"DRAGON WIN!"
Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls is a 1994 fighting game based on the Double Dragon animated series developed by Tradewest for the SNES, Sega Genesis and Atari Jaguar.
Despite the Roman numeral "5" in the title, this game has nothing to do with the previous Double Dragon games, since it adapts a completely separate continuity.
The roster consists of :
- The Double Dragons: Billy Lee, Jimmy Lee
- The Shadow Warriors: Jawbreaker, Icepick, Bones, Sickle, Blade, Trigger-Happy, Countdown, Sekka, Dominique, Shadow Master
The Atari Jaguar version removes Icepick, Blade and Trigger-Happy but makes sub-boss Dominique playable.
The game also has a Quest Mode which works as a Story Mode of sorts where you can either be a Dragon or a Shadow Warrior and play out a story involving the Shadow Master wanting to unleash a deadly virus all across Metro City.
Not to be confused with the other Double Dragon fighting game that was based on the Double Dragon movie.
Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: Good luck tying to figure out how to perform the Overkills since none of them are even listed in the manual. You have to read the strategy guide... or look them up online.
- Adapted Out:
- Despite being both a series mainstay and a major character in the cartoon, Marian is nowhere to be seen.
- The other Dragons recruited by Billy and Jimmy in the cartoon, Vortex and Blaster, are similarly absent, leaving the Lee brothers as the sole heroes in the whole game.
- Abobo and Willy, two mainstay villains from the series, are also absent, although that might be due to them being taken out of the cartoon in the second episode in favor of the new villains.
- In the Atari Jaguar port, Icepick, Blade and Trigger-Happy are completely absent with no explanation.
- The Bad Guy Wins: If you play Quest Mode as a Shadow Warrior, the ending shows your character becoming the new Shadow Master and ruling over a destroyed Metro City.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Given this is an adaptation of a Saturday Morning cartoon, it can be surprising how much blood is spilled during a match.
- Bowdlerise: The SNES changes the color of the blood to white and changes Sickle's Overkill from him getting impaled with his own blades to him spiraling out of control into the ground and making an annoyed face.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The game's manual is rather interesting in that it's actually a full-blown comic featuring the Lee brothers and the Shadow Warriors explaining the game's mechanics and game modes to the player.
- Canon Foreigner: Bones, Dominique and Sekka were created solely for this game as they weren't in the cartoon. Blade is a borderline example since he's essentially a generic Shadow Warrior being made into a named character.
- Covers Always Lie:
- The back of the box of the Atari Jaguar version shows all the playable villains and mentions how the game has 12 characters in total... despite the fact that this version in particular removed 3 characters from the game entirely.
- The Atari Jaguar version also says that it includes 3 different game modes even though it lacks the Quest Mode from the other versions
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to the cartoon, which was fairly silly most of the time, this game has a more grungy feel and tone, the characters bleed a lot when being hit and there's even finishing moves where some characters pretty blatantly die.
- Denser and Wackier: Despite being darker in a few aspects, the game does gets pretty goofy when compared to the cartoon with most of the character endings, such as Sickle opening a hair salon, Blade starting his own cooking show and Dominique becoming a PE teacher (all of them while still wearing their outfits, mind you).
- Distaff Counterpart: Sekka is essentially a female version of Blade.
- Dominatrix: Dominique certainly has the look: the dark rubber clothes, the Whip of Dominance, the thigh-high boots, and the mask.
- Finishing Move: The game has these in form of the Overkills, moves that you can only perform by delivering a specific finishing blow with your character.
- Heel–Face Turn: Quite a few of the endings for the villains actually show them changing their ways.
- Jawbreaker gives up his life to crime to be a dentist and his first (unfortunate) client is... the Shadow Master himself.
- Trigger-Happy decides to become a construction magnate in order to help rebuild Metro City.
- Promoted to Playable: Dominique, the sub-boss who's only playable with the use of cheats in the SNES and Genesis versions, is part of the starting roster in the Atari Jaguar port.
- Punny Name: A few of the characters' "fighting styles" have these:
- Icepick's is "Icekido."
- Jawbreaker's is "Chew-Zit-Tsu."
- Sekka's is "Re Boot Tsu."
- Shotoclone: Billy and Jimmy are basically this, both having a fireball, a rising attack and a spinning attack.
- Shout-Out:
- Sickle's favorite movie is "Edward Sissorhands" (yes, it's misspelled like that).
- Dominique's biggest pet peeve is being called "Babe".
- Billy and Jimmy's "Dragon Spin" move is pretty blatantly Hanzo and Fuuma's "Ninpō Furin Kazan" from World Heroes.
- Bones' favorite actress is Marrowlyn Monroe.
- Super Mode: Surprisingly Averted. Both Lee brothers notably lack their Dragon transformations from the show, although they still fight with swords like they'd usually do when using said forms.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Dominique being a member of the Shadow Warriors who wears a leather outfit and wields a whip essentially makes her the cartoon's version of Linda from the games.
- Version-Exclusive Content: The Atari Jaguar version removes Icepick, Blade and Trigger-Happy but makes sub-boss Dominique playable.
- Weight Woe: A rare western fighting game example. Dominique's bio lists her weight as "NO CONCERN OF YOURS."