Double Dragon

Double Dragon (双截龍(ダブルドラゴン), Daburu Doragon) is a beat 'em up video game series originally developed and published by Technōs Japan. It began with the release of the arcade game Double Dragon in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various adversaries and rivals. The original Double Dragon was a hit arcade video game, ushering in a "Golden Age" for the beat 'em up genre, resulting in a flood of beat 'em ups during the late 1980s to 1990s that followed the conventions set by Double Dragon. Technōs rapidly released sequels in the early 1990s, which led to a large number of developers creating titles with wildly different tone, gameplay and quality. A 1993 animated series and 1994 live-action film adaptation were widely panned by critics and audiences. The studio faced bankruptcy after several commercial failures in 1996, leaving the franchise inactive. The licensed passed to Million, a collective of former Technōs developers, and the group licensed many poorly received remakes through the 2000s. Million was a small company which lacked the funds to defend the IP, which also led to unlicensed titles such as Rage of the Dragons (2002) being made by other groups. Million sold the rights to Arc System Works in 2015, who revived the franchise beginning with Double Dragon IV (2017).