Streets of Rage, Final Fight, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, and other beat-’em-ups owe their existence-- at least in part - to Double Dragon. 25 years ago, this quarter-muncher pitted brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee against the Black Warriors gang as they raced to save Marian from their evil clutches. It was a tough nut to crack playing solo, a bit easier playing with a friend, and having extra quarters or tokens to continue was all but a requisite. Double Dragon spawned several sequels and remakes in the years that followed, including getting the HD port treatment on the Xbox 360 in 2007 and a remake on iOS platforms in 2011.

Double Dragon: NEON is a brand new game, developed by WayForward Technologies for XBLA and PSN. While it uses many of the same characters from previous Double Dragon titles, the stages and character design are much different and give NEON its own identity. 10 stages of play makes for a decent length, and it’s possible to replay past stages to collect power-ups to strengthen Billy and Jimmy before the final showdown with Skullmageddon in order to save Marian once again.

The beat-’em-up action in Double Dragon: NEON is satisfying and a lot of fun, playing either alone or “bro-op” with a partner. Punches, kicks, throws, and combinations are easy to learn, and players will need to be cognizant of enemy attack patterns to avoid taking unnecessary damage along the way. Unlike in the arcade, losing all your lives and continuing doesn’t start you where you left off; instead, you start at the beginning of the stage that you lost your last life on. This can be a bit frustrating if you wind up having to start over after reaching the stage boss, since you’ll have to fight all the way back and hope you have enough lives in reserve to take it down.

A new addition to the Double Dragon formula is the mixtape. Mixtapes can either be bought in stores along the way or collected from fallen enemies, and they come in two types. The first type of mixtape unlocks special moves, including spin kicks, knee drops, fireballs, and more. The other type of mixtape unlocks a “stance”, which affects the base stats for Billy or Jimmy. The “Training Wheels” stance, for example, increases base defense and health, so if you don’t play with much finesse (kind of like me), this one helps your character become a tank. There are ten different kinds of special move mixtapes and ten different stance mixtapes. As you collect more of the same mixtape, the special move or stance grows more powerful, so collecting pretty much everything you see is important.

The other major new addition is seen during co-op play, or “bro-op”, as it’s called in NEON’s case. Billy and Jimmy can now pull off special co-op moves, share health, and other things. Health sharing is a great idea and certainly comes in handy over the course of the game as it gets tougher. Co-op play is generally the preferred way to play NEON, and it certainly makes the game a bit easier than having to face Skullmageddon and his army of bad guys all by yourself.

The new character designs may turn fans of the original games off a little bit. They are completely different for Billy, Jimmy, and all of the returning characters. The new designs aren’t necessarily bad, but some of the revisions made me scratch my head. Abobo’s new look, for example, is pretty dreadful and isn’t reminiscent at all of the earlier games. Once you get past the new character looks, though, the rest of the game looks very good. The frame rate is smooth, the game is fairly colorful, and WayForward did some pretty neat things with light versus dark areas.

The soundtrack for Double Dragon: NEON is, in a word, awesome. Remixed tracks from previous Double Dragon games are scattered throughout this very 80s-style collection of tracks during the game, and they are brilliant. Surf, rock, dance, and other genres are all represented. If you listen to the music while choosing which mixtapes to use, you’ll hear an individual song for each. The track that plays for the “Desperation” stance, for example, could be mistaken for a forgotten Depeche Mode B-side. Along with the great soundtrack, there’s a bit of comedic voice acting that can be heard. Billy and Jimmy have one-liners, usually after dispatching enemies with a specific weapon. Perhaps the best lines can be heard at the very beginning of the game, just after Marian’s capture: “Marian? Aw, man... not this again!”

I was really impressed with Double Dragon: NEON. For $10, it’s a throwback game that maintains the spirit of the original Double Dragon games and even manages to bring some new ideas to the table. There are a few problems here and there, such as cheap enemies and a bit too much repetition in terms of enemy types (and don't get started on Abobo's new design), but this feels like it could have actually been an arcade game... and that is, perhaps, the highest recommendation for a game that bears the Double Dragon name.