Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls

Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls

Cover art of the SNES version
Developer(s) Leland Interactive Media (SNES, MD/GEN)
Telegames (Jaguar)
Publisher(s) Tradewest (SNES, MD/GEN)
Williams Entertainment (Jaguar)
Series Double Dragon
Platform(s) Super NES
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Atari Jaguar
Release date(s)

SNES

  • NA: August 5, 1994
  • EU: July 10, 1994[1]

Mega Drive/Genesis

Jaguar

Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s) Single player
Cooperative

Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls is a 1994 American-produced sequel to Technōs Japan's Double Dragon series.[4] Unlike the previously produced Double Dragon games, Technōs had little or no credited involvement in the development of the game outside of licensing the series' name to publisher Tradewest (the publisher of the first NES version of Double Dragon and the Super NES title Super Double Dragon). Instead, the game was developed by Leland Interactive Media, a subsidiary of Tradewest. Unlike the previous games, which were side-scrolling fighting action games or beat-em-ups, Shadow Falls is a head-to-head fighting game based on the animated Double Dragon TV series in the style of Capcom's 1991 arcade-hit Street Fighter II. Technōs would eventually produce its own fighting game based on the Double Dragon movie the following year simply titled Double Dragon for the Neo Geo. Shadow Falls was originally released for the Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, and later released for the Atari Jaguar by Telegames (publisher of the Atari Lynx version of the first Double Dragon) in 1995.

Gameplay

The game follows the 8-way directional pad/stick with the 6-button layout common to most fighting games (including Street Fighter II), which at the time consisted of weak, medium and strong punches and kicks. The Genesis version supports the standard 3-button controller (making use of the start button to toggle between punches and kicks), as well as the 6-button controller released the previous year. The characters have several special moves, as well as finishing moves called "Overkills" where the losing character has their own unique death animation when they are defeated by a certain type of basic attack.

The game features four game modes: Tournament, Vs. Battle, Quest and Watch Mode. Tournament is an arcade-style single player mode, where the player competes against a series of computer-controlled opponents, with each character having their own ending. Vs. Battle is a two player mode where one player battles another. Quest is an alternate single player mode where one competes in a series of plot-based battles. In Quest Mode, the player can choose to play as one of the Lee brothers, who are on a mission to stop the Shadow Master from releasing a plague, or play as one of the Shadow Warriors, who must compete to replace the Shadow Master. The player can also alter the storyline by having Billy be the Shadow Boss while Jimmy is good. In Quest Mode, the player can also adjust the attributes of their own character. Watch Mode allows the player to pit two computer-controlled characters against each other. There is also a Dossiers mode, where the player gets to view the game's character profiles, as well as an Options mode to adjust the difficulty setting, control configuration and other features.

Characters

Shadow Falls has a character roster of twelve fighters - ten immediately playable characters (the two "Double Dragons" and eight Shadow Warriors) and two end bosses. Many of the characters are taken from the Double Dragon animated series that aired during the game's release. Only Bones, Sekka, Blade, and Dominique are original characters, with Blade's design being based on the generic Shadow Warrior soldiers who were on the show. Dominique and the Shadow Master are playable in the Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis versions via a code. In the Jaguar version, Blade, Trigger Happy, and Icepick were removed, and Dominique was added to the immediate roster.

The Double Dragons

The Shadow Warriors

Reception

The original release for the SNES generally received mixed reviews. GamePro described the game as an unoriginal but competent Street Fighter II clone with good character sprites and a variety of options.[5] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly commented that the game would appeal to younger gamers with its cartoon style and easy-to-perform moves, but summarized it as a strictly average entry among the many fighting games on the market. They scored it a 5.25 out of 10.[6] The Super NES version also received scores of 5.75 out of 10 from Game Informer and 3.1/5 from Nintendo Power.[7]

The Sega Genesis version received a rating of 2/10 from Sega-16.[8]

The later Atari Jaguar version received generally negative reviews. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly unanimously agreed that the game is better than the Jaguar's previous fighting games (Kasumi Ninja and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) but substandard in absolute terms. Their chief criticisms were that the Jaguar version has the same graphics and audio as the by-then outdated SNES version, and has far worse controls, with the use of the Jaguar controller's number pad making it almost impossible to execute special attacks.[9] GamePro's reviewer expressed little problem with the controls but still panned the game, criticizing the "headache-inducing music" and arguing that it is unacceptable for a game which was graphically average even on 16-bit systems to be ported to a 64-bit system with no enhancements aside from the backgrounds.[10] A reviewer for Next Generation stated that "while the 12 characters in the game have some theoretically interesting designs, the art is flat and the animation is stilted at best." He also concurred that the background improvements in the Jaguar version were not enough to make the game's graphics better than mediocre, and gave it two out of five stars.[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls Release Information for Super Nintendo". GameFAQs. 2015-09-01. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  2. ↑ "Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls Release Information for Genesis". GameFAQs. 1994-08-01. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  3. ↑ "Double Dragon V Release Information for Jaguar". GameFAQs. 1995-04-01. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  4. ↑ "Retro Review of Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls," Game Informer 174 (October 2007): 134.
  5. ↑ "ProReview: Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls". GamePro. IDG (61): 54–55. August 1994.
  6. ↑ "Review Crew: Double Dragon V". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Sendai Publishing (60): 33. July 1994.
  7. ↑ "Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls Critic Reviews for Super Nintendo". GameFAQs. 2015-09-01. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  8. ↑ "Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls Critic Reviews for Genesis". GameFAQs. 1994-08-01. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
  9. ↑ "Review Crew: Double Dragon V". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Sendai Publishing (70): 38. May 1995.
  10. ↑ "ProReview: Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls". GamePro. IDG (70): 90. May 1995.
  11. ↑ "Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls". Next Generation. Imagine Media (6): 102. June 1995.
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