It has kid-friendly art in some games, but edgy content in others. It started as a side-scrolling brawler, but later became a versus fighter. Part of Double Dragon's struggle over the years, as Kishimoto laments, is that it's long been one of the game industry's least consistent franchises. Shortly after Road Blaster's release, Kishimoto received a call from a headhunter. One of those was Data East competitor Technos, which wanted in on the laser disc business. Neither reached Dragon's Lair's earnings, but both found loyal fans. Kishimoto developed games that mixed flashy cartoon-like visuals with over-the-top action: helicopter combat in Cobra Command and car chases in Road Blaster.
#Double dragon cartoon art full
This was the era of Dragon's Lair showering arcades in quarters, thanks to laser disc-based hardware enabling games with full screen animation, and Data East had its own take on the technology. "THERE WAS A GIRL AND SHE DUMPED ME, WHICH PULLED THE TRIGGER." After a few early experiments, he began making a name for himself heading up laser disc titles. Like many artists, Kishimoto saw his empire begin with a girl and a break-up.įresh out of art school in the early '80s, he landed a position as a game designer at Data East, which he describes as "like being in school" since he learned a lot on the job. When games are this successful, it can be hard to stay away. Yet today in 2012, Technos is long dead, and he's once again working on both series. He cites it as one of his main regrets and part of the reason he left the company years later. "For better or worse," he says in an interview with Polygon, he simultaneously built an empire and backed himself into a corner where Technos didn't want him to work on much else. Over the course of a year, he'd created the two biggest franchises Technos would ever have. It worked and the game exploded, becoming one of the industry's most popular titles, doubling his salary, and cementing his job security. He and his team followed with Double Dragon, another arcade brawler, this time with an art style designed to appeal internationally. In 19, Yoshihisa Kishimoto could do little wrong.įour months into a new job at developer Technos, he led a team to complete side-scrolling arcade brawler Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun, the first in a franchise that would spawn more than 30 games in Japan. I absolutely love the game and it’s one of the best old school games on IOS right now.A rare interview with the director of 1987's breakout side-scrolling brawler.
The only downside I can say to this game is instead of charging $2.99 when first installed the developer allows you to play the first mission then prompts you to pay the aforementioned $2.99, it’s not a huge issue but just odd in my opinion. I’m not sure exactly how many missions there are but currently I’m on mission 7 (I’m assuming there’s 10). The graphics are a throwback to the glory days of Nintendo and the controls are actually fluent and responsive (as much so as the original Double Dragon). Whatever issues the original version had has obviously been addressed, this IOS version is a love letter to the original games and should not be missed. If I’m not mistaken around a year ago it was announced that Double Dragon 4 was being released on the PlayStation Network 20+ years after the last installment, I never had the chance to play it but from what reviews stated it was a mess. The amount of my childhood gleefully wasted playing those games is ridiculous. Double Dragon and Double Dragon II: The Revenge was the first video games I ever played on the Nintendo as a kid, I loved those games.