Like a (Double) Dragon
Modus Games and Secret Base are teaming up to beat Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons right into our faces this summer.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons brings back the brothers Lee, as well as a couple more dragons to make quadruple dragons. Marian joins the brothers, after becoming tired of bad guys constantly carrying her off. Meanwhile, I hope Uncle Matin is actually their uncle. There’s reportedly going to be a total of 13 playable characters, but the gameplay only supports two-player local coop. That’s probably a bummer for a lot of people, but I’m okay with it. I don’t like playing games with people who are out of Charlie Horse range.
The big combat change here is that it’s all “tag team combat.” You select two characters and can switch between them freely. There are co-op combos and other moves to pull off between your pair.
Secret Base is best known for Streets of Red: Devil’s Dare Deluxe. They’re applying a twist to the main campaign of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons. You select the order you’ll tackle the levels, and that will affect the length and difficulty of the following stages. You can also gain cash by performing special KOs and upgrade your fighter.
This is, by my count, the dozenth return of the series following 2012’s Double Dragon Neon and 2017’s Double Dragon IV. Secret Base seems to be bringing their own style to the series, so it should stand out from other revivals. I dig the art style, and the animations really pop.
We won’t have to wait long, as Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons releases this summer on Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
