Inside the Arcade: Double Dragon (1987)
The streets were filthy with lawless gangs. But not for long.
When the bell rang at the end of Fridays in 7th grade, some of us were set loose to wander the town until dinner time. We’d gather in loose groups to cruise “the avenue”, the half-mile of nearby stores and restaurants on Main Street.
One of our first stops was the drug store, which still had a lunch counter held over from the old days when such a thing was common. I’d get a hamburger and milkshake. But the meal was just a routine stop on the way to our final destination.
At the end of the “Avenue” was a stationery store. The name is a little misleading. Sure they had stationery, magazines, and rows and rows of greeting cards. But they also had a ton of candy, comics, and baseball cards (even Fleer and Upper Deck). So you had to be careful not to spend too much money on the way down to this store if you wanted to buy some Fun Dip, a few “unopened” packages of 1984 Topps, or the latest issue of X-men.
In 1987, though, this store made a radical move and it had everything to do with the mysterious room in the back.
This room was well known to us, but we’d never been in it. There had always been two black curtains in front of its entrance and above the doorway was a sign that read “Adults only”. We knew what was back there. And so do you.
But a decision was made to clear this space for something else. On one particular Friday, we entered the store and saw the black curtains had been removed. The doorway was open! I ran to the back to see what was there. And that’s the first time I ever saw Double Dragon.
Double Dragon was a fighting game set inside an adventure. You could play by yourself, but it was much more fun and effective to play with a friend. Teaming up was your best chance of reaching the ultimate goal of saving Marian, Billy’s girlfriend.
Saving a girlfriend in distress was a common theme of 80s video games. And since we didn’t have girlfriends in real life (much less know what to do if we actually did get one), becoming a pixelated hero to a young lady who was in trouble seemed undeniably enticing to a bunch of 13-year-old boys. We dropped so many quarters into this machine that whoever in the store had the idea to install two arcade cabinets in the back where the porn used to be must have been lauded as a hero themselves.
In the 80s, places like Alphabet City in NYC were war zones full of drug-dealing gangs. Movies like “The Warriors” brought this reality to life. These types of neighborhoods were a common problem in cities all across the nation. Politicians and law enforcement would try to address the issue often to no avail. But what they didn’t understand was what was really needed to clean up the streets were two martial artist brothers dressed like rejects from the casting call of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”. And every Friday, I was in control of one of these vigilantes.
We worked our way through scene after scene of all kinds of gang members intent on stopping our progress. You would kick and punch these ogres as your primary offense. Every now and then you might be able to get your hands on a “melee weapon”. And even though the gun and whip were fine instruments, I always preferred the baseball bat. Nothing like a Louisville Slugger to help send a message.
Double Dragon was also one of the first games I remember where you could “continue”. Most games of this era you’d play and when the game was over that was it. But Double Dragon allowed you to put in more quarters and rejoin the game. It was a money-making move that played right into our plans.
A group of my friends would often commandeer this game upon our arrival with the goal of finishing it and saving Marian. This required a good chunk of change. But it was doable if you had enough friends to spread the cost around. Here’s how it worked.
No matter how well you played you were gonna die eventually. So you would re-up and get back in the fight as long as your bankroll allowed. If you ran out of money, a friend would be on standby, ready to jump in and take your place. We finished this game dozens of times. And the funny thing is that the two players on the controls at the end of the game were rarely the ones who were there when it started.
Double Dragon was eventually ported to home gaming systems. Unfortunately, these versions never lived up to the arcade cabinet. The arcade was the place to play this game, and it still is. But Double Dragon did eventually leave a legacy and it’s a horribly cheesy one at that. Take a look at this picture below.
Believe it or not, they ended up making a Double Dragon movie. I’m not gonna tell you to watch this. I did because I felt like I had to. You might enjoy it if taking a few edibles and watching bad movies is your jam.
Other than that steer clear and just remember Double Dragon as one of the best arcade games of all time.
