Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones (NES review)

Developer: Technōs Japan
Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
Released: 1991

Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones is a beat-em-up that's loosely based on the 1990 Arcade title of the same name.

There's five stages and your objective is to rescue your girlfriend Marion by obtaining the three Sacred Stones. On top of the usual punches and kicks, you can also perform a Cyclone Spin Kick (spin in mid-air with your leg extended) and a Mid-Air Somer-Assault (flip and throw your opponent through the air). Considering how well the sequel played it's absolutely perplexing why the developers felt the need to switch things up so drastically. Here, your movement and attacks feel sluggish and button presses are delayed resulting in many cheap hits that quickly diminish your life bar. Weirdly (and annoyingly) picking up a weapon means your Cyclone Spin Kick attack can't be performed until it's out of your possession. Also, arguably the best move in the previous game (the Hyper Uppercut) has been replaced with a cool looking, but finicky Mid-Air Somer-Assault that doesn't always work as expected. Being able to double-tap the d-pad to run is an excellent addition, but its usefulness is dwarfed by the head-scratching difficulty which has been ramped up to 11 thanks to a non-stop swarm of enemies and the fact that you only have one life at the start of each game. The level design is equally as puzzling, as the excellent set-pieces, verticality and diverse locales of the previous game have been replaced by boring cut-scenes, strictly left-to-right gameplay and repetitive scenery / enemy types. On a plus note, I do like the option to play as defeated bosses and switch between them on the fly; it's just a shame that most players won't be able to advance that far into the game to actually see them!

Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones could have refined the established formula while making some cool additions, but instead the developers chose to alienate players by spiking the difficulty and making unnecessary changes to the combat. As a result, it's a complete disappointment that even fans of the series likely won't replay.

Random trivia: The game was a commercial flop, leaving Acclaim Entertainment with 500,000 unsold copies.

Nintendo World Cup (NES review)

Developer: Technōs Japan
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1990

Nintendo World Cup is a football / soccer game that was released in Japan as Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club: Soccer.

In Tournament mode 1-2 players have to defeat 12 national teams to win the World Cup. Vs. Match Mode consists of a single match and it's one of only 24 games to officially support the NES Four Score meaning that up to four players can compete at the same time. Before you start a match you decide your offensive / defensive strategy, whether the goalkeeper should join in to try and score, and how often your team-mates should shoot. You only control one player throughout the entire match; the rest are all CPU team-mates although you can tell them when to pass (A button) or when to shoot (B button). Trick shots are available five times each half; these travel at ridiculous speeds and nearly always result in a goal no matter where you are on the field! It's a good way to get some cheap goals if you're behind but it also makes matches too easy as you're guaranteed a head start. One thing I hated is that if you tackle an opponent enough he'll eventually be knocked unconscious until a goal is scored or you reach half-time; it's a bizarre gameplay idea and one that makes each match far easier than it needs to be as half the team lies motionless on the ground! Another annoyance is that you can't select a direction when you want to pass; instead the game automatically kicks the ball to the nearest player which becomes a problem when multiple team-mates are on screen. Each half lasts four minutes and the lack of challenge makes it seem like an eternity until a match is completed. The graphics are great as it uses the same art style as River City Ransom but the severe sprite flicker is unbearable at times.

Nintendo World Cup is a quirky take on the sport but it doesn't have much in the gameplay department to make you want to play through all 12 matches. You might have some fun with four players but in solo mode it's too easy to forget about skill and rely on trick shots to artificially inflate your score.

Random trivia: A port for the Game Boy was published in 1991 and re-released on the 3DS Virtual Console in 2012.

Double Dragon (NES review)

Developer: Technōs Japan
Publisher: Tradewest
Released: 1988

Double Dragon is a side-scrolling beat-em-up that was first released in the Arcades in 1987.

It consists of four levels that take place in a City Slum, an Industrial Area, a Forest and a Hideout. To start with you only have punches, kicks and jumps at your disposal but as you beat up enemies your heart metre on the bottom-left increases. Once you reach certain amounts you'll gain access to additional moves such as jump kicks and throws that make the brawling action more interesting. To do the most damage you'll want to pick up one of the many weapons including baseball bats, knives, oil drums and dynamite. Each one is satisfying but unfortunately they disappear once you leave the current screen. Stages 1 and 2 are short but packed full of good beat-em-up action and it's even possible to interact with the environment and climb ladders to scale buildings. Stages 3 and 4 are longer and more of a grind as larger groups of enemies come your way. The combat suddenly becomes very clunky and it seems like complete luck whether you hit an enemy or take damage yourself when engaged in a scuffle. It's also annoyingly difficult to repeat successful attack patterns with any consistency unless you have a turbo controller. There's some minor platforming involved in these two stages and while it's not overly difficult it's possible to fall off before you've even reached the edge! The graphics are good but there's a fair bit of flicker and weird screen shifting. The music is some of the best the NES has to offer with many memorable tracks. There's also a one-on-one fighting mode with beefier sprites but each match takes forever and it's pretty boring.

Double Dragon is literally a game of two halves; the first two levels are fun with solid controls and a fair level of difficulty. The last two stages are extremely cheap though with frustrating gameplay and imprecise brawling that ends things on a sour note.

Random trivia: The second level boss has a rather amusing glitch whereby you can simply walk back down the ladders you've just climbed up until you hear a sound confirming that he's been defeated!