I was excited to finally get my hands on Double Dragon Neon, a
game that I thought would bring back great memories from the old days of my youth. However, after playing Neon for only a few minutes, I realized that those
memories may not have been as great as I thought. Double Dragon Neon isn’t
a bad brawler game. But, I will suggest the brawler genre as a whole that needs some serious
reimagining.
A couple months ago a friend and I sat down to play Streets of Rage 2
on the Sega Genesis Collection. I remembered really enjoying the game
as a kid, but this time I wasn’t having any fun while playing. For me, Streets
of Rage simply didn’t withstand the test of time.
Brawler videogames come out of an era when you would do much of your gaming
in arcades, feeding quarters into a machine with some friends. The ability to
play on the same screen with a buddy, working together to conquer mutual
enemies, was much of the appeal of the brawler genre. Fast forward to present day, and none of that is really all that appealing -- we’re
used to it.
So, what else does the Neon offer besides multiplayer functionality?
Well, not much. You roam around a small game area, punching enemies in the
face, and occasionally there will be a terrain hazard or new foe to change up
the action.