Taito
Double Dragon

Reading the nostalgic reviews on video games, I noticed that the present has been mentioned several times and never reviewed. Being a lover of Amarcord (also of Fellini's film), hoping to do a pleasant thing, I try to review a "giant" of my youth.

Anno Domini 1987. The "twins" began to be all the rage in the famous bar that hosted "Ghost 'n Goblins" and "Golden Axe." The first, blond, blue eyes, a matching colored uniform. The second, if called, red, red eyes (?), likewise in uniform. After parking what is presumed to be a Ferrari in the Matin garage, they dive headlong into a really resounding sequence of punches, always to free this damned girl (then men are bastards...).

It was beautiful to listen to the sound effects generated by each well-placed punch, amusedly and undoubtedly thinking of the slaps from Bud Spencer and Terence Hill. It was beautiful to see hitting the enemies with then intense violence. Grabbing them by the hair and smashing their noses with a good dose of knee strikes to then have them fly onto the pavement. Who didn't enjoy doing this in slow motion to see them bounce on their toes with each received knee strike? Come on, throw the first stone! Of course, we were naughty kids!

We started with the "hooligans" or "workers," ugly thugs in tank tops that you beat up with a certain ease. The "prostitutes" (I wonder why violent women in video games always have to be prostituted!) in purple latex and unauthorized lipstick who beat you with a series of lashes. The giant who appeared after the Beetle ad, breaking down a curtain of bricks. That one was terrifying. Especially if he wore you down with three heavy punches in rapid succession. You could throw petrol barrels, trash cans or hit him with sticks, whips, knives but he was always formidable.

Then it continued in the "elevator" scene. Short but intense, where unfortunately you met the "greens." Good-looking guys in emerald uniforms and light eyes. Tough nuts who used your same lynching methods and possessed your same dynamism. Sources of a good stream of invectives if they hit you with elbows, a highly favored and definitely effective technique. The curses then hovered if you fell into the pit beyond the wire fence, or if from that damned green elevator they surrounded you to cut you down to size.

And the forest? The antechamber of the final scene was the longest level, where you couldn't afford to lose your life, assuming the possibilities of dying were really many. You could be stunned by the slap squarely from “A-Team," blown up by a stick of dynamite, crushed by the boulder that "Hulk" threw at you or maybe retrieve the first calendar available and rail against the saints of the month if you fell into the water while trying to get past the gap left by the planks dislodged from the wooden bridge. And there many flew by.

Is it over? Noooo! Reaching the palace of the "final boss," you had to deal with decorative devils attempting to skewer you with lances, calculate the distances and movements well to avoid a block of travertine pushing you to a fakir's floor and, after meeting again a large delegation of previously defeated enemies, there arrived, with all calm and armed with a submachine gun, the "boss" who could send you to the next world with a single burst of lead.

Great video game accompanied by a beautiful and unforgettable (for those who spent the days there like myself) soundtrack that I still love to whistle. It wasn't of high difficulty, actually you finished it often and kept playing it, mainly in pairs, just for the pure pleasure of completing it. On that occasion, we organized paired teams and challenged each other putting a bar consumption at stake for whoever finished the game. An ice cream or a Coca-Cola.

And now I also understand why the second twin had red eyes. He was angry to death. I explain: at the end of the adventure, after having eliminated the last obstacle, the girl would throw herself "only" into the arms of the blond twin! The red one must have thought: "What gratitude! I have swollen hands, two cut wounds, a few dozen bruises, and a dangling molar and you only kiss him?" Indeed, he was right. And who hasn't delighted in watching her panties that could be glimpsed during the kiss, eh? Old graters!

But oh, how we knew how to have fun with 200 lire! What beautiful youth! Amarcord!