Double Dragon Advance
A 2003 GBA remake of the 1987 arcade classic Double Dragon.
Released in 2003, Double Dragon Advance is a beat 'em up for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Million and published by Atlus. This title reimagines Technōs Japan's 1987 arcade original, pulling in features from later sequels and home ports. A digital rerelease arrived on Steam, PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch on November 8, 2023.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Million
- Publisher
- Atlus
- Designer
- Muneki Ebinuma
- Series
- Double Dragon
- Platforms
- Game Boy Advance
- Release
- November 12, 2003 (NA); March 5, 2004 (JP)
- Genre
- Beat 'em up
- Modes
- Single-played, multiplayer
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The player controls martial arts masters Billy Lee or his brother Jimmy, fighting the Shadow Warriors to rescue Billy's girlfriend Marian. The game supports single-player or two-player co-op via a Game Link Cable. A third mode lets one player control both brothers, switching between them while the other stands idle. Survival Mode tasks the player with defeating as many enemies as possible in a single life. All techniques from the original arcade game return, joined by new moves such as the Hyper Uppercut and Hyper Knee from the NES version of The Revenge, the sit-on-punch from Renegade, and the jump stomp from The Combatribes. New weapons include nunchakus and double kali sticks. Four new stages appear between the original arcade stages: a Chinatown stage, a fight atop a moving truck (both inspired by Super Double Dragon), a cavern stage similar to one from the first NES game, and a fortress before the final stage. Most enemies from the first two arcade games return, along with new ones like the Twin Tigers Hong and Huang, Kikucho, and the Five Emperors led by Raymond. Moves previously unusable against certain enemies, such as the hair-pull on Abobo and Burnov, can now be performed.
Development and release
Muneki Ebinuma, a former Technōs employee who worked on Super Double Dragon and the 1995 Double Dragon, designed Double Dragon Advance. He wanted to honor the original arcade game while fixing what he saw as flaws in his earlier series work. The fighting system mostly follows the arcade original, mixing in ideas from the NES titles and Super Double Dragon. The Japanese version came out four months after the North American release. It has a Sound Test available without a code, a Gallery that appears after beating the game on Expert, and credits that include Bruce Lee and arcade director Yoshihisa Kishimoto. Difficulty was adjusted, some bugs were fixed, and the manual now has character profiles and a combo list.
Reception
Double Dragon Advance received generally positive reviews, with some criticism of its short length. Alex Navarro of GameSpot scored it 8.3, noting that while it may be too fleeting for a long-lasting experience and the additional modes are restrictive, the game remains great fun and worth replaying. Justin Leeper of Game Informer gave it a 9, stating it is no 30-hour marathon but that Atlus added much to an already-excellent beat 'em up. Fans praised it as a superior version of the 1987 classic, but Ebinuma's decision not to develop sequels like Double Dragon Advance II: The Revenge or Double Dragon Advance 3: The Rosetta Stone proved controversial. Instead, elements from those sequels were crammed into this game due to cartridge size and project scope, leading to the excision of planned features such as an extended prologue and modes allowing control of Abobo or Marian.
More in Atlus Games of the 2000s
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