Franchise: Double Dragon
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Rage of the Dragons was originally conceived by the Mexican development team Evoga Entertainment as a sequel to the Neo Geo version of Double Dragon, but they were unable to obtain the intellectual rights to use the series' characters from the then-current license holder Million (who would later go on to make Double Dragon Advance). Instead, they chose to turn it into a tribute to the Double Dragon series, with several original characters sharing names and other similarities to Double Dragon characters. Double Dragon creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto criticized Rage of the Dragons' close resemblance to the series in a 2012 interview:
In contrast, he defended the freely-distributed fan game Abobo's Big Adventure, which ripped several sprites from the first Double Dragon game:
"I personally had nothing to do with Rage of the Dragons and neither did the license holders, so, technically, it's illegal. But Million is a small company and it doesn't have the finances necessary to stop people from creating Double Dragon spin-offs."
In contrast, he defended the freely-distributed fan game Abobo's Big Adventure, which ripped several sprites from the first Double Dragon game:
"I don't mind if people use the [Double Dragon] series as long as they make quality products. There are titles out there that, for example, use the 'Double Dragon' name but have a ninja as the main character, and that's the kind of thing that bothers me. I just want people to protect the franchise by upholding a certain quality in whatever they're making."
2002 Evoga interview:
https://doubledragon.kontek.net/interviews/evoga-rotd.html
2016 Evoga interviews (in Spanish):
https://bonusstage.mx/evoga-entertainment-entrevista/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCsbPxhruyo&t=3731s
2012 Yoshihisa Kishimoto interview:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191129111402/https://www.polygon.com/2012/10/12/3495124/the-man-who-created-double-dragon
https://doubledragon.kontek.net/interviews/evoga-rotd.html
2016 Evoga interviews (in Spanish):
https://bonusstage.mx/evoga-entertainment-entrevista/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCsbPxhruyo&t=3731s
2012 Yoshihisa Kishimoto interview:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191129111402/https://www.polygon.com/2012/10/12/3495124/the-man-who-created-double-dragon
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The series struggles to maintain a consistent art style after the first game. Though fans found this inconsistency is part of their charm, the series' creator, Yoshihisa Kishimoto, had always lamented that to be the case:
"Many different people worked on Double Dragon's graphics over the years, and Technos often outsourced the game design to external companies, so there was no consistency to the branding or the quality," he says. "I personally find it unfortunate, but that's the way Technos handled its titles."
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In the first Double Dragon game, Billy Lee wears blue and has blonde hair whilst Jimmy Lee wears red and has brown hair. After this, there have been inconsistencies with this between box art and game releases.
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There exists a version of the original Double Dragon made specifically for the Zeebo, a niche console sold in Brasil, Mexico, Russia, India and China. Like Double Dragon Advance, it was a remake that was built completely from the ground up as its own separate game. This version included six missions composed of reworked adaptations of missions 1, 2 and 4 from the original Double Dragon, and three completely new missions. Also included were new enemy and boss characters, and a total of 18 unlockable characters for the game's Extra Battle Mode.
subdirectory_arrow_right Double Dragon Advance (Game)
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The green palette swap of Abobo is actually named Mibobo. This is revealed in Double Dragon Advance where the name was used in a cutscene. It is likely the name is a play on the name Abobo and the Japanese word for green, "midori".