Double Dragon V The Shadow Falls is a fighting game developed by Leland Interactive Media and published by Tradewest for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis in 1994. A port for the Atari Jaguar developed by Telegames was released the following year. It is an American-produced sequel to the Double Dragon series by Technōs Japan,^[5] who had little to no credited involvement in the development of the game outside of licensing the IP to the publisher outside Japan.

Unlike previous games in the series, which were side-scrolling beat ’em ups, Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls is a head-to-head fighting game based on the Double Dragon animated series in the style of Capcom‘s 1991 arcade-hit Street Fighter II. Technōs would eventually produce their own fighting game based on the 1994 live-action Double Dragon film for the Neo Geo the following year, simply titled Double Dragon.

Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls received mixed reception since it was released for the SNES and Genesis. Critics felt it was an unexceptional but respectable clone of Street Fighter II and gave positive comments in regards to the graphics and the sprite quality. However, the Jaguar version received negative reception from reviewers, who felt that the port did not improve upon the graphics and audio from the 16-bit versions and had a needlessly difficult controls layout.

The title comes from the first episode of the 1993 TV series.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot of the SNES version, showcasing a match between Sekka and Trigger Happy.

Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls is a fighting game that follows the 8-way directional pad/stick and 6-button layout common to most fighting games at the time (including Street Fighter II), consisting of weak, medium and strong punches and kicks. The Genesis version supports the standard 3-button controller (making use of the start button to toggle between punches and kicks), as well as the 6-button controller released the previous year, while the Jaguar version makes use of its 3-button controller for punches and the 3, 6 and 9 keypad buttons for kicks instead. Characters have several special moves, as well as finishing moves called “Overkills” where the losing character has their own unique death animation when defeated by a certain type of basic attack.^[6]

Reception

Reception

Publication	Score
	Atari Jaguar	Sega Genesis	SNES
Electronic Gaming Monthly	6.875 / 10[13]	N/A	5.25 / 10[12]
Game Players	N/A	65%[14]	N/A
M! Games	N/A	N/A	45%[15]
Mega Fun	19%[16]	N/A	N/A
Next Generation	[17]	N/A	N/A
Nintendo Power	N/A	N/A	12.4 / 20[18] 3.1/5[6]
Super Play	N/A	N/A	39%[19]
Video Games (DE)	39%[21]	39%[20]	N/A
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment	6 / 10[24]	8 / 10[23]	7 / 10[22]
Play Time	19%[25]	N/A	N/A
Sega Pro	N/A	63 / 100[26]	N/A
Total!	N/A	N/A	4-[27]
Ultimate Future Games	23%[28]	N/A	N/A

The original release for the SNES generally received mixed reviews. GamePro described the game as an unoriginal but competent Street Fighter II clone with good character sprites and a variety of options.^[29] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly commented that the game would appeal to younger gamers with its cartoon style and easy-to-perform moves, but summarized it as a strictly average entry among the many fighting games on the market.^[12]

References

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b “Evil Exists In Many Forms. None Darker Than The Shadow Master”. EGM². No. 1. Sendai Publishing. July 1994. p. 145.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Castle, Justin (July 21, 2018). “Historical Atari Jaguar UK Magazine Advert/Reviews Collection” (PDF). Issuu. p. 340. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Smith, Jason. “Atari Jaguar Timeline”. jaguarsector.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b DD (October 14, 2012). “JAGUER販売カタログ”. astralunit.blog.fc2.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2018-08-25. Retrieved 2018-10-07.
5. ^ “Retro Review of Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls“, Game Informer 174 (October 2007): 134.