Genre: Brawler
Developer: Technos Japan Corp
Publisher: Tradewest, Inc

Squeezing the arcade version's buffet of large character sprites and colorful backgrounds down to something more acceptable to the NES hardware's appetite necessitated a complete re-think. The resulting entree involves totally redrawn backgrounds full of buildings, trees, fences, and mountains-- many of which look positively stellar! The characters are a bit of a let-down though: two colors each, bizarrely-styled, and quite tiny-- barely appetizers!

Like any sound chip, the NES' is hit and miss depending on the genre of the compositions: in this case, the moody arcade tunes take on upgraded ingredients, with the pinch of chord progressions in the second stage's song in particular titillating even the most picky of palates. The game's sound effects are predominantly white noise channel stuff, but still manage to convey the bone-brusing impacts of heavily seasoned punches and kicks.

Punch and kick are assigned to the NES' two buttons, while pressing both causes the player to jump. The imprecise nature of the attacks means that the player often takes damage in an almost random-seeming manner. Three of the game's four stages feature extensive platforming sections, which is neat, although infinitely-repeating sections make progression feel too haphazard. The player's full assortment of moves only unlocks as he obtains points-- a design facet unique to this port.

As a genre, the brawler hadn't quite had enough time in the oven as of the late 80s, as releases like "Vigilante" will attest, and Double Dragon is no exception: it's better than Irem's aforementioned dish, but lacks the exactness of games which later superseded it-- the "Finals Fights" and "Streets of Rages" of the world. This port also lacks a two-player simultaneous mode, which is a huge omission. That said, its tasty soundtrack, savory backgrounds, and interesting moves such as the "hair pull" make it worthwhile as a midnight snack.