Jim rates this game: 4/5Double Dragon II: The Revenge is a side-scrolling beat 'em up produced by Technos originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1988. It is the sequel to Double Dragon, released during the previous year. A home version for the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1989 which differs drastically from the original arcade game. Other home versions were also released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and PC Engine.
A PC Engine version of Double Dragon II: The Revenge was also released exclusively in Japan, which was published by Naxat Soft on March 12, 1993. Released in Super CD-ROM² format, the PC Engine version is based on the NES version of the game instead of the arcade one. The story sequences from the NES version were remade and are now animated, with voice acting featuring Makoto Horikawa (as Billy), Nobutoshi Hayashi (as Jimmy), and Hiroko Emori (as Marian) among other actors.
There are other few slight changes to the game as well. While the gameplay is the same, the graphics have been remade completely and the soundtrack consist almost entirely of new music (with the exception of the final boss theme and the closing credits theme). Some of the levels designs have been altered and the order of Mission 4 and 5 (the Undersea Base and the Forest of Death) were switched. The PC Engine version allows the player to reach the final stage in any of the three difficulty settings, making the game closer to the Japanese Famicom version in this regard than its western NES counterpart. However, the ending changes depending on the difficulty setting, with the full ending shown only when the player completes the hardest setting.