Double Dragon (Arcade)

It's Super Adventures' 14th anniversary today, which means I really should've made a new logo for you. I've been too busy though, too busy to do it properly at least. But I've come up with a new logo every previous year since the site began, including the year that I quit and didn't write anything, so enjoy that one up there while it lasts because I don't expect it'll last much longer.

Also, enjoy this article I wrote about an old arcade game where you walk down the street and punch people.

Developer:

Technōs Japan

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Release Date:

1987

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Systems:

Arcade, NES, Master System + everything else

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out another classic game for the very first time. Well, alright, I've probably played a bit of one of the ports, and I got Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team with my second-hand NES. But I assure you, when it comes to classic coin-op brawler Double Dragon, I am getting all my facts from Wikipedia and not my brain.

The game was released for arcades in 1987 and started appearing on home systems a year later (or three years if you were a NES owner in Europe). At first the Wikipedia infobox had me thinking that it was only ported to the NES and Master System and I wouldn't have 10,000 other versions to investigate, but nope the site was hiding the rest of the list in an attempt to protect me from the truth.

It even got released on TV, with a 1993 cartoon that influenced a 1994 movie that was adapted into a 1995 video game. Oh, and the cartoon got a game too. And then developer Technōs went bankrupt in 1996, so I'm assuming they weren't huge hits.

Though to call the original game a huge hit would be an understatement. It was the highest grossing arcade machine in the US for three years running, until Final Fight and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took its spot by basically doing the same thing. And when the console and computer ports came out they went and topped charts as well. People really loved Double Dragon.

Alright, I admit this isn't really my genre but I'm giving it an hour to win me over. It's an arcade game, so you could probably make it to the end in that time, but it's from the '80s, so I probably won't.

Super Adventures: Game Awards 20X4

This week on Super Adventures, I'd like to take a moment to look back at 2024 and give some well-earned kudos to the AAA megahits and the indie instant classics that brought me the most joy over the last year.

But I can't! I think the only 2024 game I got around to was probably Core Keeper and that's been playable in Early Access for ages. So instead, I'm looking back at three other years ending in '4' to see if I can come up with some games that have been worthy of awards in the past. Here's how this is going to work:

• I'll be giving out 6 awards for each year, so that's 18 awards in total.
• I'll be using each game's earliest release date anywhere in the world.
• I won't be limiting myself to games I've written about for Super Adventures.
• If any worthy games are missing, that's because I'm leaving them for you to mention in the comments.

In fact, I'll even throw in a bonus award: Best Game I've Played From 2024. And the winner is... Core Keeper! Nice job Pugstorm, thanks for giving me hours of co-op fun in a cave.