Sorry guys, I havent checked here in about 6 months, but after seeing this I thought I had to register and share my story.
This past XMAS day, I went to visit my parents in Melbourne. I decided to show them the present that my sexy santa had given me. As I connected the 360, the Kinnect and the Samsung LED 3D tv together, I explained that I was showing them the FUTURE of video games, something that would blow their mind.
Once I set it up, I realised I could control the dashboard with my hand. My hand seemed to involuntarily move over to "games" - then Double Dragon (yes, that 2006 "HD" XBLA version that you cant get anymore).
I waited for it... waited for it.. and boom!
"Oh no, not double dragon! havent you forgotten about that yet?!" cried Mum
"That's as old as the hills!" said Dad.
My mother then recounted the story:
I wouldve been 7 years old in the summer of 87 when my parents were taking my brother and I up and down the east coast of Australia on one of many long road trips.
I still remember the first time I laid eyes on DD in the fish n chip shop. I was struck by the sight of such a brutal and realisitc orgy of gang violence on the screen. It was so ahead of its time. And until then, I had taken NO interest in games.
I had to play it. and again. and again. and again. It was all I could think about. EVERYTIME we approached a town, I would ask "do they have double dragon here? can we stop and check?"
I begged my parents to let me stay in Queensland, as there was no Double Dragon back in Melbourne!
"If its in Queensland, Im sure we can find it in Melbourne." I was told.
And they werent wrong. Much to my delight, it had popped up everywhere within the next few months. every arcade, milk bar(convenience store), fish n chip shop (cheap takeway burgers etc) had it.
I was perplexed by the different versions, noting the subtle differences between different bootleg versions (I remember a nasty version that had a very fast time limit - unlike the official version in which it was pointless)
The Milk Bar near my house didnt get it, but soon after I talked the owner's ear off about how cool it was, forcing him to at least enquire about it - the WWF Wrestlemania? board had been changed for DD. And for the next few months, all my pocket money went into that fricken lake under the broken bridge, or the pillars coming out of the wall, or an a bad day - the spears.
I always hated it when some punk kid would walk up, put his 40c in and proceed to beat me to death. I tried to avoid that particular shop.
Perhaps my best DD memory was when I went to my friends house. His mother was quite unstable (and later took her own life as a result - god rest her soul). We told her about double dragon, and she drove us down to the 7/11. there were 2 kids playing DD. She walked right up to them and said "here's $10 boys, piss off and buy yourselves a pack of smokes." The other $10 she gave to us. What's $10 divided by 40c anyone?
Soon after, we learnt the elbow move. We realised how incredibly short and easy the game really was and it lost some of its appeal.
My parents realised they were onto something - that video games could keep this crazy ADHD kid under control for a while! Thats when the AMIGA 500 came for xmas. Despite their rigid moral code, my parents were only too happy to take me to random houses of shady characters I had looked up in the local trading post selling AMIGA games for $3.50 each.
And what a dissapointment DD was when it finally came on the Amiga! candidate for the worst arcade conversion ever. strange thing to do, converting a C64 back up to the Amiga
Still better than DD3 Arcade though, haha.
One day I saw DD2. Twice actually. Whatever happenned to that game? To this day I still love DD2. Particularly the excellent PC and AMIGA conversions. I remember having an argument with my friend, who later stole my DD2 PC floppies out of my school desk (which I had got at a school Feyte(carnival) and proceeded to piss on the disks and scratch them with scissors.
And to everyones amazement, they still worked! Could never do the spin kick with just one joystick button tho.
Needless to say, I am still a huge fan. Ihave my own cocktail mame machine, which is constantly on DD2.
What Id really love to know is any info on how the game was designed / programmed. I heard there was an interview with the creator in a French mag last year. did anyone get that translated?
Also - as for DD forever - keep that shit coming! thats the shit dreams are made of!
I have actually asked my Dad about that - he is a contract lawyer. He claims there is no way in hell the current copyright owners could / would bother suing somebody for propety that you (nor they for that matter) are making no money on, especially a small company on the other side of the world! Please keep it up.
I hope someone is still out there.
-Richie