Atari Jaguar #11: Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls

 

Developer: Telegames

Publisher: Williams

Release Date: April 5, 1995

Having a blog based on my own whims can get me into trouble sometimes. For example, I probably shouldn't have written about Fight for Life already. In the hierarchy of Atari Jaguar fighting games, it's the Plan 9 From Outer Space. It's a game made to be written about and studied. I got Jaguar's worst and funniest fighting game out of the way first so I could spend the rest of my time talking about the boring leftovers. How am I going to get an interesting article out of Double Dragon V? The only thing that's interesting about it is the franchise it's connected to. Double Dragon was a powerhouse in the NES era, but by 1995 it had fallen onto hard times. It feels like Double Dragon should've been riding high. There was both a cartoon series and live action movie based on the franchise around the same time, but Double Dragon V would be the end of the road for the main series. I wish there was a terrible 3D Double Dragon game on PlayStation because I'm sure that would be fun to talk about, but alas, it mostly ends here. Of course, after playing it I can see why.

Double Dragon V tries something that almost never works. It switches genres from the previous titles. Fighting games were all the rage in the mid-90s, and the Double Dragon team probably felt like they helped create the genre, but all the previous games had been side-scrolling beat-em-ups. It's a type of game they were quite good at making. By 1994 the gaming world was awash with mediocre fighting games, and I don't think anyone wanted to see their beloved franchises turn into one. This wasn't a spin-off after all, it was the next main game in the series. Of course, all would be forgiven if they made a high-quality game, but unfortunately it has the same shallowness of previous Double Dragon games with none of the charm. 

The first thing I noticed booting up the game was that I didn't recognize any of the characters besides protagonists Billy and Jimmy Lee. Apparently, most of the other characters are from the cartoon show, which I never saw despite being obsessed with both video games and cartoons at the time. I mean, I saw the Mutant League show, and that one was obscure and terrible. However, I can tell that they didn't bring over all the characters from the cartoon because the women characters are oddly sexualized. I don't have a problem with games including a playable dominatrix on general principal, but it does show that the developers weren't quite sure what they wanted to do with this game. It's a mature game based on a children's show that it hardly even references. They really just wanted to turn into Mortal Kombat without the conviction to actually do so.

This attitude crosses over to the gameplay. It doesn't have the martial arts focus of the earlier games or the over-the-top violence and special moves of Mortal Kombat. I honestly couldn't figure out how to do any of the special moves. I think they require the keypad which only adds to the confusion. Luckily, the opponents don't know the special moves very well either. So, this one becomes an oddly slow-paced button masher. It moves quickly enough, but none of the attacks seem to do much damage. Most of the matches I played ended with the timer running out, which is never good in a fighting game. I did wonder if I could take advantage of this. I tried spamming a couple of hits and then avoiding damage for the rest of the match, but that didn't work. So at least this is a game you actually have to pay attention to. I will say that much. It just doesn't end up making much of an impact. I don't want my Double Dragon game to be a skeleton dude mashing out punches until time runs out. It just doesn't work, and since this is a game nobody's ever heard of despite being released for SNES and Genesis, I suppose the world agrees with me. 

My Jaguar journey has now gotten into a slow, boring grind. I have reviewed many of its most infamous games and have to get through the garden variety bad ones. I'm afraid that if I want to keep my sanity, I might have to do something that I have been avoiding. I might have to actually start reviewing some good Jaguar games. I know that's not what anyone wants, but it's going to happen eventually. Unless you want me to review White Men Can't Jump first. That's definitely the funniest game I have left. Of course that's a discussion for another day. Double Dragon V is in the red section, but it's the new benchmark for bad Jaguar games. It's the highest ranked one at #7 and #153 overall. It splits the two racing games being worse than Atari Karts and better than Checkered Flag. I can't say I have all that much confidence in Jaguar's racing and fighting games. Too bad they didn't make more pinball games. Apparently, they are the only ones I like.

Atari Jaguar Quality Percentage: 2/11 or 18.18%

Atari Jaguar #10: Missile Command 3D

 

Developer: Virtuality Entertainment

Publisher: Atari

Release Date: December 12, 1995

Atari has always loved nostalgia, so it's surprising how little of an impact their classic games had on the Jaguar. There is one notable exception that I will get to eventually, but most of their attempts at updating classic games came out at the tail end of the console's life with practically no one noticing. Maybe it was just too soon. Atari would find success in the late 90s with a wave of nostalgic updates, but maybe during the Jaguar era that demographic was just too young. Or maybe the Jaguar was just cursed and nothing would've ever worked. That's a distinct possibility as well. Missile Command 3D is one of three Jaguar games directly based on a popular Atari 2600 game, and it was certainly a game that still had legs in the 90s. I know I had the Game Boy version of the original, and I used to play it all the time. It was one of my favorite old arcade games, and I would've loved an updated version. So how could Missile Command 3D Fail? It's not like every Jaguar game is a sad mess that shows just how lost Atari was. They're not all failures in the same predictable ways. That's only true for 95% of them. Maybe Missile Command 3D will be the exception.

Missile Command 3D is not the exception. It's not as much of a disaster as we've come to expect from the Jaguar, but the errors become apparent very quickly. It's the same story as so many other Jaguar games. It looks great, but the developers just didn't know how to turn it into a good game. Missile Command is a game that is meant to fit all on one screen. The whole fun of it is that you can see the missiles coming and watch them blow up with satisfying chain reactions. You can discover this too if you have a copy of Missile Command 3D. They very wisely include a version of the original game. It's fun on Jaguar, and if the enhanced version was just the original game with better graphics and tighter controls it might be a minor winner. Unfortunately, they had to go and get cute with it. 

The developers decided to make everything bigger in the main 3D mode, which sounds like a good idea but does nothing except slow the gameplay down. Now the levels scroll, and there is a large amount of space between the cities and top of the screen. This would be alright if the game was still fast and exciting. I think they overcompensated a bit to make up for the bigger space. Everything is slowed down to a ridiculous degree, especially in the earlier levels. Those enemy missiles inch along giving you plenty of time to aim, and your missiles take a couple of seconds to reach their targets. For an arcade game this is just too slow. Things do get hectic a few levels in, but it still feels sluggish. There are just more slow things happening at once. It's not painful to play, but it certainly doesn't come anywhere close to the classic original game. 

Because this was the mid 90s, the other included game is inexplicably called virtual mode. I have no idea what is supposed to be virtual about it other than the first-person perspective, but it's a little bit better than the 3D mode. It moves the action underwater with a variety of different enemies and weapons to choose from. This mode is closer to the Missile Command expansion I was looking for. It's an update of the original formula that includes more modern touches like power-ups and boss fights. It even has multiple environments including outer space. I couldn't progress that far thanks to a couple of difficult bosses, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.

Sadly, Missile Command 3D did not keep my attention for very long. Even virtual mode played like a slowed-down version of the original arcade game, and that's only going to be interesting for so long. I'm just not sure Missile Command is a game that can be adapted well. It's such a specific game that needs specific mechanics to function. The developers here tried out making the screen slightly bigger and it messed everything up. I'm sure I have other Missile Command sequels to play that will hopefully change my mind, but Missile Command 3D sure makes me feel like some games are best left in the past.

Of course this is a Jaguar game, so while it might rank lower on a different console, Missile Command 3D is in the middle of my Jaguar rankings. It's in the "bad but not shameful" section right above Atari Karts. I guess I'd rather play an iffy arcade update than a poorly made kart racer. Someday this list will include a good Jaguar game that isn't pinball, but that day will have to wait. I have now reviewed 20% of the Jaguar cartridge games, so at this rate there should be 10 good ones. I sure hope that isn't an overestimate. There must've been something Atari did right. 

Atari Jaguar Quality Percentage: 2/10 or 20%

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