An official website for Double Dragon 4 emerges online, confirming several features including Story, Duel and Tower Modes, as well as Share Play on PS4.
Earlier this month Arc System Works, current owners of the Double Dragon property, announced plans to release a new game in celebration of the series 30th anniversary. Double Dragon IV would be a follow-up to the three original Double Dragon games, prior to the series branching off in a different direction post-Nintendo Entertainment System. Arc System Works has since published an official website for Double Dragon IV, offering up new details on the sequel.
The most prominent revelation on the Double Dragon IV website is a timeline informing players as to where the co-op brawler fits in the series' canon. Double Dragon isn't Dark Souls in any sense, with regards to lore and history, but fans learned to appreciate what few story details were there during the NES era. The timeline is now as follows:
- Double Dragon
- Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stones
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge
- Double Dragon IV
In the original Double Dragon, Billy and Jimmy rescue Billy's kidnapped girlfriend Marian from the Black Warriors. In Double Dragon III, Marian is once again kidnapped (though in Japan's version, Marian isn't in the game at all) and Billy and Jimmy must travel the world to inevitably save her from an Egyptian curse. In Double Dragon II, the Black Warriors straight up kill Marian and the Double Dragons are simply out for vengeance. With Marian out of the picture, where will Double Dragon IV go?
Unfortunately the new website provides scant Double Dragon IV story hints. Players can expect both Billy and Jimmy to be back with plenty of the memorable Black Warriors enemy types also returning. There don't appear to be any alternative protagonists like Chin Seimei and Yagyu Ranzou in Double Dragon III, but there is an image with dialogue teasing Billy and Jimmy traveling to San Francisco.
In addition to helping reestablish the Double Dragon canon, the new official website also goes over some of the game modes and features of Double Dragon IV. Story Mode is a given, but Double Dragon IV will also feature both Duel Mode and Tower Mode. Duel Mode turns Double Dragon into a fighting game, with new characters being unlocked by playing through the story - including the bulky, bald, behemoth Abobo. Tower Mode is as it sounds: defeat rooms of enemies to climb the tower, unlocking new characters to play as along the way.
Finally, Arc System Works also announced that the Share Play feature will be enable for PlayStation 4. A player who owns Double Dragon IV will be able to invite another player online to play the game -- even if that second player does not own the game. Unfortunately the Share Play has a 1-hour time limit, which makes Story Mode all but impossible, but the other Modes should work perfectly. Local co-op and online co-op between two people who both own the game will work fine.
Double Dragon IV is planned for release on PC and PlayStation 4 on January 30.