General
What kind of game is Double Dragon?
Double Dragon is best described as "extreme", with very strong combo game and ways to set up ambiguous crossups which lead into huge damage. On the defensive side of things, you have air blocking that works on EVERYTHING short of air throws, double jumps, and a handful of very strong invincible DPs.
The movement at times makes it feel like a proto-anime game, although it lacks chains of any sort and juggles can be limited. There are no guard cancel or combo breaker mechanics either, so you have to hold that.
You might like this game if you enjoy:
- A simple set of strong tools
- Jumping in general (double jumps)
- Strong offense with unreactable overheads
- High damage, including infinites and ToDs
Are there any communities for this game?
The English-speaking community primarily talks about the game in the NGCD Double Dragon Discord.
The game is also popular in China, with an active channel that regularly exceeds 100 players on x-zone/gotvg. It also sees play in some arcades in Japan
Match footage can be found often on Mikado's YouTube channel. You can search the Japanese title "ダブルドラゴン" to find them.
Are there any visual references for the setups/combos?
We're working on it, but these videos are a good start. 1 2 3
Is there a frame data resource?
Here is a frame data table for all characters (except Shuko), organized by shyguyking.
Gameplay
What does the tier list look like?
Double Dragon may be a game where any character can steamroll for a match, but not all characters are created equal. That said, every character is unique (except for Jimmy, who's seemingly just Billy with worse frame data) and no one can agree on everything yet. The obvious standouts are Abobo, Billy, and Marian, but each character has their strengths.
The bosses, Duke and Shuko, are currently banned
"Community" Tier List
Not sure where this came from, but it's a tier list alright
- S: Marian, Abobo
- A: Amon, Jimmy, Billy, Burnov
- "Eddie Tier" (A+/B-): Eddie
- B: Cheng-Fu, Rebecca
- C: Dulton
Preliminary Tier List
Made by PolarBair
- S+: Shuko, Duke
- S: Billy, Abobo, Marian
- A: Cheng-Fu, Jimmy, Burnov, Dulton
- B: Rebecca, Amon
- C: Eddie
TTTTTsd's Tier List
- Shuko: Shuko
- Not quite Shuko: Duke
- Holy shit: Billy
- God tier: Marian, Abobo
- Extremely notable but not god: Cheng-Fu
- Really good: Jimmy, Burnov, Amon
- Pretty damn good: Rebecca, Eddie
- Decent: Dulton
Technical
What version do people play, and how is netplay done?
This wiki covers the original Neo Geo MVS game, and it's typically played via emulation rather than on original hardware. The Neo Geo AES and CD versions are identical to the MVS version, but the CD release features a bonus menu where you can set a damage handicap and infinite time.
Netplay is done on Fightcade. Matches are generally organised through the NGCD Double Dragon Discord server, but the Fightcade 2 lobby is fairly active.
Is there training mode for this game?
Peon2's fbneo training mode supports Double Dragon alongside several other games: https://github.com/peon2/fbneo-training-mode
What's all this "frame data" stuff?
Frame data is how long it takes to perform a move from start to finish, and the resulting frame advantage, or how many frames you can act before the opponent. Startup refers to the frames before an attack hits. Active refers to the frames when an attack can hit. Recovery refers to the remaining frames where you can't do anything.
This is nothing new to you if you've played fighting games, but frame data is important and it helps to clarify how startup is being counted. If a move is +5 on hit, you can act 5 frames before the opponent, and combo into a move with less than 5 frames of startup.