Hart Deer's:
DOUBLE DRAGON for the Atari 2600 walkthrough/FAQ!
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XXX XXX XXX XXX XXXXX XXXX DRAGON.
You can visit me on the web at
http://www.hartdeer.net
Table of Contents:
1. Riveting Predlude
2. Gripping Meta Strategy -- Martial Arts and THE SWEET SPOT
3. More Techniques Beyond the Gripping Meta Strategy
4. Walkthrough
5. Tips & Secrets
6. Frequently Ask Questions
7. Immodesty
1. Riveting Prelude
This game is, without question, the HARDEST game in the Double Dragon series.
I'm not kidding. This game is so hard that I am the only person who has ever
beaten it, and that includes the programmers. After beating the game, I ate
my own hand, which was much easier.
This game has many fun and unique challenges. The first challenge is that
many of the enemies can jump kick you at will, which will set them up to
combo you, which will randomly eat some or all of your life. The second
challenge is that the collision detection is based on an imaginary box
extending a couple of pixels in front of you and your enemy's sprites, so to
effectively attack your enemy, you need to aim for the air he's breathing.
The third challenge is that even if you overcome the first two difficulties,
once you run into the Abobos in Mission Two, they will pound you like fresh
meat in the county pen. I'm not kidding. The character on the TV screen
will die, but in real life, it will hurt you to sit down.
There are many theories as to how a game this mind breakingly bad came to be.
One theory is that the programmers thought the idea of a 2600 version of
Double Dragon was absurd, and they released it to prove themselves right. If
so, mission accomplished. Another theory is that God has sent this game to
punish humanity for our sins, but since not everyone has committed multiple
genocide while making fetish videos of it, I don't think humanity has done
anything bad enough to deserve this game.
Anyway, I stuck it out and beat this nasty little varmint. I am proud of
doing something absolutely nobody has ever done before, and I can only
imagine how many millions of hours people have spent trying. With my sage
advice, you too can climb to top of the mighty mountain of madness which
is... the 2600 Double Dragon.
2. Gripping Meta Strategy -- Martial Arts and THE SWEET SPOT
The first thing you must do is master your arsenal of deadly martial arts
techniques. To throw a punch, just hit the fire button. To throw a kick,
hold down on the joystick and press fire. The jump kick is up and fire. The
elbow is diagonally up and fire, and it aims in the opposite direction of the
diagonal. This is so that you can't cheat by walking around and fighting at
the same time. When real men fight, they stand perfectly still like brick
walls. If a real man ever throws an elbow, he apologizes by making sure the
elbow fires in the most useless direction possible. Such is the way of
Double Dragon.
Fortunately, the only way to victory involves staying put. You may notice
that the enemies do not want to approach you if you are on the far left side
of the screen. There is a sweet spot where you are close enough to the side
so the enemies will not attack, but over just enough that your own attacks
can hit the enemies as they wander back and forth nearby. To find the sweet
spot, walk your guy to the bottom left of the screen and face right. Tip-toe
right one pixel at a time, and punch after each step. When in your
post-punching position, you want the two rightmost pixels of the bottom of
your feet to be directly over the two leftmost pixel columns of the hat icon
of your remaining lives. That's it! Just get there, and hit people as they
wander barely into range.
Don't get cocky and think you can beat this game without exploiting this
glitch. Just suck it up and hide in your sweet spot like the tragic fool you
are. Trust me, deviate from the master plan, and the computer is more than
able to cheat you into an unmarked shallow grave by the railroad tracks
quicker than you can say, "I'm going to personally hunt down the people who
made this game and sell their dripping innards to witches on the black
market." (You will say this a lot.)
Even when standing in the sweet spot, you're not invincible. Enemies can
eventually wander up to you and attack. Standing in the sweet spot just
causes the enemies to want to wander back and forth in front of you for a
long time before committing to an attack. Also, the sweet spot makes
enemies refrain from jump kicking you at a distance, but if you mindlessly
let them creep in on you, they can still do it. So, don't put down the
controller and go make popcorn because you think you're safe. Stick in
there and keep up your attack. There's a sort of rhythm where an enemy
will wander close, wander far, etc. Once you get the rhythm of striking
every time the enemy moves in your direction, you'll kick ass with great
speed.
3. More Techniques Beyond the Gripping Meta Strategy
There's only a few minor polishing points you need to be the toughest bopper
in a world of pixels so big, Mario can't jump them. Pixels so big, Simon
Belmont flees in fear. Pixels so big, Dolly Parton is jealous.
* For maximum damage, you need to start with kicks and end with punches for
each knockdown. For the normal guys, it's two kicks, then punch. For the
ladies, it's just one kick and one punch. For the Abobos, give three kicks,
then a punch. Now, the first two enemies on each screen will often have an
odd number of kicks and punches to most efficiently knock them down the
first time, but after they get up, they will conform to the pattern above.
It's important to only kick the enemy as many times as needed and finish
with a punch, because you will save yourself one or more times of having to
knock the enemy down before he dies. By starting with kicks and finishing
with a single punch, you even seem to do a little extra damage. This is
absolutely crucial because you need to learn to kill quickly. From
Mission
Three on, the game's clock is a brutal mistress. She will slowly and subtly
rape your eyes out and leave your festering corpse for the worms, just like
time does in real life.
* If an enemy approaches from the far side of the screen with a weapon to
throw, stay at the bottom until the enemy is just past the halfway point of
the screen, then wander straight up. He will throw and miss. If the
projectile hits you, it means you waited too long to start moving. Once
your foe has spent his weapon, wait for him to wander into range and punish
him as usual. If an Abobo throws a box in this scenario, you can pick it up
and chuck it at him if you want, but you might want to think about leaving
the box on the screen behind you as this will prevent future Abobos from
coming armed.
* If any enemy approaches from behind you with a knife, stay off center
below them and just kick like a madman until you get the knockdown. Then,
wander down and to the right so they will chase you without picking up the
knife. (If they get the knife anyway and throw it, walk up or down to
dodge.) When you can, cut up and left then down and left to get around the
enemy and back to the sweet spot. Attack as usual, and they will die soon.
Then, retrieve the knife and wander out into the middle of the screen, and
you can line up horizonatally with the next enemy and throw the knife for an
instant kill.
* If an Abobo approaches from behind with a box, stay below his horizon line
and gradually inch down the screen as you kick him repeatedly on the way.
Once you get near the bottom, haul ass to the middle of the screen before
Abobo clocks you. Then cut diagonally up and to the left as you jumpkick
through the pursuing Abobo.
Now run back to your sweet spot and fight like
normal.
* If an unarmed Abobo comes out behind you while there's already an earlier
Abobo near the top of the screen, just wander out a ways to the right, then
turn and jump kick straight through the new Abobo's head, then haul tail back
to the left side of the screen to get back into your sweet spot. You might
get hit once, but you'll live and prevail. A variation of this strategy
starts with kicking the new Abobo on the left repeatedly as you walk him
down the left edge of the screen staying well below his horizontal axis,
then taking off for the center of the screen once you get near the bottom,
much like fighting a left-spawning Abobo with a box.
* Kill an enemy with a bat the same way you would any other enemy, and take
the bat. When you have the bat, the next enemy can be fun. Knock him down
first by just barely connecting with the outer pixels of his hit box as he
wanders into range. Then, keep walking in on him as you swing whenever he
tries to stand up. The right timing will give you equal times for the bat
swinging sound and the enemy crumpling sound. It's a pretty peppy pace.
You need to learn to exploit the bat like this to save time on the later
levels.
* If an enemy comes up behind you on the left with the bat, stay a little
below him and kick like a madman. He will be so busy trying to pick the bat
up, he will let you keep kicking him until he dies. You can do the same
thing with a knife wielding enemy from the left, but make extra sure you
stay well below his horizontal level so that he can't knife you.
* Save time with the girls by just walking out of the sweet spot and fighting
in the middle of the room. Once you have the feel for clipping enemies as
they wander into your attack range, the girls are no problem. They don't
jump kick. They don't combo. They don't counter attack. As long as you're
patient
and don't walk in on them but just stand still and let them walk
into your foot/fist, they will drop easily. On later missions, you'll need
every second you can get. Make up time on the girls.
* When you come to a new screen, two enemies will spawn immediately. One of
these enemies will be further up the screen. After you kill an enemy or two
from your sweet spot, the higher enemy will start walking down to you. Walk
up a few pixels to meet him, then stay well below him as you back him off
with kicks as he approaches.
Knock him down with a punch whenever the First
Two, First Knockdown (see below) strategy calls to do so.
This is all you need to know. No kidding. Every last stinking bit of it.
The walkthrough is merely an application of these principles combined with
knowing the weird first knockdown patterns of the first two enemies of each
screen. Oh... and I explain how to beat the final boss.
4. The Walkthrough
This walkthrough assumes you have studied the two previous sections of this
FAQ. Don't come whining to me if you haven't mastered the sweet spot
technique or you don't know how to not get hit with a knife.
Each screen of the game will start with an attack pattern called FTFK. This
stands for First Two, First Knockdown. You usually have to get your first
knockdown on each of the first two enemies of each screen differently than
you knock every other enemy down for the rest of the screen. I describe in
section 3 how tonormally knock down each of the enemy types-- only deviate
for the first knockdown of the first two enemies of each screen! This is
very important for killing foes as fast as possible to beat the clock.
I refer to enemies as William, Linda, Abobo, and Willy. William is one of
the generic enemies with the stocking cap. Linda is one of the hookers.
Abobo is one of the big growly shirtless guys that sort of looks like a
painted meatball. Willy is the last enemy of the game with the machine gun.
I'm taking these names from the NES version of the game.
** Mission 1 **
Three easy screens. Learn the timing of tagging enemies as they barely walk
into hitting range, and also get the timing of keeping enemies down with the
bat. The purple hookers at the end of the stage are a deceptively pathetic
boss fight.
Screen 1:
2 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick
No problem. Kill them.
Screen 2:
4 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
Third William has the bat. Practice using the above strategies to take the
bat and incinerate the fourth William.
Screen 3:
6 Lindas
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
If you just wait for them to come into your striking range, they are so easy.
This is a very easy boss fight, so enjoy it. Remember the cool ladders you
could climb in the arcade version and the open doors you could enter in the
NES version? Ladders and doors are just taunting useless props in the 2600
version. Don't bother, it's like trying to climb the wallpaper.
** Mission 2 **
Abobos come out on the second screen. Despite my excellent advice, they
still might smear you into paste the first time you encounter them. However,
I guarantee, get past them and you've pretty much got the whole game licked.
Screen 1:
4 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
Watch out for the sneaky fucker coming from the left with the knife. Keep
below him and kick like a fiend to keep him from getting close enough to
knife you.
Screen 2:
4 Abobos
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
You will only prevail if you have mastered the sweet spot technique, or if
you are really lucky. Watch out for the higher of the first two Abobos.
Back him off with kicks as soon as he moves in on you, lest your die.
Screen 3:
6 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, kick, punch
Since the first knockdowns of the first two guys take more effort, and since
you are
at the end of Mission Two, and since these guys are green, I think
they may actually be Chin Tai. Since they act exactly like all the other
generic looking dudes in stocking caps, we'll never know. There's not much
more to say about them.
** Mission 3a **
More of the same. Annoying. The only new challenge is that the programmers
have decided to give you just-barely-not-enough-time. Cheap. Use the
techniques I have revealed to you for fast wins.
Screen 1:
4 Lindas
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
Do the FTFK right and just use a kick, punch combo for every other knockdown,
and you will flatten these hoes. Do it fast. You think this screen is easy
and therefor you might slack off and relax. No. Speed is really important
now. I can't stress that enough.
Screen 2:
6 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
3rd William has the bat. Have fun destroying!
Screen 3:
6 Abobos
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
If the higher of the first two Abobos starts too far to the left for your
safe spot to be safe, use punches instead of kicks to back him off. I'm not
sure why, but this particular Abobo seems more susceptible to punches for
the first knockdown. Odd.
Screen 4:
6 Lindas
FTFK: Kick, kick, kick, punch
Toughest Lindas yet, in that their FTFK takes an extra kick. Otherwise, they
are easy, so tear through them like a chainsaw on crack to make haste.
Screen 5:
4 Abobos
FTFK: Kick, punch
At least these Abobos fall relatively easily, because the timer will scare
you much more than the meatheads.
** Mission 3b **
Yawn. This mission is boring and has nothing new to offer. However, don't
complain. The clock resets, and that's mana in the Sinai desert for you.
The Abobos at the end require one more knockdown than before to die. Maybe
they are super Abobos, like the green Incredible Hulk Abobo from the arcade.
Screen 1:
4 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, kick, punch
3rd William has the bat. Watch out because the Williams are subtly stronger
now. You'll need an extra bat hit to kill them, and if you're too used to
the old rhythm, you might slack off before a William is dead and get
punished. The Williams generally get stronger as the game progresses, so
always keep swinging until their cold, dead bodies are blinking off the
screen.
Screen 2:
4 Lindas
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
There's really not much to say. Just hurry.
Screen 3:
6 Williams
FTFK: Kick, punch
These guys seem to require an extra knockdown to kill, and they're green.
Again, I wonder if they are actually Chin Tai. This part of the game is so
boring in its tedious rehashing, there's not much more to think about than
what might be a Chin Tai.
Screen 4:
6 Abobos
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
The third Abobo spawns from the left... watch out!
** Mission 4**
Never before has the timer been so brutal. In the last room, you have to
fight a whole bunch of yellow guys who are quite ordinary except they take a
lot of knockdowns to kill, and they are great in number. You will likely be
eyeing the clock with anxiety, but don't get so distracted that you let a
bunch of wimpy yellow guys with long lifebars kill you. Hopefully you have
all three lives left, because you can expect to lose a life to the timer
even if your try to fight very efficiently, and the last boss is easy, yet
cheap, and he might well get lucky and take a life too.
Screen 1:
6 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, kick, punch
You can probably just catch the last (6th) one as he enters from the left
with kicks and walk him down the screen like you a would a weapon wielding
enemy.
Screen 2:
4 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
Once you get the bat and knock someone down, keep swinging! These guys take
a lot of bat strikes to kill!
Screen 3:
6 Abobos
FTFK: Kick, kick, punch
The third one is a sneaky fucker coming in from the left. Run! The sixth
one enters from the left too, but he'll probably be alone by then, so if you
like, you can walk him down the left edge of the screen with kicks before
fleeing like a little girl.
Screen 4a:
7 Williams
FTFK: Kick, kick, kick, punch
The fourth and seventh of these guys enter from the left, and they seem
supernaturally predisposed to fuck you sideways if you don't immediately run
away to the middle of the room, so don't try to walk them down with kicks.
Once you get away from these left-spawning menaces, jump kick through them
well above their horizontal axi to get back to your sweet spot on the left.
You'll likely die from running out of time here. Sorry.
Screen 4b:
Willy
Don't even worry about the FTFK.
Remember that he will spawn on the left. That's good news if you're already
in your sweet spot (and you should be). As he walks down the left edge of
the screen, you can make your way down with him, kicking him over repeatedly
as you go. Once you hit the bottom, immediately head straight up. You will
have to cross his horizontal axis, so if he tags you with his cheap ass
machine gun, I'm sorry. You may take a little damage. Once you're
sufficiently above him, start rapidly jumping kicking as you make your way
up. Again, you'll tag him over and over. Once you reach the top of your
walkable area, you'll have to head straight back down and cross the dangerous
horizontal line of Willy once again, and once again you may take damage, and
once again you will be free to rapidly kick him over and over as you walk on
down. Repeat the pattern until he dies and you have won the whole freakin'
game, you sick bastard.
The nice thing about Willy is that he wants to
always back away from you so he can get room to fire his gun. For this
reason, he is very easy to pin down on the edge of the screen once you get
him there, and if you are fighting from the sweet spot on the left, Willy
will spawn trapped against the left edge!
Winning this game is an exercise in futility, but as Dilbert's boss once
countered to this very same objection, exercise is good for you. Hang in
their. Your reward is a kiss from your girlfriend, and she is simply
marvelous, despite looking exactly like all the purple hookers you've been
killing throughout the game.
Congratulations!
5. Tips & Secrets
There is a way to unlock a secret new mode of gameplay. Take your Double
Dragon cartridge, run it through your washing machine three times, run it
over with your car twice, soak it in vinegar overnight, let it dry, and shoot
it with a shotgun four times while holding left on the player two joystick.
When you put the game back in your Atari, you will notice it's a lot more fun
to play.
6. Frequently Ask Questions
Who the hell thought this would be a good idea for a game? >> Your mom.
How do you deal with the pain? >> Crack, self-mutilation, incontinency... the
usual.
7. Immodesty
Well, that's my FAQ. If you weren't awesome enough to come up with such a
strategy yourself, don't worry. You could very well be a genius and never
even start to fathom the sort of intelligence it required of me to put this
all together. You're welcome, humankind. You're welcome.
