Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Return of Double Dragon


The retro gaming scene has certainly gotten more interesting over the past few years.  Aside from digital re-releases and compilations, some old games have actually been re-manufactured or reprinted for their original consoles.  For instance, Capcom re-released Street Fighter II: The World Warrior for the SNES last year (see here: https://nintendoeverything.com/capcom-iam8bit-re-releasing-street-fighter-ii-on-snes/), and some other companies have been seeking to do the same.


About a few months ago I heard that Arc System Works would be doing an American reprint of Return of Double Dragon, the Japanese version of Super Double Dragon.  Back in 1992, Japan received their own more complete version of Super Double Dragon with additional stages and moves, as well as different music and menu options.  However, even this version was actually incomplete compared to the original plans for the game (the designer planned on having way more content in the game, especially story wise).  Many Double Dragon fans, however, argued that Return of Double Dragon was better of the two versions, but in general, Super Famicom games will not work on an American SNES.

I've never been an import gamer, and probably never will be, but when Arc System Works said they would release Return of Double Dragon in a reproduction SNES cartridge by and through Retroism, I decided to jump in for the $50 price tag.  The game actually comes in a red cartridge, but it doesn't bare the official SNES logo.  The box itself also didn't arrive sealed (it wasn't shrinkwrapped), but it did come with a tiny instruction manual.  I have no idea if this reprint will be worth anything in the future, but maybe I can post a playthrough on my Youtube channel sometime to go with my Super Double Dragon playthrough.