My Played Video Games Review: Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls for the Sega Genesis

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Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls is a versus fighting game based on the Double Dragon animated series that ran for 26 half-hour episodes from 1993 to 1994. It copied the gameplay style of Capcom's 1991 arcade-hit Street Fighter II. It is an American-produced sequel to the Double Dragon action/beat-'em up series by Technōs Japan. It was developed by Leland Interactive Media and published by Tradewest for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1994.

This was largely ignored in my country during the mid-1990s. Kids and teens were more drawn to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. But we somehow played it anyway.

The Story

The plot based on the animated TV series which is loosely adapted from the Nintendo NES version of the first Double Dragon game, with the villains consisting of the mysterious Shadow Boss and his henchmen.

Sega Genesis box, manual and cartridge of the game. (Image source)

The Graphics and Sound

The animation on this game is kind of choppy. The backgrounds are only a little interesting. All the characters looked like they did in the cartoon series. As for the actual graphics, they look worse than most fighting games on the console.

The sound is bad. The hits did not sound like they hurt at all and all of the characters sound like they got Laryngitis or something. Out of all the music tracks, Jawbreaker's stage track was decent. The rest are bad as if the sound composer/engineer's got lazy.

Gameplay video sample of Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls.

The Gameplay

The game is still is fun to play, even with some moves that are obviously rip-offs from other fighting games. This game can be a nice little distraction every now and then.

Special moves are difficult to execute. But you can beat the game as easily using just "normal" attacks than struggling to try to get a fireball out of your character. Some of these moves are quite bizarre and creepy, but not as fun as trying to execute them while your opponent takes advantage of you.

Modes include tournament and versus mode. And it also includes an attribute system to distribute various points to each trait you wish your character to excel at. Although it is a curious addition to the game overall.

The replay value is not so good. It is enjoyable enough to have a few matches once in a while.

My Verdict

Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls is just a Street Fighter rip-off, but it is not even a good one. Good only for some little occasional no-brainer fun. You might as well better spend it on other 16-bit fighting games. Only fans of the Double Dragon games or animated series might like it.

Play or test it on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive or any decent emulator.

Let's keep on gaming in the free world!