Rumor: Double Dragon on XBLA next week

The "enhanced version" of arcade classic Double Dragon is making its way to Xbox Live Arcade next week according to publisher Empire Interactive. Reported on back in January, this Botoxed version (seen above right), was expected in March, hopefully the extra time went into making this classic two-player game's online co-op work perfectly.

According to the release, dug up by GamingTalkHQ.com, Clive Kabatznik, CEO of Silverstar Holdings says, "This is another example of Empire updating a classic IP and bringing it to a brand new audience. Double Dragon will launch next Wednesday, and will be our first foray onto Xbox LIVE Arcade. Our announcement of Speedball 2 demonstrates our continued intention to bring high quality classic titles to a broader market."

The same release announced that Empire Interactive is also working on Speedball II for XBLA. We wonder how long it'll be before the classic library is exhausted and we start having random titles show up. Maybe we'll finally get that update of Hunt the Wumpus.

[Thanks Alex]

Reader Comments (22)

I don't like the super clean look. But it doesn't matter, I'm not into games I already own on the systems they once came out on.

But I'm 28 and grew up when games were golden.

What's the point of this? I mean, I could understand if they actually made it look -better-, but the new version looks like shit! They actually removed half the detail in trying to "clean it up".

Oh, but nevermind, it's HD, so I guess it's teh sooperior lol!

This game was a blast back in the day.. it didnt age well though. You could beat the game just by elbowing people to death. Anyways, after SSFT HD comes out, all these retro games are going to look like sh!t.

I still say in the left picture shes doing him...LOL

Hate to break it to you Konny, but the 'cleaned up' version looks like bigger shit.

Christ, if you're going to clean up the graphics, then they should, like...ACTUALLY clean them up.

The enhanced version doesn't look bad to me. I'm not sure what you guys are complaining about. My only complaint would be that the guy in the front looks like more of a sissy in the new version.

perfectly straight lines are next gen.

Great review of the Double Dragon series by Retroware TV on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kApgY9bXRQ

me too, don't like the clean up version. i'll buy on wii VC. if it come out. I don't understand the HD era of retro games ....

Meh, big deal. And no more BJs? Boo!

I'm trying to decide whether that last paragraph is a snide remark aimed at Speedball II. If so, then YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, SPEEDBALL II IS THE GREATEST THING IN THE HISTORY OF GREAT THINGS! Otherwise sorry about yelling, and thanks for reporting this excellent news.

Speedball II... so many memories, so many broken joysticks...

It looks like they just redid the sprites with better hair and then photoshopped their skin into buttery smoothness.

@10 um, it comes with both, so if you don't like the new version you can still play with the retro look. Except with the XBLA version, you get online play that you don't get on the Wee, for the same price. (Plus also leaderboards and achievements for those that care, but the online is what makes it much much better for no extra cost).

Blah. I'll probably take a pass on this one. I was never a DD fan when it was originally popular and am still not. Actually, I was never much of a fan of the whole buddy beat-em-up genre, period.

hey travis, will the online coop be as good as it was in contra?

is it me or does the big guy look like Bono?

Sometimes I wonder if most of you have played an XBLA game. Like Travis said, most xbox live arcade games come with the original and enchanced graphics/sound. You can turn them on and off. And the arcade games are the same price as those dumped, non-enhanced, non-online away Virtual Console downloads.

Watership, any point you may have had died when you pointlessly bassed the wii virtual console in a thread that has nothing to do with the vc. This is about double dragon on xbla. all we are saying is the 'enhanced' graphics suck ass.

@15

I love how everyone harps on Contra when there are 50 other XBLA games that work just fine online.

@18 (hey, same guy!)

The Wii talk started when #10 brought it up... and he made a very valid point about being able to play with the original graphics. If this version of DD is like the other classic games on XBLA it will have that option too. So the whining about the altered graphics is rather pointless.

This looks substantially better than the old version, and if there is an option to turn off the enhanced graphics than that would also be a plus to gamers who prefer the retro look. Add in online-multiplayer, leaderboards and a price of 400 MS POINTS and I see this as being a good value. Nintendo could learn a lesson or two for the VC about enhancing old games. I think this will be a great buy for Double Dragons fans, and if they add the old Double Dragon cartoon series to MarketPlace I think a lot of us will go crazy...

I like the enhanced version of the retro xbla games because it makes a huge difference on a hdtv. Anyone who has played the xbla Ninja Turtles on a hdtv will agree with me :)

In 1988, when I was int the sixth grade, a friend and I ditched school at lunch, (just hopped the fence) went to this Pizza joint called Rockies and dumped all my lunch money to beat this thing, I was blown away when my buddy and I had to fight eachother at the end of the game..... AWSOME, definitely a gaming moment I'll never forget.

Rumor: Double Dragon on XBLA next week

Reader Comments (22)

Posted: May 4th 2007 8:48AM (Unverified) said

Posted: May 4th 2007 8:53AM bm111 said

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Posted: May 4th 2007 12:28PM watership said

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Posted: May 4th 2007 1:32PM Vidikron said

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Posted: May 4th 2007 4:07PM AslanTheKing said

Posted: May 6th 2007 2:53PM (Unverified) said

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