Double Dragon Neon

[Jonny2x4]

That aside, I might get something thrown at me for saying this, but I kinda like the character designs, for DD Neon. Seeing as I shared my thoughts on the Neo-Geo DD designs, I figured I’d do it again, here:

The palette-swap style just looks too silly on 3D models. I know it's supposed to be a throwback to the original arcade game, but that was a product of 1987 hardware limitations and it's pretty obvious that Technos wanted to distinguish the Lee brothers by differentiating their designs a bit more than that.

Williams is quite well translated, from his NES DD1 appearance. No complaints, there.

Roper seems to be a tribute to Jim Kelly. He looks a lot like Mr Jones, from RoTD, who was himself likely a tribute to Mr Kelly. The thing is, Kelly didn't play Roper, in Enter the Dragon. He was Williams!

I always thought the black variants of Williams in the arcade version always looked a bit like Jim Kelly, but since there aren't that many of them (especially compared to the black Rowpers), it's not really that noticeable.

[Dan Druff]

This is the current build of Double Dragon Neon http://youtu.be/ygwkXEEFChI
Again, not being on iPhone already makes this game better than Double Dragon iPhone.

[Swainy]

Double Dragon in space?

[Jonny2x4]

This is the current build of Double Dragon Neon http://youtu.be/ygwkXEEFChI
Again, not being on iPhone already makes this game better than Double Dragon iPhone.

Can't argue with that, but I would've liked something a lot closer to the earlier games for Double Dragon's modern console debut, something a lot more subtle than in-your-face 80's nostalgia. You have to admit the iPhone version had some pretty good sprite work though (one of the artists was even a former KOF guy) and high-resolution renditions of those designs would've been awesome. The few concept illustrations for Double Dragon Neon don't actually look that bad to be honest, but the transition to 3D aren't doing them any favors.

Judging from that video (and others that I saw), I'm hoping there'll be more enemy variety in the final game than just Williams, Linda, Abobo and whoever the black guy is supposed to be (it might be Rowper, but since they never give him a name it could be an original character for all we know), since that's all we see in the demo.

Mr. Kishimoto is promoting Neon on his personal site, but I'm not sure whether he's actually involved in the game's development or just showing support.

Double Dragon in space?

I get the impression that WayForward wanted to make a Battletoads & Double Dragon remake originally, but only got the rights to the latter, especially considering the lead designer wants a Battletoads DLC.

By the way, am I the only one who doesn't like "Bimmy" jokes? It's pretty annoying that's the only thing most people ever mention about the series nowadays in forums and Youtube comments.

[MysteriousWarrior]

Again, not being on iPhone already makes this game better than Double Dragon iPhone.

Dan, I am going to have to very...very, very veryveryvery, strongly disagree with you.

Clunky controls or not, DDi at least paid respect to the classic franchise we all know and love. And, as Rockman has demonstrated on these forums, with a little bit of ingenuity, the control issue can be circumvented.

What this game does (in just my humble opinion) is take a giant, post ironic, tongue in cheek, look-how-amusing-and-clever-we-are DUMP all over my childhood.

Honestly, this game is just one giant inside joke. The whole time, this Pete Rosky guy is all like "Look, ya see what we did there, eh, eh?!! *wink,wink, nudge,nudge* Ya hear that?! High Fives and Mixed Tapes! This game is so totes the hipster cred!" I wouldn't be surprised if they change the whole soundtrack to dubstep.

What I like most is when he goes, "There are certain things you don't mess with on Double Dragon". Well said, must be that tongue in cheek irony again.

"There are always going to be fans of the old one who are gonna wanna to see what they wanna to see." That's absolutely right, like a game centered on solid Double Dragon gameplay, not an over the top gimmicky, clunky mess. Seriously, R2 to run?...intuitive design choice. You can't polish a turd, nor can you flash a neon light upon it, and try to hide it with ironic mullets and high five action.

Anyway, my impression of Double Dragon thematically is 'The Warriors' mixed evenly with 'Hokuto No ken', not 'Double Dragon' the movie mixed with 'Battletoads'. Seriously, this game should really be called "Battletoads, but with mullets instead of amphibians". And, just one more thing; you are stylistically ripping off of 'Big Trouble in Little China'? Who the hell do you think you are, Mortal Kombat?

Well, my histrionic tirade is finally over. Just my opinion so far. You disagree? I've got one word for ya, "Skullmageddon".

[Swainy]

I've got to agree but I wasn't impressed with the iphone game either. I really do not like the direction that these teams keep taking the franchise. The thing that I loved about the original game was that it wasn't too wacky, it was fairly realistic for its time... Well, as far as beat em ups go

[MysteriousWarrior]

Swainy, don't get me wrong. The iphone Double Dragon was nothing special. It was a a DDA rip off with uninspired levels, bad controls, new enemys that didn't fit at all, but with a decent art direction. Overall it was rather "eh...".

But compared to Neon, oh my god, DDi looks like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! Suddenly, that lackluster game seems to get the rose color treatment.

It's like having a really hideously ugly friend that you keep around you when you want girls to notice you. Even if you are not Ryan Gossling, suddenly you are so much more approachable compared to your friend, Toxie.

Anyway, Neon is basically the new "Megaforce" of games.

[Jonny2x4]

Aside for the graphics, what bothers me the most about Neon is how the game's developers and marketing people barely talk about the actual game system (i.e. the "gameplay"). It's all about how they're "not taking anything seriously" or how the lead developer wants to include a Battletoads DLC. Superficial stuff that barely has anything to do with the play mechanics. Okay, they talked about trading health and reviving fallen partners in 2-Player mode (which would've been kinda cool if it wasn't for the dorky "high five" execution), but other than that it's a huge contrast from Double Dragon Advance, where the lead designer talked about what ideas he implemented from the previous games and what new stuff they added. There's more to making a Double Dragon game than including 80's references and punching Abobos.

Note that taking a standard game feature and giving it a "funny" name (online "bro-op") doesn't count.

[Eddie MountainGoat]

I'm hoping there'll be more enemy variety in the final game than just Williams, Linda, Abobo and whoever the black guy is supposed to be (it might be Rowper, but since they never give him a name it could be an original character for all we know)

Rosky actually specifies that he's Williams.

at 9:27, he says "So you notice the hairpick there actually falls out of the hair of the Williams ..."

Given that he also states that "... you don't mess with any of the original characters," I'm guessing that the guy who actually looks like Williams - and does Williams' job of punching and kidnapping Marian - must be Roper. Either that, or Rosky got it wrong. Somebody spent too much time watching Big Trouble in Little China, and didn't do his Double Dragon homework.

With that said, Skullmageddon does look pretty cool. His multi-armed throne, with the two maidens in red robes, is very BTLC. The window in the background also resembles that of the Emperor's throne room, in the second Death Star. As for the man himself, he seems to be kind of a Lo Pan / Three Storms figure, with Skeletor's head. The net result looks like Yoshimitsu.

The question is, does such a thing really fit, in Double Dragon?

[Jonny2x4]

It's possible they're both variants of Williams, seeing how they're both around when the name "Williams" is displayed (unless the white guy has his own name introduction during the kidnapping sequence), but it would be lame if that's the case (especially if they pull a Battletoads & Double Dragon and make "Roper" a Machine Gun Willy clone again).

Anyway, I've uploaded a comparison photo of Williams and Roper from Double Dragon (specifically their Mission 2 variants from the arcade version) and their namesakes from Enter the Dragon. They're not 100% alike, but they do have some vague similarities (both Williams have a 'fro and the Ropers have similar hair styles too).