Double Dragon is an action video game franchise that originated with the titular first game in the series in 1987. The original game was a beat 'em up video game conceived by Kishimoto Yoshihisa (creator of the Kunio-kun series) and developed by Technōs Japan . It was distributed in North America and Europe by Taito Corporation.
The game was a spiritual and technological successor to Technos' earlier beat 'em up, Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun (released outside of Japan by Taito as Renegade), but introduced several additions such as two-player cooperative gameplay and the ability to arm oneself with an enemy's weapon after disarming them. Double Dragon is considered to be one of the first successful examples of the genre, resulting in the creation of two arcade sequels and several spinoffs, as well as inspiring other companies in creating their own beat 'em ups.
Home versions of the game were released for the NES, Sega Master System, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and Atari Lynx, among other platforms during the series's height of popularity. A remake titled Double Dragon Advance was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. The NES version was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in North America on April 28, 2008 at a cost of 500 Wii Points. Nintendo also released the Game Boy version on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2011.
Another remake was released for the iOS mobile devices in 2011, which features brand new gameplay, sprites, animations and music.
Several sequels of the original game have been produced during the years for the arcade and different home consoles. A competitive fighting version was produced for the Neo Geo game console during the 90s.
A new Double Dragon title, Double Dragon Neon, was released in 2012 for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, and is considered a reboot of the series.
To celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary, Arc System Works released Double Dragon IV in 2017. It takes place shortly after Double Dragon II and uses an 8-bit artstyle.
