Many may have forgotten about last year’s Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons — and for good reason. The roguelike beat-em-up revival, which put a big emphasis on its cooperative team attacks, launched without online co-op. That sounds like a death sentence, but developer Secret Base will remedy this very soon.
On April 4th, the new Sacred Reunion DLC pack will be released for free and its premier addition is online multiplayer. Better late than never, I suppose, but online co-op isn’t the only thing coming with this update. Sacred Reunion will bring three new characters and two additional modes to help get the most out of DD Gaiden’s combat system.
Rise of the Dragons – New Fighters
Probably the most substantial of the new content, DD Gaiden will be adding Sonny Lee, Ranzou, and Chin Sei Mei to the roster. Those first two characters hail from Double Dragon IV (not to be confused with Super Double Dragon on SNES) while Chin Sei Mei is finally returning to the fray after last being featured in Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones. The characters have their own unique fighting styles and will feature new team-up attacks with the existing roster.
Rise of the Dragons – New Modes
The first of two new modes being added to DD Gaiden is “Survival Mode.” A new staple in beat-em-ups, survival mode is exactly as it sounds: an endless mode where your own objective is to survive. Working much like Streets of Rage 4’s own survival mode, players will take on increasingly difficult waves of enemies until they eventually get thwarted. You’ll find power-ups in between rounds that will help you deal with the ever-toughening foes ahead.
The second of the new modes is “Versus Mode.” A clear callback to the original Double Dragon on NES, versus mode pits up to four fighters against each other in a brawl to the death… well, maybe not death. You can team up with a friend for a 2v2 battle or go for a massive brawl: the choice is yours. The mode will also feature upgrades for your characters and other modifiers to keep battles fresh.
Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons is currently available on Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The Sacred Reunion DLC will be available on April 4th, 2024.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
