Double Dragon II: The Revenge hits way harder than the first game—right from the start, you watch Marian get gunned down by Willy, the leader of the Black Warriors. No kidnapping this time, just straight-up revenge. The tone’s darker, the punches feel heavier, and you’ve got this simmering rage driving you through every stage.

Gameplay’s still classic side-scrolling brawler action, but they tweaked the controls a bit—spinning kicks and elbow drops feel smoother, though pulling off some of the special moves takes practice. The levels throw everything at you: rooftop chases, underground hideouts, even a weird floating platform section that still messes me up sometimes. And that final boss fight? Brutal, but so satisfying when you finally take Willy down.

It’s one of those NES sequels that actually improves on the original without losing what made it fun in the first place.