Double Dragon Gaiden Has a High Bar to Clear After TMNT: Shredder's Revenge

The beat 'em up renaissance continues with Double Dragon Gaiden, but it has a tough act to follow from last year's TMNT: Shredder's Revenge.

The recently announced Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons marks the first new entry in the legendary beat 'em up franchise since 2012's Double Dragon Neon. Alongside Technos' Kunio-kun series of games (Renegade, River City Ransom, etc.), the Double Dragon franchise was largely responsible for popularizing beat 'em ups in the West, so it makes sense for Double Dragon Gaiden to release at a time when the genre is experiencing a bit of a renaissance. That said, after phenomenal new entries in the Streets of Rage and River City franchises coming in recent years, as well as last year's excellent TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, the bar for quality has been raised.

Since its inception in 1987, Double Dragon has somewhat struggled to maintain a consistent level of polish throughout its long history. While the arcade and NES versions of Double Dragon and Double Dragon 2: The Revenge are remembered fondly, the brutal difficulty and occasionally wonky combat pale in comparison to games that came later and perfected the fundamentals of the beat 'em up genre, including the phenomenal TMNT Arcade Game and its sequel Turtles In Time. For Double Dragon Gaiden to stand toe to toe with its peers, it will need to take some cues from other revamped series in the genre.

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One look at Double Dragon Gaiden should instantly draw comparisons to TMNT: Shredder's Revenge based on the game's art style. Double Dragon Gaiden appears to utilize a very similar 16-bit aesthetic that calls to mind the earlier games in the series and arcade beat 'em ups of yore while also adding subtle modern touches not possible on older hardware. Still, there are more ways that Double Dragon Gaiden should draw inspiration from Shredder's Revenge other than in its use of pixilated graphics and a comparable art style.

The promotional material for the game's announcement showcased that there will be 13 playable characters, but it will be essential for each character to have its own identity. TMNT: Shredder's Revenge features 7 playable characters, each with their own unique stats and characteristics. Additionally, Shredder's Revenge struck a careful balance between the frantic button-mashing of old arcade coin-ops and the calculated combos and depth of Streets of Rage 4. Double Dragon Gaiden should take a similar approach to its combat by having each character represent a unique class and feature accessible combat with a high skill ceiling.

The Kunio-kun games have seen a resurgence in popularity thanks to the River City Girls spin-off titles, which allow fans to play as the protagonists from River City Ransom's girlfriends Kyoko and Misako. Considering that Double Dragon can trace its origins back to the Kunio-kun series and original developer Technos, it would make perfect sense for the new entry to borrow elements from River City Girls 1 and 2. The introduction of the RPG-lite elements associated with Kunio-kun games has been implemented in Double Dragon before with Double Dragon Neon, and Double Dragon Gaiden should lean into this by providing progression paths for each character and distractions from the beat 'em up action.

As video game dominance transitioned from the arcades to home consoles, perhaps no game was synonymous with console beat 'em ups more than Sega's Streets of Rage series. The most recent entry, Streets of Rage 4, is currently one of the gold standards of modern beat 'em up design, so much so that the developers consulted on TMNT: Shredder's Revenge. Double Dragon Gaiden is positioned to bring the franchise back into prominence with a new, modernized entry. In order to stand shoulder to shoulder with its contemporaries, the game should take note of how other titles have moved the genre forward with their recent sequels.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is currently in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.

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Matt Karoglou is a freelance writer and musician who has been playing video games for 36 years and writing about them for almost as long. When he's not editorializing about the intricacies and brilliance of the Shmup genre or playing Resident Evil for the thousandth time, he can be found most days listening to metal and hardcore records while enjoying indie titles on his Steam Deck.