When a game made in the year of our lord 2023 opens with the line “It’s the year 199X…”, I already know I’m in for something special. Developed by Secret Base and published by Modus Games,\u00a0Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons<\/em>\u00a0seeks to channel the classic Beat-em Up genre with newer innovations in gaming. I got the chance to preview the first 90 minutes of the game, so read on for our Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons<\/em> Preview!<\/p>\n What’s clear from my time with our\u00a0Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons<\/em>\u00a0Preview is that the game takes the familiar and gives it a healthy twist. In the game, you play as the classic\u00a0DD<\/em>\u00a0characters Billy, Jimmy, Marion, and Uncle Martin in a quest to save New York City after a nuclear attack leaves the city in shambles.<\/p>\n Four rival gangs have taken over, and you begin the game by choosing two of the above-mentioned heroes and striking out on the map. Divided into four territories, you can take on the machine-gun wielding Willy and his Killers gang, the fancy lad Duke and his gang The Royals, the enigmatic Lady Okada and her Okada Gang, and the mysterious Anubis, leader of the Triangle Gang.<\/p>\n Once you choose a gang to start attacking, you’ll punch, attack, shoot, and club your way through a legion of henchmen in the classic side-scrolling Beat-em Up style until you make it to the boss. Defeat that boss, and you’ll see how this empowers all the other gangs still standing. Their levels will get longer, and you’ll likely fight a mini-boss halfway through your run at them.<\/p>\n Defeat your second boss, and the remaining gangs’ stages get longer again, with more challenges and mini-bosses thrown your way. It’s a unique way to approach level design, and makes me want to try attacking the bosses in different orders, to see how their stages progress.<\/p>\n The aspect of this game that I find most intriguing in this initial playthrough is the roguelike elements they’ve added to the game. This isn’t roguelike in the sense that the levels or enemy challenges change with each play-through, but when you use your special ability against enemies coins will fly out for you to collect.<\/p>\n Also, just about everything not tied down is destructible, and it’s a joy to hunt down coins and stacks of cash throughout the game. Collect those coins, and in between each mini-boss and boss you’ll be able to spend those coins on upgrades that give you an edge in the game.<\/p>\n Maybe your special meter will charge faster, or maybe you’ll gain more health, or do some other exciting benefit, all in a quest to make it further in your run.<\/p>\n At first, these power-ups may not feel that impressive, but as you continue your run you’ll soon notice the benefit of stacking them all together. Once both of the characters you choose to play with die, you can choose to spend coins to get back in the fight\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0trade them in for poker chip-esque tokens.<\/p>\n In between runs, those tokens can be used to purchase gameplay tips, new music tracks, and even new playable characters. In my initial run, I was able to save up enough tokens to purchase Abobo, a classic\u00a0Double Dragon<\/em>\u00a0mini-boss.<\/p>\n With a whole new move set and special ability all his own, bringing Abobo into the fight really mixed up the gameplay in a fun and rewarding way, and made me want to keep saving up my coins.<\/p>\n Another fun aspect worth highlighting in this preview is the exchange rate of coins to tokens. With every setting in the game set to the normal standards, you can trade 1000 coins at the end of a run for 1 token.<\/p>\n But as you adjust the difficulty — making enemies more or less aggressive, giving yourself more or less health, etc. — that exchange rate changes. This creates a highly personable difficulty setting and lets you balance risk and reward at the start of each run.<\/p>\nDouble Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons <\/em>Preview\u00a0–\u00a0<\/em>Revamping The Genre<\/h2>\n
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<\/picture>Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons <\/em>Preview –\u00a0‘F You, Pay Me’<\/h2>\n
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<\/picture>Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons <\/em>Preview – Will You\u00a0Pull Punches?<\/h2>\n
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\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons <\/em>Preview Has Me Locked In So Far<\/h2>\n