Double Dragon Advance Review (no fat)

Game Description

New York City is filled with crime, once again. Jimmy and Billy Lee are showing people how to fend for themselves in a martial arts facility. Then, suddenly, they become aware of the fact that Billy’s angel, Marian, has been taken away by the dreaded Shadow Warrior coalition. The Lee Brothers pick up an envelope with a horrible letter inside: “If you want Marian back, bring us the secret book of Sou-Setsu-Ken” The Shadow Warriors. There’s not much thinking to do about this problem. So, of course they ‘take it outside’, to the streets…once again.

Double Dragon Advance Gameplay

Kick, punch, and jump, same old thing here. You will not be surprised by anything in this game. You can still run and jump a double-tap to the left or right. There is one new feature. While your foes are taking a nap you can push both attack buttons to crush their torso under your boots. Or you can mount them and give them a nice bum-rush to the face. The Easy Mode could be a bit more on the easy side of things.

Sifting through the new weapons available in Double Dragon Advance, you can play with kali sticks, a mace, or an axe. As always, you can thrash and stab with the whip, bat, and knife. While it’s funny to walk around with the axe or mace in the streets, the opponents don’t look too pretty afterwards either.

Sometimes you just have to stick with your hand-to-hand skills. There’s still a bit of delay from the controls to when the punch or kick actually takes place but it has improved in this version. The physics also get an extra boost and the people seem to have added a few pounds.

Double Dragon Advance Sights and Sounds

You have to love watching Shadow Warriors bend over and cough some blood while you give them a good drop kick. Classic animation is the cornerstone of Double Dragon games…the tunes are still pretty similar too. They might get stuck in your head.

You’ll recognize some of the background streets and hot places around downtown from the older games…

Double Dragon Advance Technicalities

This isn’t quite like the arcade where your best efforts are saved and displayed for everyone to see. As soon as you turn off the system all your scores will be gone forever. It’s not too long of a stroll through the streets, but you should be able to take down all the grunts once you realize their shifty ways and you master your own strengths and weaknesses.

There’s also a Double Dragon Dojo Survival Mode that appears once you finish the game. See how long you can go against a never ending stream of fools.

Double Dragon Advance Summing Up

Don’t worry about getting whipped the first few times you play it. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough, and the Shadow Warriors are not so tough once you have a couple hours of bashing under your belt.

Yet another clone coming to the Gameboy Advance. Double Dragon is a great game, so just go get the originals instead of funding a rehash.

Double Dragon Advance Cost

Double Dragon Advance is a rare entry to the series, so if you want it, you'd better be ready to open your wallet wide. Found on eBay on e-tailers, you may be lucky to find this game for under $60.00US.