Chronicling the completion of the backlog, one game at a time.

This is Coffee from Games with Coffee, and welcome to Backlog Busting! As the tagline above says, I’m writing about the games in my backlog that I’ve completed in 2024. I’ll share what I enjoyed, what I didn’t, and whether or not it was worth my time and investment. At the end, I’ll share a Busting Grade – an aggregate rating made up of four categories: Length, Difficulty, Replay Value and Fun Factor. Scoring explanations will be found at the end of the post for reference.

Let’s get started with my first completed game of 2024: Double Dragon II: The Revenge, for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Return of the Dragons

Billy and Jimmy Lee – the Double Dragons – return in the sequel to the hit beat-’em-up, Double Dragon. Double Dragon was released in arcades back in 1987 before being ported to home consoles in 1988. It’s success, both in the arcades and on home consoles, demanded a sequel. Double Dragon II: The Revenge was released at the tail end of 1988 in arcades. The NES port was released two years later.

Double Dragon II picks up after Billy and Jimmy Lee rescue Billy’s girlfriend, Marian. At the start of the game, Marian is shot to death by the leader of the Black Warriors. Billy and Jimmy then set off on a mission of vengeance across nine stages. Double Dragon II introduced cooperative play, multiple difficulty settings, a new control scheme and new moves.

My first experience with Double Dragon came from playing it a friend’s house, sometime between 1994 and 1995. Prior to that, I’ve only ever played platformers, shmups and sports games. Double Dragon was my first experience with the beat-’em-up genre. I remember putting a lot of hours into the first title, but sadly, I never beat it. A couple years later, around when I was in the third grade, a kid in my class told me about Double Dragon II. He let me borrow it for a few days and I remember I had fun with it. It wasn’t until I picked up an NES Classic almost thirty years later that I would get the opportunity to play the game again.

The Busting Report

Double Dragon II‘s control scheme was the biggest challenge for me when I started playing it again. Having been used to Double Dragon’s controls – A for punches and B for kicks – I was unprepared for the sequel’s new way of doing things. In Double Dragon II, the A button causes the player to attack to the left side of the screen. Conversely, the B button has players attack the right side. The character performs punches or kicks depending on what side the character is facing. The D-pad handles character movement. Pressing both buttons together makes the character jump. While in the air, Billy and Jimmy can either throw a drop kick by pressing A or B, or a spinning Cyclone Kick by pressing both buttons together.

You can also Hair Grab an enemy by getting close to them while they are stunned. During a Hair Grab, you can either strike them multiple times with the knees, or throw them over your shoulder, based on where your facing. Pressing down and attack will execute an Elbow Drop, while up and attack throws an Upper Kick. The Upper Kick also launches enemies.

It took me a couple of hours stretched over a week for me to really get a handle of the controls. It took longer for me to learn and understand the special crouching moves. While rising from a crouch, which can be done from a jump or from being knocked down, pressing A or B launches the powerful Hyper Uppercut. But it is the Hyper Knee that is the most crucial of moves in Double Dragon II. It’s executed by holding left or right and mashing A + B while rising from a crouch. I found that it was tough to execute consistently, but when it connects, oh mah gosh, does it hurt! Credit goes to U Can Beat Video Game’s YouTube channel for providing tips on how to execute these moves.

The stages themselves are also pretty short, but offer a lot of variety. One of the more notable ones include Stage 3, where Billy and Jimmy fight inside a helicopter. The door leading outside opens on occasion, which creates both a hazard and an advantage. Stage 7 – another short one – is a pure platforming stage. I was unaware that this game had platforming elements! It was definitely strange to see in an retro beat-em-up title, especially one as early as Double Dragon II. In stage 7, players must use platforms that phase in and out to reach the goal. Below are pits of instant death spikes. One missed jump and it’s all over. One to three screen cutscenes between each stage helps set the tone of the story while breaking up the action. I appreciated this as these scenes helped flesh out the characters, if only minimally. The game also features a snappy and catchy soundtrack that really screams “Action Movie.” I loved it!

Double Dragon II is certainly a challenging game, at least in my eyes. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can quickly get overwhelmed by the weaker enemies. And let’s not forget some of the bigger fighters, like Abore, Bolo, Burnov and the Ninjas. I struggled mightily against them before I figured out the Hyper Knee mechanics. And even with the knee, the game forces you at points to figure out alternate strategies for taking these tougher enemies out. I felt a sense of accomplishment when I took out these enemies without relying on cheesing with the knee.

All in all, Double Dragon II was an enjoyable experience. It’s quick and fast paced. The music is catchy, the enemy varieties are great and there are no totally unfair sections of the game. Even the final boss was manageable. There’s a slight learning curve when it comes to controls and moves. It does not detract from the experience, however. I can see myself revisiting this one in the future, either by myself or playing with the kids in two-player mode.

Backlog Busting Grade

Length: 4/5

Difficulty: 3/5

Replay Value: 3/5

Fun Factor: 4/5

Busting Grade: B

The Backlog Busting Grade is an aggregate letter grade made up of four categories: Length, Difficulty, Replay Value and Fun Factor. A high grade means that the game in review is an excellent addition to the backlog. On the other hand, a low grade means that you can choose to pass up on this title if you wish. Honestly though, the grades aren’t meant to be taken seriously – this is just me having fun with clearing my backlog. Your mileage may vary depending on preferences, time commitments, etc.

Each category is given a score out of five. Length measures how long a game took for me to complete. 5 being extremely short (30 minutes – 1 hour) and 1 being extremely long (40+ hours). Difficulty is self-explanatory – 5 for being very easy and 1 for being very hard. Replay Value scores how likely I’ll return to play again. 5 for most likely and 1 for never touching it again. And Fun Factor measures how much fun I had with the title. 5 for lots of fun and 1 for no fun at all.