Musing on DD characters’ names

The place to talk everything Double Dragon.

Moderators: Steve Halfpenny, Jonny2x4

User avatar
Eddie MountainGoat
Red Belt
Posts: 102
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:09 am

Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Eddie MountainGoat »

Just thinking about where the Double Dragon characters got their names from. Anybody who has any further insights, please share!

We’ll get the obvious stuff out of the way, first: Williams, Roper, Bolo and O’Hara are all named after characters from “Enter the Dragon.”

The source of the Lee brothers’ surname should also be fairly obvious.

___

THE HEROES:

- Billy is probably named after Bruce Lee’s character in “Game of Death”, Billy Lo.

- There is a character named Jimmy, in “Way of the Dragon”. He serves as the Karate instructor to the good guys, and is initially sceptical of the Kung Fu used by Bruce Lee’s character – and a more than a little antagonistic to Lee. I guess the two have a more NES-like relationship.

- Marian is likely named after Maria Yi, who played the damsel in distress, in “The Big Boss”. The “N” on the end of her name might come from Nora Miao (whose name could also be Japlishised into Marian), who was the leading lady in both “Fist of Fury” and “Way of the Dragon”.

The surname “Kelly” probably comes from Jim Kelly, who played Williams in “Enter the Dragon.”
___

THE VILLAINS:

- Linda was probably named after Bruce Lee’s real-life wife, Linda Lee Cadwell.

- Abobo: Okay, unlike the above characters, this is just me going out on a limb. There is no actor or character in any Bruce Lee movie, named Abobo. My theory is that his name is a Japlishisation, of Mr T.’s A-Team character, B.A. Baracus. It’s not a big jump, from BABa, to Abobo, right?

If I am right on that one, it would seem that it was originally the mohawked boss – not the bald sub-boss – who was meant to be Abobo (see this thread).

[For the record, it’s my thinking now – based on that thread and all the merchandise I’m aware of – that both of them are named Abobo, and that Bolo is the name of the long-haired guy in both NES and arcade DD II.]

- Chin Taimei: Also mentioned in that thread was Jonny2x4’s theory that Chin is a Jackie Chan clone. This would account for his family name, but I don’t know where the name “Taimei” might come from. Any ideas?

- Burnov: I know I’m stretching it with this one, but I think his Russian-sounding name was inspired by the villain Petrov, in “Fist of Fury”.

- Abore: I’ve heard that his name is supposed to be an amalgamation of “Abobo” and either “Andre” (the Giant) or “Arnie” (Schwarzenegger). While the latter certainly seems to be the case for his NES appearance, Abore’s arcade incarnation dresses more like Petrov, and has the facial expression of Colt, in “Way of the Dragon” (the villain played by Chuck Norris). Okay, his face could also be Arnie’s, in “The Terminator”.

- As for Willy and Jeff, I just don’t know. Any suggestions?
mechapop
Red Belt
Posts: 144
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2011 9:01 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA
Contact:

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by mechapop »

I was surprised to read(was it Retro Gamer? I forget) that most the DD characters names were derived from Bruce Lee films. That's why I agree
how lame it was for them to make this fake "80s" Double Dragon Neon game(which didnt even seem 80s, more like a weird futuristic 70s)
Double Dragon wasnt colorful...tho Double Dragon 2 kind of was.

Regarding Abore...second I saw him 24 years ago I knew he was suppose to be based on Arnold; which was a popular cliche
of late 80s arcade games.
http://www.youtube.com/user/badicalpower/videos
(my adult swimlike animated series)
User avatar
Play2win
Black Belt
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:36 pm

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Play2win »

All very interesting theories. Regarding Abore- you are both correct. It's very clearly an Arnold (Schwartzeneger) reference. This connection is referenced in the "I'll be back" achievement in Double Dragon Trilogy for the IOS.

Regarding Jeff, this may be getting a bit abstract, but it is possible that Jeff, as the "fake" immitator of Spike and Hammer, could be a reference to legendary fight coreographer Jeff Imada. Jeff Imada did not have any known direct connection with Bruce Lee, other than through Brandon Lee, but may have been seen by Kishimoto as trying to profit from a "knockoff" of Bruce Lee's patented technique.
May you live hapilly forever...
User avatar
Eddie MountainGoat
Red Belt
Posts: 102
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:09 am

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Eddie MountainGoat »

That’s a pretty good theory. Interestingly, Imada was the stunt coordinator for the live action Double Dragon movie, and they probably named Satori Imada after him (the Lee brothers’ mentor, in the movie).

As for Willy, I think that as a boss character, he may be named after William Dozier; the executive producer (and narrator) of “The Green Hornet” TV series, where Bruce Lee starred as Kato.

Moving on:

DD3:

- Sonny: I think he’s named for Sonny Chiba. Not that he’s really anything like Chiba, however …

- Yagyu Ranzou: Named after the Japanese historical figures, Yagyu Jubei and Hattori Hanzou – both of whom have been portrayed by Sonny Chiba. In particular, Chiba’s performance as Hanzou seems to have influenced Technos’ design (it was also quite influential in Sega’s Shinobi series).

- Chin Seimei: As I’ve said before, I think he’s based on Sammo Hung.
this would back up Johnny2x4's theory ... that Taimei is based on Jackie Chan, given that Hung is Chan's "Big Brother", from their school

___

ARCADE-EXCLUSIVE HEROES:

- Roney Urquidez: Benny “The Jet” Urquidez.

Yes, Roney’s player 2 character, Sunny, was one of the playable wrestlers in Technos’ “The Big Pro Wrestling” (1983, four years before Double Dragon). And yes, in the game’s international port, “Tag Team Wrestling”, there was a playable wrestler named “Spike”.

- Masahiko Oyama: Named after Judo legend Masahiko Kimura, and Karate legend Mas Oyama (who is also thought to be the inspiration behind Streetfighter’s Ryu).

Depending on which port you’re playing, Masahiko’s player 2 is either named Kunio or Nunio. The reference to Technos’ other BEU hero, Kunio Kun, is not exactly subtle.

___

VILLAINS:

- Jim: It’s my thinking that he’s not really named after anybody. Since the original boss’ name and the first hero’s name are just shortened forms of the same name (William), they gave this boss another form of the second hero’s name (James).

- Li Chen Long: Another obvious Bruce Lee reference. What you may not know is that his name seems to be an amalgamation of characters played by Lee:

“Li”, from “Enter the Dragon”;
“Chen Zhen”, from “Fist of Fury”; and
“Tang Lung”, from “Way of the Dragon”.

Note also that in Super / Return of DD, the Chen brothers’ names begin with Li’s given names. Which leads us right into …
___

SUPER / RETURN:

- Baker: Robert Baker, who played Petrov in “Fist of Fury”.

- Carlem: While his appearance and character seems more modelled after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s in “Game of Death” (a dark-skinned giant, wearing sunglasses, who uses the “Leg of Death” technique), his name is from Robert Wall’s character, in the same film: Carl Miller.

(ie. Carl M. = Carlem)
User avatar
Play2win
Black Belt
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:36 pm

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Play2win »

"As for Willy, I think that as a boss character, he may be named after William Dozier; the executive producer (and narrator) of “The Green Hornet” TV series, where Bruce Lee starred as Kato."


Great theory! I found this pic on a classic batman fansite. You have to squint a bit but it definitely looks like Willy!

Also, Double Dragion Wiki's article on Willy lists his last name as "Mackey". Was this ever confirmed from an official source?
May you live hapilly forever...
User avatar
Eddie MountainGoat
Red Belt
Posts: 102
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:09 am

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Eddie MountainGoat »

I have never seen that surname used, in any official Double Dragon game, manual, or media.

Until I do, I won't regard it as canon.

___

More namey goodness:

Guiliano: I recently re-watched "Way of the Dragon". Appropriately enough, Guiliano is a reference to the movie's Italian setting (which, like the Italian mission in DD3, culminated in a showdown in the Colliseum).

Towards the very beginning, when Nora Miao is walking Bruce Lee to the bank, they pass in front of the "GUILIANI CAFFE".

For those that have the DVD, you can see this at 00:15:28 - note that this is the full movie though, not the version trimmed for Western Audiences.

Which leaves us with the Return / Super characters, Jackson, McGuire and Duke.
User avatar
Play2win
Black Belt
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:36 pm

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Play2win »

As to the arcade version of DD3- I'm curious, has this improved anyone's opinion of the game? It appears a lot of these characters' names are very clever references. Therefore, it would seem that if at least some of them are intentional, the developers did put some thought into the game rather than it being the "rush job" a lot of people think it is.
May you live hapilly forever...
User avatar
Eddie MountainGoat
Red Belt
Posts: 102
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:09 am

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Eddie MountainGoat »

Play2win wrote:As to the arcade version of DD3- I'm curious, has this improved anyone's opinion of the game?

Not mine.

There are essentially two issues here: The concept behind the game, and the presentation of the game itself. DD3 Arcade fails, in both respects.

1. CONCEPT:

This is where the characters’ names are relevant. The names might be well thought-out – so perhaps the concept behind them was a good one – but it was largely ditched.

I don’t deny that it’s a concept with some merit: The Double Dragon twins as balanced fighters, teaming up with a Japanese Karateka / Judoka (speed), a Sammo Hung clone (power), and an Urquidez clone (range). The enemies they fight include a Bruce Lee clone, a Sonny Chiba clone and a tribute to the Chuck Norris showdown from “Way of the Dragon”.

By itself, that sounds pretty damn good. It’s a game full of martial arts movie goodness, which seems to fit pretty well into the Double Dragon universe. It’s just not the game we ended up with. All that stuff was shafted to play second-fiddle, to some quest for magic rocks. Honestly, I think whoever planned the script decided to focus more on the original Indiana Jones trilogy:

- The mystical Rosetta stones are more like the Sankara stones from The Temple of Doom, than the actual Rosetta stone;
- The Egyptian setting harkens back to Raiders of the Lost Ark;
- The puzzle room, where you need to step only on the letters that spell out “Rosetta”, is pretty much ripped off from The Last Crusade.

Interestingly, Indy’s love interest in the first (and fourth) film is named Marion – Marian’s spelling, the NES port. Relevant?

In short, it was a good concept, but it wasn’t really put to use.

2. PRESENTATION:

This is more about the final product. Let’s say that the above concept had actually been utilised – DD3 has no magic rocks, no walking trees, no stone golems, no ancient queen … just good ol’ post-apocalyptic brawling.

It would have been a vast improvement. And the game still would have sucked.

Why?

For pretty much every reason we’ve already discussed on these forums. The graphics are bad, the animation is worse, the enemies are cheap, the shop system is highway robbery and worst of all, the gameplay is no fun.
User avatar
Billy Lee
Black Belt
Posts: 207
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2010 2:04 pm

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Billy Lee »

Wow! Great post so far guys. Most of those references seem pretty accurate.
User avatar
Play2win
Black Belt
Posts: 284
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2012 8:36 pm

Re: Musing on DD characters’ names

Post by Play2win »

Eddie MountainGoat wrote:
Play2win wrote:As to the arcade version of DD3- I'm curious, has this improved anyone's opinion of the game?

Not mine.

There are essentially two issues here: The concept behind the game, and the presentation of the game itself. DD3 Arcade fails, in both respects.

1. CONCEPT:

This is where the characters’ names are relevant. The names might be well thought-out – so perhaps the concept behind them was a good one – but it was largely ditched.

I don’t deny that it’s a concept with some merit: The Double Dragon twins as balanced fighters, teaming up with a Japanese Karateka / Judoka (speed), a Sammo Hung clone (power), and an Urquidez clone (range). The enemies they fight include a Bruce Lee clone, a Sonny Chiba clone and a tribute to the Chuck Norris showdown from “Way of the Dragon”.

By itself, that sounds pretty damn good. It’s a game full of martial arts movie goodness, which seems to fit pretty well into the Double Dragon universe. It’s just not the game we ended up with. All that stuff was shafted to play second-fiddle, to some quest for magic rocks. Honestly, I think whoever planned the script decided to focus more on the original Indiana Jones trilogy:

- The mystical Rosetta stones are more like the Sankara stones from The Temple of Doom, than the actual Rosetta stone;
- The Egyptian setting harkens back to Raiders of the Lost Ark;
- The puzzle room, where you need to step only on the letters that spell out “Rosetta”, is pretty much ripped off from The Last Crusade.

Interestingly, Indy’s love interest in the first (and fourth) film is named Marion – Marian’s spelling, the NES port. Relevant?

In short, it was a good concept, but it wasn’t really put to use.

2. PRESENTATION:

This is more about the final product. Let’s say that the above concept had actually been utilised – DD3 has no magic rocks, no walking trees, no stone golems, no ancient queen … just good ol’ post-apocalyptic brawling.

It would have been a vast improvement. And the game still would have sucked.

Why?

For pretty much every reason we’ve already discussed on these forums. The graphics are bad, the animation is worse, the enemies are cheap, the shop system is highway robbery and worst of all, the gameplay is no fun.


I agree with some of these comments, however some points to consider:

1. The Arcade Double Dragon 3 was the first Double Dragon game to use digitized graphics.

2. It was also the first (and only) cannon Double Dragon game to contain english voice acting (not counting Double Dragon Neon and Wanderer of Dragons), although it's not very good. Still, it might be better than Double Dragon Neon and is definitely better than Wanderer of Dragons!

3. It had a clever three player system with integrated/combo attacks.

4. Most of the enemies are manageable if you know the patterns and mechanics- in fact, it's much easier to "coin" the game (win it on one quarter) than the Arcade Double Dragon II. I've done this without a single shop purchase, and there are videos of people winning the game without dying/shop purchases posted online.

5. It's not as much fun as other arcade Double Dragon games, but it's more fun than many Double Dragon home versions and many other video games in general.

6. The music is good!

7. Many of the concepts are ripped off of Indiana Jones and other movies. However I'll give it concept points for the Double Dragon/Kunio/Bruce Lee references even if it's execution fell short of all of our expectations. I would not want to be the programmer tasked with creating a worthy sequal to one of the greatest games of all time without access to any of the original talent...
May you live hapilly forever...
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests