Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone Longplay (Arcade) [60 FPS]

Developed by East Technology and published by Technos in 1990.
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Following their return from a long period of training, brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee encounter an mysterious fortune teller named Hiruko. She informs them that they must seek out three Rosetta stones hidden in different parts of the world and to then confront their ultimate adversary in a final showdown.
Now, I was already heavily prejudiced against this game before I longplayed it for one very good reason, but I'll come to that later...
The game starts out promisingly enough with a fairly standard street fight that breaks the player in and gets them used to some of the differences with this third game in the franchise. Unlike Double Dragon II, which reused a lot of the art assets and mechanics from the first game, just about everything is new this time around.
The art assets have been completely redrawn, which is understandable given that the original graphics sets would have looked quite dated, especially given that Capcom had released Final Fight the same year. Even so, the artists had the good sense to retain the famous red and blue outfits for the Lee brothers. One thing that does feel slightly awkward is the way the sprites move across the screen - instead of scrolling smoothly, they move fixed distances, which feels somewhat archaic and reminiscent of those hand-held (Tiger Electronics) LCD games.
The fighting mechanics have also been reworked, this time for the better. The horrid reverse kicks and weird directional controls from the second game are history and we're back on much more familiar beat 'em up territory. You have separate buttons for punching, kicking and jumping, but you always attack in the direction you're facing now, which is as it should be. Double-tapping the stick left or right will make your character run in that particular direction and opens up new offensive capabilities.
Despite the initial positives, things deteriorate as the game progresses. Anyone who has played the previous Double Dragon games knows what to expect of the series; great fighting action, powerful sound effects and plenty of fun. What we don't need is a whole bunch of mystic hokum getting in the way of our thug-bashing, thank you very much!
Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens. About halfway through the game, it veers off at a tangent as street gangs make way for rock golems and other mythical beasts. The game ceases being a true Double Dragon game even before the face-off with a giant Egyptian mummy...
Now it's time to deal with the elephant in the room...
The moment you start playing, you'll notice a shop door way with a big arrow prompting you to go inside. In doing so, you'll arrive inside a shop where you can buy new moves, extra energy, weapons and even additional characters completely new to the series, complete with their own move sets! All this seems fantastic, until you realise that you have to use real money to purchase these items! Having paid to actually play the game, it also expects you to deposit additional coins to access any of the new features in the game. I remember coming across a Double Dragon 3 arcade cabinet for the first time in an arcade while on holiday one year, and being completely unprepared for this revelation; micro-transactions might be commonplace today, but they were pretty much unheard of back then.
The stone-cold skinflint in me says that, having paid for the privilege to play the game in the first place, I shouldn't be expected to deposit more money to experience everything that's new and exciting about the game. I get that coin-ops are designed to keep the money flowing, but this just seemed like daylight robbery.
Thanks to some poor design choices, Double Dragon 3 is a disappointing way to end the trilogy.
#retrogaming

[@wintercoffin]

technos broke my heart when i was a kid with this shitty game

[@Komamuram]

The walking animations are so choppy I simply can't find the words. And it's intentional.. (jumping isn't like that at all). I'm happy that I've never seen this one in the arcades...
(but thx for the upload)

[@drkamilz]

Good review. I even catch a typo, here: "retain the famous read and blue outfits"
After reading whole review, I didn't come to agree with you about your disappointment (especially on last paragraph). But then I realized, I didn't met with this game on arcades, it was 1st c64 then amiga (and/or PC). So in 2nd thinking I came to agree your view and yet again found your review very accurate. Thanks.

[@alldarkskinresolve]

Winners don't use drugs 😉don't !

[@Heliodorian]

4:33 bald Steven Seagal ?

[@mrnobodytheuser2950]

worst sequel ever