Double Dragon (Atari 2600)

Double Dragon (Atari 2600)
Why did they think that making an Atari 2600 port of an arcade beat-em-up hit expelling far beyond the crusty console’s capabilities was a good idea? We’ll likely never know.
Genre(s): Beat em up Platform(s): Atari 2600 Release Date: 1988 Developer(s): Activision Publisher(s): Activision

Double Dragon is a 1987 beat 'em up video game developed by Technōs Japan and distributed by Taito for arcades across Asia, North America and Europe. It is the first title in the Double Dragon franchise.

Despite the original version receives positive reviews and the home console versions receives mixed to positive reviews for the most parts, the Atari 2600 port was panned and is considered to be the absolute worst port of the original Double Dragon.

Why It Should Be Burned To A Crisp By An Actual Dragon

1. The hit detection is absolutely abysmal, with it being so bad that you will likely have a horrible time hitting the enemies; in fact, this is one of the reasons why this port is so bad to the extreme.
   • This is also not helped by the atrocious enemies. (See WIS#2)
2. Another huge problem with this port is the fact that the enemies AI are atrocious, abysmal, godawful, and horrible at the same time, with the enemies killing you every time you try to kill them; even worse, they never even leave you when they hit you.
3. Even by the standards of the Atari 2600, the graphics are extremely ugly, with some of the worst color palette you will ever find in an Atari 2600, and the graphics are laking for a 1988 Atari 2600 game, even the already horrible Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man.
4. Even for an Atari 2600 game, the soundtrack is terrible and sounds very off, with it being ear-bleeding and annoying to listen to.
5. Awful controls, as here you need to use the joystick and there's only one button on the Atari 2600 controller, making this game even more unplayable than it already is.
6. Making a port of Double Dragon on the Atari 2600 was a terrible idea, since the game is way too huge to be on the Atari 2600 to begin with, and as said in WIS#5, there's only one button to the Atari 2600 controller, and there's both kicks and punches, making this port a nightmare to play.
7. There are no continue and not even some extra lives; this is a really bad game design for this port due to the atrocious difficulty that is unbalanced because of the godawful AI.
8. Awful sound effects, even for an Atari 2600 game.
9. Terrible level of design.
10. This port was and still is pretty much pointless for a lot of people, since both the NES and Master System ports are already out, and there's absolutely no reason to use this port, except if you only have an Atari 2600 and you want to play this game.

Reception

Unlike most versions of the game, the Atari 2600 port of Double Dragon received overwelmingly negative reviews by both fans and critics, and the port is possibly considered to be one of the worst beat-em-up games ever made and one of the worst ports of all time,  even compared to other awful ports such as the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man.

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