Double Dragon

1987 · Beat 'em up · Arcade

Overview

Double Dragon (1987) is Technos Japan's beat-'em-up: Billy and Jimmy Lee fight through city gangs to rescue Marian, with grabs, throws and weapons.

Deep Dive

Brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee brawl through city streets, a factory, a forest and a hideout to rescue Marian from the Black Warriors gang. Grabbing enemies allows knees, headbutts and throws, and dropped baseball bats, whips and knives can be picked up. Two players fight side by side and can hit each other too. Created by Yoshihisa Kishimoto, it turned the side-scrolling beat-'em-up into a commercial force and set up the genre's boom.

Developer Story

Double Dragon was developed by Technos Japan in 1987. Designers Yoshihisa Kishimoto and Koji Ogata created a beat-em-up where two players co-operated to rescue a kidnapped woman. The game's grappling system — grabbing enemies to headbutt or knee them — was a significant mechanical advance over simple punch-kick games. Double Dragon was massively successful and essentially launched the beat-em-up genre as a commercial force.

Did You Know?

Double Dragon allowed two players to fight simultaneously but also to punch each other — accidental friendly fire was common, deliberate betrayal possible.
The grappling system — grabbing an enemy to headbutt, knee, or throw them — gave the game a physicality rare in 1987 arcade games.
Enemies dropped their weapons when knocked down — picking them up gave players access to baseball bats, whips, and knives.
In two-player games, beating the final boss is not the end: the brothers must then fight each other to decide who wins Marian.
Double Dragon directly inspired Streets of Rage, Final Fight, and the entire beat-em-up genre's commercial golden age of 1987–1994.