but... roguelite elements? Bleh...
Glad we are getting a new DD game nonetheless.

@Jireland92: Same here, wouldn't have minded something similiar instead of this artstyle.

@Jireland92

I did too, and would've preferred a DD game with SoR4 art style. I still like the look of this game though. I will take anything I can get at this point.

Yikes, not more overdone "retro"-bait pixelated messes. Come on. This crap's almost literally a dime a dozen on the eShop. With Double Dragon Neon having its exciting art style, Streets of Rage 4 having godtier visuals, and even free-to-play phone games from Korea having amazing live-2D art styles, there's no reason for this tired fad of pixelcrap to continue.

Shame. This could've been fun.

If it's only Local or Online it'll be a hard pass without a massive discount. I was so excited for River City Girls 1 then found out it was Local only, and any Beat 'Em Up today really needs to have both as an option.

@ArcadianLegend99 Tell me about it. I literally just watched his videos, and then this came out. Im not as nostalgic on Double Dragon as many others are, but i am definitely intrigued and I thought the game looked fun. Ill be looking at it a bit more as more details come out.

@Dreamcast2Turbo I think it depends on the game. If it is something that could have never really been done on older 16bit systems - like Dead Cells or the upcoming Sea of Stars - I'm into it. If it's lazy and just going for the "retro"-bait (as you say I like the term!) it's hard pass.

@Axlroselm Yeah why use an artstyle that is actually good and instead turn billy in some twink boy.

I like the animations but that's about it.
It is not as vibrant as River city Girls, Not as gorgeously gritty as SoR4 and it does not have the awesome IP and love put into it as TMNT and it does not have mastered nostaliga fanservice as all of the above.

I'm always down for more Double Dragon. This is yet another style choice but it seems like the gameplay is pretty kinetic and fun. I would like for Way Forward to handle it, but I think the makers of Streets of Red were pretty competent with their game, so we'll just have to see.

I gotta say....
Am I the only getting annoyed with the Pixel art style? Streets of Rage 4 looks fantastic with it's fully rendered hand-drawn graphics that I REALLY wish more Beat-em-ups did that instead of constantly regurgitating the 16-bit look.

Between this, Shredder's Revenge, and River City Girls, it feels played out. I wouldn't be complaining if we saw more variety from the Genre.

Interesting diversion. I loved Double Dragon 4 and its faithful evolution of the previous 8-bit games, both in graphics and combat. In contrast to something like Double Dragon Neon, DDG looks to be a less jarring diversion from the series, preferring to build from and enhance the original DD ethos to try capture a broader audience.

It seems that "oldschool" shaded bitmap art (like the original double dragon arcade game) is slowly becoming extinct.

I don't like this "scott pilgrim" style; only the SoR4 artstyle is worse. They feel cheap(in a 'flash' animation way), life- and soulless. to me, at least.

Man, what would I give for a switch port of Double Dragon Advance and the SFC version of Super Double Dragon. The best DD games to date.

That's actually a good fusion. I am looking fwd to this!

Looks fat ! The earlier bitmaps get alive by cel shading. I love that ❤

@dimi are you a Kunio Kun fan? If not, I find those games feel most like DD. Makes sense, but yeah give em a shot if you haven't.

@Austrian wow. Sounds like it sucks to be you.

@ottoecamn None of those games are 16 bit, but the answer is no.

@Dreamcast2Turbo please tell me more about rad games, connoisseur of free-to-play Korean phone games.

Kinda wish they weren't drawn in SD style.

I know I've already posted in here a couple of times, but even though I'm not thrilled by the graphic style, the gameplay looks super-fun. They even brought back the hyper-knee from DD2, and I think they're going to nail it.

All 3 of their games on Steam have below-average user ratings.
And they've never made an "80" game on MetaCritic yet.

Looks weird but I could go for a Double Dragon rogue-like if it's any good.

looks pretty low effort compared to SOR4.

@LikelySatan

nah dude, I'm fine.
You, on the otherhand, seem to be a very bitter person to get somehow offended by an opinion.

@Austrian not offended, I mean it. Not enjoying things that are cool sucks. I hate the Persona games. That sucks.

@Serpenterror how did DD4 fail ? It was a complete homage and sold well from the looks of it.

This doesn’t look like a winner to me since it came from the dev team that made a mediocre beat ‘em up. Then again it could work, it’s just that this game is more chibi faux retro flash than street wise gritty urban fist-foot combat - seems distracting for a game known to be darker.

@Magrane

Double Dragon definitely felt darker back in the day, and a lot of people wrote off Double Dragon Neon with its flashiness and self-deprecating humor. It was still a very good game. I would've loved to see a darker Double Dragon, maybe in line with Streets of Rage 4, maybe even realistic style graphics, but I still think this new one looks like a lot of fun, and I'm going to try and approach it with an open mind. Then again, it could suck. I really have no idea. I'm cautiously optimistic.

@LikelySatan
ah ok. that's somehow understandable