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DD II Shrine

 

 
 

 

Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Console: Amstrad
Developer: American Technos
Publisher: Virgin Mastertronic
Number of Players: 2
Release Date: Mid/Late 1989

Story | Codes | Characters | Credits

 

European box


By Cloudmann
Contributing Writer

Introduction:

The Amstrad was a pretty weak PC compared to the likes of the Amiga, Atari ST and even the Commodore 64.  That said, the less popular (and much better) conversion of DD I for the Amstrad was a masterpiece and a much more faithful and playable game than any of the other computer conversions, much to everyone’s surprise.  Not to be left out, Amstrad designers decided to work their magic again when DD II was being ported, and again we ended up with the most playable and faithful computer conversion of DD II. Considering the age and extreme limitations of the hardware, this is no small feat.

 

Graphics: A-

This was pleasantly surprising.  All graphics in this game were sampled directly from the arcade version.  Everything is blocky as hell, but the players are decently sized, very recognizable and color was used well.  Really, this is damn good for an Amstrad conversion of such a nice-looking arcade game.  Too bad Technos didn't take the same route with the C64 version.

Sound: C

For an Amstrad game, this actually sounds pretty decent.  That said, it's nothing to write home about.  The music is a bit grating, and the sound effects are both minimal and mediocre.  But the Amstrad really didn't have great sound capabilities, and the fact that there's any music at all is pretty nice.  The developers worked with what they had, but didn't work any miracles.

Enemies: B

This is a bit of a mixed bag.  All the enemies are here except Jeff (not sure why since a palette swapped Billy or Jimmy would have worked just fine), but some signature moves are gone, like Abobo's throw and Burnov's grab-and-pummel.  All the enemies except for Chin tend to just stand over you and punch, waiting to hit you as you get up.  This is very frustrating and cheap.  Everything feels pretty authentic though.

Weapons: A-

All the weapons are here, and they all work, but they kind of take the fun out of the game.  With the shovel you're more or less invincible to anyone except Chin and Willy.  Good effort, but way unbalanced.

Controls and Moves: B

This games is too fast for one, and for another, one button takes away from the game a bit.  That said, Technos did a good job converting the controls, but it's too fast of a game.  Combine that with the insane enemy AI, and that really frustrates the hell out of me.

Modes: B+

One-player and two-player modes.  That's it.  Too bad there's no versus mode here.  Billy and Jimmy don't get to fight at the end of the game either.

Conclusion/Overall: B+

This was really surprising.  I thought the Amstrad couldn't handle this game so well, but I was pleasantly proven wrong.  The graphics are about as good as they can get on this machine.  The sound is none to shabby, control is pretty tight and responsive, save for a few one-button compromises, and all levels and enemies and moves except for Jeff and a few signature moves are here.  Damn good effort.  Too bad the other DD II conversions didn't have this kind of work put into them.