Double Dragon for Atari 2600

[King Atari]

I agree it looks crappy because you can't just plug it in and run through it, but if you take the time to learn the combat and you take into consideration when it was made and for what platform, it's actually solid.

 

This is correct. The difficulty is high, they crammed a few too many moves into a cart with a single-button limitation, and the sprites, or more specifically their attacks, are just way too small, but 2600 Double Dragon is actually more playable than it's often given credit for. The pace is far more deliberate than other versions and there's certainly a steep learning curve (and I can't imagine making much headway with a stock 2600 joystick), but it's beatable. My method was to stick mainly with kicks, and attack the enemy while moving downwards (you have to be moving downwards to trigger the kick anyway), occasionally busting out a jump kick in order to net some breathing room. You have to be vigilant, and there's a lot attack-and-retreat here, but there's actually a weird, playable method to 2600 DD's madness.

 

I'm a Double Dragon series fanatic, so I get an honest kick out of the 2600 version. No one will ever claim it to be the most accessible or authentic port out there, but the very fact it's on a 1977 console in an even remotely recognizable form is nothing short of amazing. The interactive nature of the levels is of course missing, but many of the backgrounds actually mimic the stages found in the original coin-op, which is a nice touch. And the fact they got the simultaneous two-player action in is a real feather in the game's cap. (Yeah, it's a bit of cheat with players being relegated to the top and bottom of the screen, but hey, still counts!)

 

Honestly, had they toned the difficulty down and edited the number of attacks in order to compensate for only having one fire button (a punch or kick when fire is pressed and a jump kick with up + fire would have sufficed, IMO), I think there'd be a kinder general reaction to the game. As it stands, sure, it's more of a curiosity than anything, and by all means it's a port that shouldn't have happened, but if nothing else, it's a reminder of just how popular DD was in the late-80s that even the 2600 had to get an adaption!

Edited February 6, 2018 by King Atari

[MrBeefy]

It is definitely ambitious.

[CDS Games]

My method was to stick mainly with kicks, and attack the enemy while moving downwards (you have to be moving downwards to trigger the kick anyway), occasionally busting out a jump kick in order to net some breathing room. You have to be vigilant, and there's a lot attack-and-retreat here, but there's actually a weird, playable method to 2600 DD's madness.

 

Exactly. If you are moving down and kicking at the same time, the enemy will follow you down and walk right into your kick. Jump kicks are good to close the distance, and if you jump kick right on top of the guy and get the timing right you can throw an elbow right as he's getting up again.

 

The programmer(s) did some phenomenal work with the backgrounds...the whole scenery above the street is a complicated mix of playfield graphics, background colors, and the two sprites placed and copied in various combinations, since they weren't needed up above the players. The program gives you a great deal of flexibility in terms of scenery.

[CDS Games]

I can't shake this feeling that we're witnessing the beginnings of some revisionist history here. ha

 

LOL....call it a reappraisal rather than revisionism. Kevin and I have both spent a lot of time under the hood hacking this one. Not only seeing how the game works and the graphics but also playing it over and over and over again in the course of testing.

[MrBeefy]

What about making it work with a genesis controller? That would at least add a button.

[KevinMos3]

I love your arcade hack; it breathes new life into one of my favourite 2600 games....

If I could get the Atari custom cart with an Activision case I'd totally order it, especially since you created the awesome labels.

 

Thank you! You can put the AtariAge boards into Activision shells, but you need to glue them in, since they don't match up with the plastic holders the same as Atari shells.

 

 

...The difficulty is high... The pace is far more deliberate than other versions and there's certainly a steep learning curve (and I can't imagine making much headway with a stock 2600 joystick), but it's beatable...

 

The first time I finally played all the way through was with an emulator on the XBOX using save-states. The difficulty for me then, was running out of time because I would stay at the left side of the screen and attack. I was later able to beat it using a D-Pad with my actual Atari and after I mastered that, the joystick wasn't hard to use either. I just had to adjust my technique a bit (I would rotate the joystick in circles to make sure I was getting the diagonals right, since that precision is a little different than a D-Pad).

 

 

 

LOL....call it a reappraisal rather than revisionism. Kevin and I have both spent a lot of time under the hood hacking this one. Not only seeing how the game works and the graphics but also playing it over and over and over again in the course of testing.

 

Very true. It wasn't until I started my hack, that I really got good at the game. I've played it so much that my satisfaction from beating it shifted from just completing it to seeing how high I could milk the score.

 

 

What about making it work with a genesis controller? That would at least add a button.

 

Already done. A good while ago too. I don't remember if it was Omegamatrix or Nukey that first did it, but it's included in the disassembly in the zip file I linked to earlier in my hacks thread. There's also a rom of it and disassembly in the 2-button hacks thread.

[MrBeefy]

 

Thank you! You can put the AtariAge boards into Activision shells, but you need to glue them in, since they don't match up with the plastic holders the same as Atari shells.

 

 

 

The first time I finally played all the way through was with an emulator on the XBOX using save-states. The difficulty for me then, was running out of time because I would stay at the left side of the screen and attack. I was later able to beat it using a D-Pad with my actual Atari and after I mastered that, the joystick wasn't hard to use either. I just had to adjust my technique a bit (I would rotate the joystick in circles to make sure I was getting the diagonals right, since that precision is a little different than a D-Pad).

 

 

 

Very true. It wasn't until I started my hack, that I really got good at the game. I've played it so much that my satisfaction from beating it shifted from just completing it to seeing how high I could milk the score.

 

 

 

Already done. A good while ago too. I don't remember if it was Omegamatrix or Nukey that first did it, but it's included in the disassembly in the zip file I linked to earlier in my hacks thread. There's also a rom of it and disassembly in the 2-button hacks thread.

See I'd rather spend my money on a good repo than the original.

[vidak]

Yeah me too.

[KevinMos3]

See I'd rather spend my money on a good repo than the original.

Yeah me too.

 

Me three...

Except my copy is the one I got as a kid, which I was wanting and drooling over for at least a year before receiving as a present (don't remember if it was birthday or Christmas though). I was disappointed by the way it played, but still impressed with the graphics.

 

I didn't like the plain label as a kid, so I drew my own label with pen/pencil/markers to look like the Double Dragon III logo for the NES, (since I had an ad with that artwork to look at). I at least had enough sense to not permanently attach it though, (I stuck it on with some really small pieces of tape), and eventually removed it. Anyway, I still have that cart with box and manual after all these years.

[CDS Games]

I didn't like the plain label as a kid, so I drew my own label with pen/pencil/markers to look like the Double Dragon III logo for the NES, (since I had an ad with that artwork to look at). I at least had enough sense to not permanently attach it though, (I stuck it on with some really small pieces of tape), and eventually removed it. Anyway, I still have that cart with box and manual after all these years.

 

Great story!! Makes your work on it that much more meaningful.