Double the Rage, Double the Dragon.
Rage of the Dragons originally released for the Neo Geo back in 2002. With a healthy amount of competition in the market, especially from SNK, whom the title shares in its comparable and stunning sprite work, it was a game that stood out with its deep and rewarding mechanics. With heavily details stages, slick animations, and a host of intentionally familiar characters, Rage of Dragons became a bit of a cult hit, especially as it originally started out as a new entry in the Double Dragon series.
Originally intended as a sequel to 1995’s Double Dragon, both developers Evoga and Noise Factory co-developed the title but Evoga was unable to secure the use of the license from the newly owned rights holder in Million, the developers of Double Dragon Advance. While a great deal of work had already begun, Evoga would then have to adapt and alter their design before sending off to Noise Factory to finish the visuals, sound, and programming. While it’s not an official entry in the series by any means, a passionate fanbase does consider it to be part of the series nonetheless.
Despite having to go their own way, Rage of the Dragons has a ton of connectivity to Double Dragon. Its lead fighters are named Billy and Jimmy, but have the last name change in Lewis to be as legally distinct as they can be. Abobo, the boss from the original Double Dragon is here as Abubo and is surrounded by imitations of both Linda and Mariah, who are known to fans of the original series.
What was true back then is still true today as Rage of the Dragons is bursting with bright color and stunning animation. With the game’s final two bosses now available as playable fighters, it brings the roster size up to 16 alongside some wonderfully animated backgrounds. When it comes to a strong comparison to its original contemporaries, I would say that only SNK’s own Mark of the Wolves comes even close.
Across the original cast of 14, there are seven pairs of characters. Each pairing is based on certain character factors such as Jimmy being paired with Sonia as they both have a desire to see the Black Dragon’s boss put under, with Sonia falling in love with Jimmy after initially fighting him. Lynn Baker has a similar thing with Billy as she developed a bit of a crush on the young sibling during her training. Cassandra, a proficient street fighter, joins this bout with her adoptive brother, Oni, hoping to stave her brother’s blood lust. Additional fighters then include a Black Dragon hunter Radel, his guide, Annie Murakami, Elias, and his psychiatric patient in Alice, allies in Pepe Rodriguez and Pupa Salgueiro, and fellow fighters in Mr. Jones, and Kang Jae-mo. As the bosses have been made playable, the roster extends to 16 with Abubo and Johann.
Rage of the Dragons uses a four-button setup across light and hard punches and kicks. There is a wide range of special attacks, including one that causes your character to charge as you pull off a series of commands to land the combo. This is alongside double tap dashes, neutral standing dodges, and guard cancels. It would also find similarities to other SNK games with a parry counter, a variety of ranged jumps, to rolling away from danger. While Rage of the Dragons NEO may be simplistic in its modes and offerings, it is a mechanically deep game that comes with a stark difficulty to show for it.
What is also relevant to how the game plays is through a pretty decent tag system. While there are chosen pairs, you are free to swap out and find team dynamics that work for you. The tag system relies upon a gauge that has a cooldown before you can use it again. However, there is an assist setting present in the options to modify how it functions. The tag system can be used to great effect such as using your first attack move to catch an opponent off guard and tag in your opponent to finish what could be a devastating combo. The tag system also benefits from Team Duplex Attacks that feature the game’s paired characters on screen at once, attacking together.
The game also features a fairly decent training mode that can add the move list on screen to benefit from knowing the proper joystick directions to pull off the various kick and punch alternatives, such as Billy’s Axe Kick or Slash Cross, to Cassandra’s Slide Kick or her super move in the White Wave. It can certainly take a bit of practice to wrap your head around some commands, especially with how rich and deep the mechanics can be, but you’ll need to really learn the ropes to even have a chance against Johann. This guy is incredibly cheap and has some intense projectiles that require the mastery of the roll.
Online has all the bells and whistles one would expect from a fighting game these days including Rollback Netcode, which is pretty crucial in the modern era. You can take in some casual matches or work your way up from Rookie to Dragon rank as you commit to showing your power. You can create lobbies, check out replays or leaderboards, or just load up a match and find an opponent. That said, there is no crossplay, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is.
Additionally, there is more to tinker with as you have Dragon’s Challenges that have you work through tiers of particular tasks. For example, your first challenge sees you taking on 2 teams plus Abubo, with each tier increasing the team count. Each challenge then has its own special ruleset from restoring more health or time to the timer. It’s a decent little addition that can certainly be tough. Add in a jukebox to sample the tunes and you are all set.
What I really enjoyed with Rage of the Dragons is there are a bevy of settings to make the experience a tad easier than the incredibly hard combat that comes from being a total newbie to this game. While there are filters and backgrounds to aid in the 4:3 ratio gameplay, you have a variety of accessibility settings that really help a lot. When you load up an arcade battle, you can choose from three tiers of EASY, three tiers of NORMAL, and two tiers of HARD. You can adjust the timer speed, the timer itself, to assists with Health, Timer, Tag Meter, and barriers. You can increase the amount of health regained back on a KO as well as the time added to the timer. While these don’t make the initial fight easier, they do aid in finishing off the second opponent.
Rage of the Dragons is not only a great successor to what would have been a great Double Dragon fighter, but it almost plays like one of the best SNK games out there. It’s a colorful and vibrant Neo Geo game that while got a lot of love back in the day, the limited reach it had back then is over. While we are eating good for fighting games in 2024, Rage of the Dragons is a solid snack that you should certainly add to your buffet of great titles this year. With solid character designs, gorgeous pixel art, and a deep and rewarding combat system, there is a lot to like here and get lost in.
Developer - Evoga, Noise Factory, QUByte Interactive.
Publisher - QUByte Interactive. Released - November 14th, 2024. Available On - Xbox One/Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Switch, PC. Rated - (T) - Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes. Platform Reviewed - Xbox Series X/S. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.