It was a chore to play the game to write this review. There is absolutely no reason to even entertain the idea of playing Double Dragon 3. In Closingĭouble Dragon 3 is bad in all of its forms, arcade, NES, UK computers and especially the Sega Genesis. But if you aren’t having fun playing the game why bother? I had to force myself to finish the game for review to give it a fair shake. The game is generous with coins so death doesn’t matter much. Add in the hit detection issues and the aggressive AI and more than likely you will die every minute or so.

By the second level the cheap hits pile up with every punch removing 50 meter chunks. But you will barely notice the difference. The amount of damage they take per hit also varies. All characters start out with different amounts of health, from the Lee Brothers 250 to the Oyama brothers at 375. I wouldn’t even say Double Dragon 3 is difficult it is incredibly cheap. And it is not as if the game needed any more help in that regard. Because of this every exchange results in trading damage, making the game significantly harder. What makes the combat feel even worse than these issues is the removal of the stun animation from enemies. Hits frequently miss even though you are squarely punching an enemy in the face. Beyond the lethargic pace and controls the hit detection is absolutely awful. The controls are sluggish as if the game is running at a sub-optimal framerate. But the game fails even in that basic regard. The only worthwhile purchase is weapons as they make the game a lot easier.Īll of the above flaws could at least be tolerated if the general gameplay was at least functional. New characters function like extra lives and while they are interesting they are just as limited as the Lee brothers. The new moves are not worth it while they look cool executing them is near impossible. These count as continues and while it may sound like you have to make tough choices the game practically showers you in coins. For the home port you have fifteen coins to start and can earn more as you progress. Health, weapons, new moves, credits, and extra characters all of these basic elements of the brawler genre required you to plunk more quarters in the machine. The most controversial aspect of Double Dragon 3 in the arcade was its greedy cash shop. To have some semblance of a move set, including weapons you must purchase them from the game’s shop. While it was frustrating to execute some of the more advanced attacks like the Hyper Knee the variety they added was worth it. The game plays as though they studied Technos earliest brawlers like Renegade rather than the recent Double Dragon titles.

You can dash and perform a running attack and knee downed enemies in the face. All of the basic grappling attacks and throws have been removed, leaving you with basic punches and kicks. The gameplay is a massive regression from the second game. If only we could do the same to our memories of the game.ĭouble Dragon 3 was outsourced to a different developer and apparently Technos had little oversight. It was there on Tuesday and replaced by Friday. Rarely have I ever seen a game disappear from an arcade as fast as Double Dragon 3. She tells them that to face the world’s strongest adversary they must collect the three Rosetta Stones scattered around the world. After traveling around the world training for two years the Lee brothers are meet the fortune teller Hiruko. Somehow the Genesis version is even worse from a gameplay perspective and utterly dreadful.įor the most part the story is largely the same as the NES version. In the arcade the game was especially notable for being egregiously greedy about trying to take your quarters with its micro transactions decades before the term was coined. Both the arcade and NES game are terrible, terrible games with next to no redeeming qualities. Let’s get this out of the way right now Double Dragon 3 is one of the worst beat ‘em ups of all time.

Developer: East Technology Publisher: Flying Edge Released: 1992 Genre: Beat em up

Double dragon 3 review