Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone was an absolutely pathetic excuse of a third entry for the Double Dragon franchise. Yes, it still retained the same basic formula that made the original two games work, as well as what made them popular to begin with, but with the way the game was poorly designed, feeling like it would fall apart at any second, along with MICROTRANSACTIONS being thrown into the mix, it was without a doubt the worst entry in the series so far, one that I never want to go back to ever again. However, that wasn’t the only shot that Double Dragon III got at stardom, because just like with Double Dragon II, there was a Double Dragon III on the NES that was a separate game from the original, but it still remained similar enough to where you can tell where it takes inspiration from the original. This separate attempt at glory for this mess of a sequel would come to be known as Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones.

Thankfully, this time around, the game was developed by Technos rather then being outsourced, but unfortunately, this didn’t quite save it entirely. Similarly to the arcade game, this game also has an infamous reputation among fans and players, being considered to be worst of the NES trilogy, and after playing it, I can definitely see why. I will say that the game is a definite improvement over the arcade DD3, but not by much, as while the game feels more true to the previous entries in the series, it introduces new elements to the franchise that make it somewhat appealing, and it plays a lot better than the arcade counterpart, there are still several flaws that hold it back from being on the same level as the previous two games, or even from being good.

The story is more or less the same as the original arcade version, although there are more character interactions and characters in general to make the story somewhat more fleshed out this time around, the graphics are about on the same level as the previous two NES Double Dragon games, which still look good, so there isn’t much worth mentioning, the music is pretty good this time around, although it is less memorable then previous titles in the series, the control is about the same as the previous two games, although there are new functions that I will get to in the next section, and the gameplay is the same beat-’em-up action as the previous two, expanded with more features to be found, while also simultaneously being held back by other new features.

The game plays almost exactly like the previous two Double Dragon games, where you take control of either Billy or Jimmy, you go through a handful of stages all around the world, fight a seemingly endless chain of goons and enemies that want you dead, use weapons and additional moves to get an advantage on said opponents whenever opportunity strikes, and fight a handful of bosses that will test your skills to see if you truly are a true Dragon. In addition to using weapons that enemies drop whenever you fight them, you also come pre-equipped with several weapons throughout the game, which you can switch to at any time to get an upper hand against enemies. They don’t really last all too long, but they do help out in taking them out faster.

Another new feature that is actually much appreciated in this game is the introduction of new playable characters that you get throughout the game. After you beat several of the bosses, they will offer to join you on your adventure, and you then gain the ability to play as them afterwards, each of them getting their own stats and weapons to go along with them. At first, I didn’t know exactly how this particular function was going to work, but it actually made things more manageable and somewhat easier to get through the game, with each character doing a specific amount of damage and having different range with their main attacks. My favorite out of all the characters would definitely be Ranzou, who by default uses a sword as his main weapon, making it so that you have a bigger range of attack, giving you an upper hand against many of the opponents you come up against. Needless to say, I played exclusively as Ranzou for the whole game when I unlocked him, only changing to other characters when I absolutely need to.

Now, all of that sounds cool enough, yes, but this wasn’t enough to get me to really consider the game to be good. Like the previous two games, this game is really damn hard, as if you are not careful, you will get your ass kicked from both sides, barely getting any chance to recover or even try to fight back. If it wasn’t for my access to save states, I never would have been able to beat the game, given how ruthless the game is in this area. With that being said, you may be thinking “What’s the point of bringing this up? Game’s hard, whatever, just get better.” Well, here’s the thing about that… in this game, you get only ONE LIFE before you get a game over. There are no extra lives, and no continues (except for one in the final two stages, because the game was feeling slightly merciful). When you die once, that is it. Now, the game does somewhat make up for this by having the additional characters that you unlock throughout the game be your extra lives, in a sense. However, not only is that a bullshit means of giving the player extra lives, but if a character does die, they are dead for good, which really sucks, especially for what kind of game this is. I don’t know why Techmo decided that Double Dragon III should be a kick in the dick in both forms, but nonetheless, here we are, and I am not that happy.

Overall, despite making the gameplay feel like it won’t snap in half if handled incorrectly, as well as introducing several new mechanics that I actually really liked, the game in its entirety is a brutal test of endurance, one that doesn’t feel that satisfying to finally take out, and one that just makes you feel drained and wasted once it is over. I didn’t hate the entire experience, but once again, it is a far cry from what the first two games gave us. I would recommend it for fans of Double Dragon, but aside from that, there would be no reason for you to check this out. Now if you excuse me, I am gonna go hang out with my two best friends, Bimmy and Jilly, who definitely share no resemblance to Billy or Jimmy in any way.

Game #312