Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons Reviews
“Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons” features an amazing cast with awe inspiring combos and styles. Sadly, the game ends up being dragged down by poor level design and a “roguelike” mode that barely fits the formula.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The legendary franchise is back with Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, a delightful gameplay, pixel art and an irresistible chiptune soundtrack. A videogame that puts Billy and Jimmy Lee in their rightful place: among the beat 'em up elite and in the top 3 games to enjoy with friends.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
One of the most enjoyable co-op experiences.
Overall, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons has creativity sparks in its fun and fast moments, but it's necessary to be willing to face its blunders.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is a more than interesting beat 'em up. The return of the mythical Technōs Japan franchise -now in other hands- is modernized, including roguelike mechanics that give fresh air to such a classic formula, and more updated gameplay. It's not quite perfect and it has several edges to polish, but it's a good starting point for the future of the saga. Double Dragon Gaiden is a game that should be taken into account by both the classic fan of the franchise and the beat 'em up lover in general.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise Of The Dragons does a reasonable job of bringing back a classic series, but it's unfortuantely hit and miss. Some imaginative stage design, a fantastic soundtrack, and stages changing dependent on the order you pick are all satisfying additions. But a focus on making money to earn tokens, some nasty difficulty spikes, and what feels like forced replayability detracts from the experience. This is close enough to a classic Double Dragon title that it'll likely attract some fans of the originals. However, it's also an example of a game that could have gone a little further and perhaps should have considered taking some inspiration from other successful recent revivals in the genre.
The core loop of the new Double Dragon game might prove to be a little bereft of content for those looking for something to really sink their teeth in and enjoy in the long run. In short bursts, though, and with a like-minded pal to play together with, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons can serve as a decent distraction in the Switch multiplayer space.
A solid side-scrolling action adventure beat-em-up. I loved being reunited with Double Dragon in all its revamped glory and enjoyed my time playing it. I’ll no doubt dip into the game from time to time or even play it split-screen with friends and family. There’s tons of replayability and it’s challenging enough especially with the various difficulty modes for it not to get boring quickly.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons updates the classic brawling franchise with new mechanics and gameplay loops that feel fun, impactful, and chaotic in all the right ways.
Despite it's issues, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is easily a highlight of the franchise's modern era. It's simple, yet addictive combat, impressive animation and replay value makes it among the best Double Dragon games we've had in decades.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is a smart reinvention of the side-scrolling beat-em-up with its roguelite spin, selectable missions, and explorable environments. There’s some really clever ideas bubbling around in this game, in fact it probably holds the key to the future of the genre in its DNA, but sadly Secret Base don’t lean into it quite enough and give us the content to sustain the concept.
I did have a fun time with the title and hope that Secret Base can get a second crack at this IP, perhaps the Lees can call their toad buddies for another romp. They definitely did put an interesting spin on the beat’em genre with things like the increasing length and difficulty depending on the order of selection, the crowd control system and the rogue-like elements. If you’re a connoisseur of the beat’em up genre, these boys are on the rise and they’re definitely worth a playthrough.
Overall I’d argue this is probably the best Double Dragon game yet. It does just enough to modernise the franchise without straying from the path well traveled and alienating fans of the franchise.
The classic early beat-em-up has gotten a decent upgrade, better than the usual for it, but it has a weird flow overall
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is the revival we’ve long yearned for. It’s sleek, with crisp visuals and, excuse my pun, a punchy combat mechanic. Nothing felt sluggish, with zero stutters or freezes to speak of. The optimization is pristine, and the soundtrack is, as the kids say, lit.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons isn’t dragged down by the classic problem of doing too many things at once and not succeeding at any of them. Instead, we’re left with a solid experience that can stand alongside the best in the series while also being a good entry point for those who might want a less demanding roguelike in their lives. Having accessible entry points into new genres is good. Having fun multiplayer experiences are even better. Don’t ignore Rise of the Dragons, because there are some classic-laced-with-modern shenanigans here that are worth checking out.
Building on classic roots and updating it with modern gameplay, presentation, and progression, Double Dragon Gaiden is an absolutely fantastic beat 'em up. Near-perfect from start to finish, it is a polished example of just how much you can do with a retro property when you’re willing to innovate and modernize the rock-solid core.
While slow and sometimes repetitive, Double Dragon Gaiden does enough to standout, and shines when players fully utilizes the neat tag mechanics.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons marks a fun return for the series that changes up the formula in a simple yet rewarding manner. It is guilty of keeping things a little simple in places and it won’t demand much strategy from the player, but there’s plenty of excitement to be found as you beat up countless baddies in this revamped take on a classic.
While the new fighting mechanics and large roster of playable characters hit the mark, the rogue-lite elements don't quite stick the landing. Still, the game is a fairly fun beat-'em-up experience, especially with a friend along for the ride.