[{"TitleName":"Double Dragon","Publisher":"Melbourne House","Author":"Ben Jackson, Danny S. Whelan, David Leitch, Jeremy Nelson, Fernando San Gregorio","YearOfRelease":"1989","ZxDbId":"0001456","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 61, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.25","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-26","Editor":"Dominic Handy","TotalPages":100,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Dominic Handy\r\nAssistant Editor: Stuart Wynne\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Raffaele Cecco, Ian Cull, Ian Doggett, Paul Evans, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page, Ian Phillipson\r\nEditorial Assistants: Caroline Blake, Vivienne Vickress\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nSenior Designer: Wayne Allen\r\nDesigners: Melvin Fisher, Yvonne Priest\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Andrew Smales\r\nAssistants: Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop the Sticky Solutions Department a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1989\r\n\r\nISSN 0954-8661\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Binary's terrible twosome\r\n\r\nProducer: Melbourne House\r\nTake-away Price: £9.95 cass\r\nAuthor: Binary Design\r\n\r\nSosaiken Masters? Never heard of them? Well, all you need to know is; Kung Fu experts, plenty tough. Billy and Jimmy Lee are twin brothers and Sosawhatsit Masters (not to mention relations of Bruce, no doubt). Obviously only a complete and utter nutter would mess with them, and his name's Shadow Boss, the leader of the Black Warriors. He's had Billy's girl Marian kidnapped and hidden in his hide-out...\r\n\r\nThe brothers' high-kicking quest takes them through city streets, warehouses, forests, mountains and caverns. Ranged against them are six villainous types, including the machine gun-armed Shadow Boss himself. Initially the villains may attack singly, but most often two or three take on our heroes. Unarmed they're easy meat - except the massive Abobo - but pretty soon they've got knives, baseball bats, whips and oil drums. If knocked to the ground, villains drop their weapons, which you should grab swiftly. Knives and oil drums are thrown, while the bats and whips are held to bash enemies. Lives are lost when energy falls to zero, but if there's a credit left, fire brings you back to life. If only one player is taking part the enemies remain the same, but then there's no-one to share credits with and 'accidentally' bash you.\r\n\r\nThe game is made up of five levels, two which are split into two loads making seven loads in all. Once a level is finished you may choose to replay it, for practice or points, at the cost of a credit per player. There's no advantage for 128 owners and the multiload is both slow and cumbersome.\r\n\r\nGameplay is very much like Target; Renegade, but much easier - Phil's already completed it. Background graphics are both varied and quite good, but character graphics are disappointing. Sound effects are muffled thumps with a noise like a plastic mouse being squeezed for the screams of the whip wielding (these Assistant Eds get up to some strange things when mice are involved - Ed). Entertaining for an hour or so, Double Dragon's appeal soon wears off.\r\n\r\nSTUART 62%\r\n\r\nTHE ESSENTIALS\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: animation is a bit jerky and backgrounds over-colourful\r\nSound: no tunes, only simple biffing, groaning and squeaking effects\r\nOptions: one or two players","ReviewerComments":["Yawn, another mediocre beat-'em-up. Once you're in the right position on screen you can kill all your opponents in a few swift strikes. This is a pity as there's an unusually large variety of weapons, including boulders you can drop on your opponents. Backgrounds graphics are good, but there's a lot of colour clash. Must try harder, Binary Design.\r\nNick Roberts\r\n69%","The best bit about this game is how, in two-player mode, you injure your colleague - in which case he's likely to return the punch (in real life!). The various fighting sprites move fairly jerkily, although enemies such as the Frank Bruno and Mel Croucher lookalikes are well drawn. Sound is also weak no tunes whatsoever. Travelling through the levels is initially fun, especially with a friend to help you, but the real problem with Double Dragon is that it's far too easy. When you've completed it - on about the second attempt - you're unlikely to return to it.\r\nPhil King\r\n60%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Nothing special, even with the two-player mode, and too easy to have much lasting appeal.","Page":"66","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"69","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Stuart Wynne","Score":"62","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"60","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Who's lurking behind the green door, Shakin' Stevens perhaps!?"}],"BlurbText":[{"Text":"DOUBLE TROUBLE\r\n\r\nUse kicks to see off the Frank Bruno lookalikes.\r\n\r\nWhen you knock someone down, stand over them to hit them as soon as they get up.\r\n\r\nWhen you get to stage 5A, keep jumping to the right to get over the moving blocks.\r\n\r\nAt the very end of the game, continually perform flying kicks to kill the big guy with the machine gun."}],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"66%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"64%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"63%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"64%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"64%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 87, Apr 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-03-21","Editor":"Richard Eddy","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Richard Eddy\r\nSub Editor: Warren Lapworth\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Nick Roberts, Lloyd Mangram\r\nArt Editor: Mark Kendrick\r\nPhotography: Michael Parkinson\r\nProduction and Circulation Director: Jonathan Rignall\r\nSystems Operator: Paul (Charlie) Chubb\r\nReprographics: Matthew Uffindell (Supervisor), Robert Millichamp, Robb Hamilton, Tim Morris, Jenny Reddard\r\nGroup Advertisement Manager: Judith Bamford\r\nAdvertisement Sales Executive: Christine Moore\r\nAdvertisement Production: Jackie Morris (Supervisor), Joanne Lewis\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Caroline Edwards [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting Apple Macintosh Computers using Quark Express and Bitstream Fonts.\r\n\r\nSystems Manager: Ian Chubb\r\n\r\nColour origination Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by BPCC Business Magazines (Carlisle) Ltd, [redacted].\r\n\r\nDistributor COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nYearly subscription rates: UK £17.20 Europe £24.00, Air Mail overseas £37. US/Canada subscriptions and back issues enquiries Barry Hatcher, British Magazine Distributors Ltd [redacted]. Yearly subscription rates US$47.00, Canada CAN$57.00 Back Issues US$5.20, Canada CAN$6.20 (inclusive of postage). \r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available; If something untoward happens we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop us a line). No person who is related, no matter how remotely, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions.\r\n\r\nNo material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH - including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material on 35mm transparencies is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates. Copy published in CRASH will be edited as seen fit and payment will be calculated according to the current printed word rate. The views expressed in CRASH are not necessarily those of the publishers.\r\n\r\nCopyright CRASH Ltd 1991 A Newsfield Publication. ISSN 0954-8661. Cover design and illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Mastertronic Plus\r\n£2.99\r\n\r\nDodgy beat-'em-up for one or two players. Bash through levels full of armed attackers to rescue your girlie.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"50","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Nick Roberts","Score":"42","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"42%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 38, Feb 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1989-01-10","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nArt Editor: Catherine Higgs\r\nDeputy Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nStaff Writer: Duncan MacDonald\r\nDesigner: Thor Goodall\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Guy Bennignton, Richard Blaine, Ciaran Brennan, Jonathan Davies, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Catherine Peters, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Phil South, Ben Stone\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Stephen Bloy\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nAdvertisement Production: Katherine Balchin\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nPublisher: Terry Grimwood\r\nFinance Director: Colin Crawford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\nChairman: Felix Dennis\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1989 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"Melbourne House\r\n£9.95 cass\r\nReviewer: Jonathan Davies\r\n\r\nIt's as if these Eastern types didn't have anything better to do all day. I mean, all we seem to hear about is them dashing about, laying into each other with kicks, headbutts and other assorted acts of violence. Distinctly unsporting, and probably completely untrue too.\r\n\r\nBut whatever the reason, they're at it again. Once again the dimly-lit backstreets of the city echo to the sound of arms being dislocated, kneecaps being cracked and plans for future generations of karate trainees being abruptly terminated. And as usual it's all over a woman. Yup, a damsel in distress, being held prisoner by the Black Warriors. Squawk! Sexism! just as well we Spectrum owners are a pretty unimpressionable lot.\r\n\r\nAs we previewed this one many millennia ago, I don't need to mention that it's a conversion of the very juicy coin-op, it multiloads (even on 128K) and it's possible to have two players doing it at once thence Double y'see). Or that it pits you against literally(ish) billions of different assailants, all armed to the tonsils and bitterly opposed to your policies regarding the rescue of the aforementioned damsel.\r\n\r\nIt was also pointed out that the graphics are quite good. Sort of 3D, with bits you can climb up, in order to leap down onto your opponent with a toenail-curdling scream. (You have to supply that, as the sound FX are pretty seedy.)\r\n\r\nAs is normal in predicaments of this type, the only way to tackle the game is to battle through a number of scrolling levels. Five actually, although a couple of them are broken down into two loads. Due to the system of 'credits' used, losing your last life doesn't necessarily mean packing it in, dumping the computer out the window and going off to soothe your fevered brow with an iced Ribena. Just press fire, watch your score reset to zero and carry on the fight. This means you should get to see most of the levels without too much hassle, although, as in the arcade, you tend to run out of ten pees at the crucial moment.\r\n\r\nYou'll remember that I said there were quite a few baddies to contend with. Well there are, and quite a few of them come armed with an implement which, if left in their hands, could cause serious remodelling of your anatomy. The answer is, of course, a wellplaced kick in the fruit counter. This causes them to be parted from their weapon so you can use it for your own enjoyment. Once in possession of their knife, whip or whatever you're in with a much better chance of success, particularly against those big guys who just never seem to give up.\r\n\r\nHo-hum, you're thinking. So what? I've been beating the egg fu-yung out of ninjas for years, what's so special about this one? Ah ha, well the fun doesn't really start until you get one of your chums to come round and plug himself into joystick port two. Then you can distract one of the baddies while your accomplice nips round and gives him one on the botty. Much more relaxing than being out-numbered 89 to one and getting duffed up before you've even had a chance to work out which bloke you're s'posed to be in control of.\r\n\r\nIt's a perfectly respectable conversion of the coin-op, on the whole. Nice to look at, great to play, even greater with two players, and plenty of levels to load in if you're into desecrating your tape-deck.\r\n\r\nA generally competent beat em-up, and one you're likely to return to again and, er, again.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Beat and slash like you've never done it before! And try the game too. It's a cracker!","Page":"42,43","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Jonathan Davies","Score":"8","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"7/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"8/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"8/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 62, Feb 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-01-03","Editor":"Matt Bielby","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Matt Bielby\r\nArt Editor: Sal Meddings\r\nProduction Editor: Andy Ide\r\nStaff Writer: Linda Barker\r\nDesign Assistant: Andy Ounsted\r\nContributors: Marcus Berkmann, Jonathan Davies, Cathy Fryett, Mike Gerrard, Duncan MacDonald, Angela Neal, Jon North, Rich Pelley, John Pillar, David Wilson\r\nAdvertising Manager: Simon Moss\r\nPublisher: Greg Ingham\r\nAssistant Publisher: Jane Richardson\r\nPublishing Assistant: Michele Harris\r\nCirculation Director: Sue Hartley\r\nManaging Director: Chris Anderson\r\nProduction Manager: Ian Seager\r\nProduction Coordinator: Melissa Parkinson\r\nSubscriptions: Computer Posting [redacted]\r\nMail Order: The Old Barn [redacted]\r\nPrinters: Riverside Press [redacted]\r\nDistributors: MMC [redacted]\r\n\r\nYour Sinclair is published by Future Publishing Ltd [redacted]\r\n\r\n©Future Publishing 1991. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission."},"MainText":"DOUBLE DRAGON\r\nMastertronic\r\n£2.99\r\nReviewer: Rich Pelley\r\n\r\nYes, it's a beat-'em-up, yes, it's the conversion of that rip-roaring horse-eating arcadester of the same name, and, no, viewers, it isn't that good.\r\n\r\nAs this one is more of a street-fight punch-up the moves are rather more below the belt (some directly below it in fact) than in some beat-'em-ups. In other words, no one's going to mind the odd punch in the head, or knee in the unmentionables (so long, of course, as it's not their head or unmentionables that's getting the treatment). Once nice bit is that everything's done in a realistic sort of 3D walk-into-the-screen sort of a way with plenty of opportunities to interact with the scenery, so you can climb up some of it, pick bits up and chuck it at people, as well use the weapons dropped by baddies. It's not too bad as it stands, but its main problem is that it just gets too boring too soon, even when playing with a friend. Oh, and the graphics are a bit shoddy and it's multiload. Ho hum Right, what's next? (That's your lot. Ed) Oh.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"52","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Rich Pelley","Score":"70","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Yikes, looks like on of your pals just got caught in the left there, matey."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"70%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 82, Jan 1989","Price":"£1.6","ReleaseDate":"1988-12-18","Editor":"Graham Taylor","TotalPages":116,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Graham 'Oh God?' Taylor\r\nDeputy Editor: Jim 'unsound' Douglas\r\nProduction Editor: Alison 'Where's my red pen?' Skeat\r\nArt Editor: Tim 'Woops' Noonan\r\nAdventure: The Sorceress\r\nZapchat: Jon Riglar\r\nTechnical: Andrew Hewson, Rupert Goodwins\r\nContributors: Tony 'leather' Dillon, Chris 'snivel' Jenkins\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Katherine Lee\r\nSenior Sales: Shane Hussien\r\nAd Production: Emma Ward\r\nPublisher's Assistant: Debbie Pearson\r\nPublisher: Terry 'oops there goes another one' Pratt\r\nMarketing: Clive 'cheery' Pembridge\r\n\r\nPhone: [redacted]\r\nFax: [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]\r\n\r\nThis Month's Cover: Jerry 'yee ha!' Parks\r\n\r\nPrinted by Nene River Press, [redacted]\r\nDistributed by EMAP Publications Ltd.\r\n\r\n©Copyright 1988 Sinclair User ISSN No 0262-5458\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: [redacted]\r\n24 Hour Order Line: [redacted]\r\nBack Issues: Back Issues Department (SU), [redacted]"},"MainText":"Label: Melbourne House\r\nAuthor: Binary Design (David Leith)\r\nPrice: £8.99\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nJoystick: various\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nI hope you haven't been holding your breath waiting for this one, because 1) you'll probably have gone blue and died by now, and 2) it wasn't worth the wait. Double Dragon is NOT going to go down in the record books as one of the best-ever coin-op conversions. Far from it.\r\n\r\nYou probably know the plot; it's a martial arts romp in which one or two players can fight to overcome the vicious street gang of the Shadow Boss. As you move through the horizontally-scrolling streets from one section to another, you'll have to overcome a variety of enemies fighting in different styles and with different weapons. If you hope to overcome the baddies, you'll need to take some weapons off them to aid you in your fight.\r\n\r\nIf you've seen Renegade and Target Renegade, you'll get the idea immediately; Target Renegade, especially, is very much like Double Dragon, but the Spectrum conversion was so much better that there's no real comparison.\r\n\r\nSo what's wrong with DD? For a start, the colour scheme is pretty badly worked out. Because you can move \"in\" and \"out\" of the screen, as well as left and right, the characters clash with the backgrounds to such an extent that half the time you're fighting people with green heads and yellow trousers. This is off putting enough, but the backgrounds are poorly designed too, and the perspective is off in several places. What's more, the sprites are rotten; everyone's got a head like a squashed potato, and they all look more like Mormons than street thugs, the whip-wielding bimbos included. The throwing knives look more like sausages, and the clubs like carrots.\r\n\r\nWhat's worse, though, is that control of the characters is so poor. You have a wide variety of fighting moves, including head butt, jump kick, punch, mid-kick and so on. The trouble is that your character responds so sluggishly that your enemies can quite easily trap you between them and just keep knocking you down every time you stand up. It's not much consolation that you can often do the same to them once you've managed to shake them off, turn around and get into position for a good punch or whack with a club.\r\n\r\nIt takes two or three hits to make a character fall, depending on what weapon you're using. You have five falls in each life, but because you start with five lives, it's pretty easy to plug away and get as far as, say, level 3B, the Forest, without exerting much effort. There are five levels in all; City, Factory, Forest, Hideout Exterior and Hideout Interior. In the last level you'll meet the Big Boss, armed with a machine gun.\r\n\r\nSo, what a pity. This could have been a great game - it's certainly great fun in the arcades. This conversion though captures little of the excitement of the original. Poor show.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Disappointing two-player karate koin-op konversion.","Page":"54,55","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"51","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"57%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"42%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"45%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"51%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 107, Jan 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1990-12-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":84,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth Sumpter\r\nDesign Editor: Andrea 'Hotlips' Walker\r\nDesign: Amanda Young, Margaret Goldrick\r\nStaff Writer: Jason Nalk\r\nSU Crew: Chris 'Hateful' Jenkins, Matt Regan, John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Gary Liddon\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jim Owens\r\nAd Production: Jo 'Titters' Gleissner\r\nMarketing Manager: Dean Barrett\r\nMarketing Assistants: Sarah Ewing, Sarah Hillard\r\nPublisher: Graham Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1990 EMAP IMAGES\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION; FRONTLINE\r\n\r\nTypesetting by Garthtype\r\nTypos by A.C.C. Ident\r\nColour work by Proprint. B&W filming by PRS. I'd just like to say a merry Christmas to all you SU Crewers and Squaddies out there. Have a great time and the all new Crew and I will see you in January.\r\n\r\nReproduction of any part of this magazine is illegal. However, as it's Christmas, we might not sue you this time. Also, the first person to write in with the last word of this sentence will win the Christmas number one game. Have a nice break - Garth."},"MainText":"Label: Virgin\r\nPrice: £2.99 Cass 48K\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nThere are punchy-kicky games and there are punchy-kicky games; and then there are slappy-poofy games, and in my opinion (as a fearless screaming ninja death-deater), Double Dragon qualifies as one of the latter.\r\n\r\nIf I remember correctly, when I reviewed this as a full-price game, screams of outrage greeted my less than enthusiastic review. I don't regret a lot of what I said then, 'cos as far as I can see practically every other beat-'em-up on the market is better than Double Dragon in one way or another.\r\n\r\nThe plot is pretty familiar: fearless ninja warrior fights his way through several horizontally-scrolling backgrounds, beating up all sorts of thugs. The gimmick in this version of the theme is that there's a simultaneous two-player option, which is a big help when you're being attacked from both sides and don't know which way to turn.\r\n\r\nThe big problem is that the graphics are less than mean; the backgrounds are fairly uninspired, but the characters look more like train-spotters on their day off than fearless hard-nuts. To make it worse, the animation is slow, and the actual fighting moves are so pansy as to defy belief - the vicious headbutt looks more like you're puckering up for a big snog, the flying kick looks more like something Rudolf Nureyev might do as a warm-up, and the brutal face-punch is more like a girlie hand-bag slap.\r\n\r\nThough there are some consolations though, like the barrel-throwing giants and the whip-wielding naughty ladies, on the whole even the attractions of a budget price shouldn't tempt you to try Double Dragon if you have anything else in the same line - Renegade, Target Renegade, Dragon Ninja, practically anything.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Very poor Vic. Don't be tempted if you already have anything similar.","Page":"56","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"54","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"55%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"60%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"54%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Sinclair User Issue 110, Apr 1991","Price":"£1.85","ReleaseDate":"1991-03-18","Editor":"Garth Sumpter","TotalPages":52,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Garth 'Desert Rat' Sumpter\r\nDesign Editor: Andrea 'Frantz Klammer' Walker\r\nDesign: Evette 'Kiwi' Nicholls\r\nStaff Writers: Steve '60's' Keen\r\nSU Crew: Chris 'Hateful' Jenkins, John Cook, Pete Gerrard, Phillip 'Mein Gott' Fisch, Ian 'Indie' Watson\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Jim 'Trivia' Owens\r\nAd Production: Jo 'Titters' Gleissner\r\nMarketing Department: Sarah 'Blondie' Ewing, Sarah 'Helpful' Hillard\r\nPublisher: Graham 'Slasher' Taylor\r\nManaging Director: Terry 'Huggy' Pratt\r\n\r\n(c)1991 EMAP IMAGES\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nDISTRIBUTION: BBC FRONTLINE\r\nSU SUBSCRIPTIONS: [redacted]\r\n\r\nTypesetting by Garthtype Laser hooked up to Richardson PR407 Iron Lung. Colour work by Proprint, B&W filming by PRS.\r\n\r\nNo part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored in an electronic retrieval system or I'll make you wash your face in my sick (or sink).\r\n\r\nAndrea's going on holday next week and it's been unbearable. She's been strutting around in the office, dressed in her ski suit and making Whooosh! noises as she jumps down the stairs. I wouldn't mind so much, but she's only going off to Clacton with her mum and her strange cousin Claude who wears Coke bottle glasses and has a respiratory problem - he's still breathing!"},"MainText":"Label: Mastertronic Plus\r\nMemory: 48K/128K\r\nPrice: £2.99\r\nProgram By: Melbourne House\r\nReviewer: Chris Jenkins\r\n\r\nWhen Double Dragon first appeared I was very, very generous and awarded it 51%. Despite the fact that this led to me being stoned in public (and not for the first time,) - by outraged fans of this coin-op conversion, I insist that time has certainly not improved this second-rate bash-'em-up, and you would be ill-advised to spend your money on it when you could get a large bag of jelly babies and the latest issue of The Golden Age of Ballooning for the same money.\r\n\r\nThe basic idea is fine; one (or two, hence the title) fearless ninja warriors battle their way through hordes of kung-fu thugs in order to rescue some bimbo who has thoughtlessly allowed herself to be kidnapped by the Big Boss (these women honestly, you can't rely on them, etc etc.)\r\n\r\nAs you hunt through the horizontally scrolling scenes of urban decay you can find boxes, rocks, oil-drums, knives, baseball bats and whips with which to fight off the knifemen, boxers, martial artists and whip-wielding bimbos you come up against. Without a weapon you have to rely on the usual selection of punches, kicks, elbow-blows and leaps to fight them off.\r\n\r\nTrouble is, the graphics are complete ponk (people have heads shaped like potatoes, and the knives look like cucumbers), the animation and scrolling are jerky yawn-makingly slow, the use of colour is so ill-planned that there's constant colour-clash, and the fighting moves are unimaginative.\r\n\r\nThere are a couple of decent points - some of the background details are fairly good, and some of the baddies are nice. But on the whole, there are many better bash-'em-ups - for instance, Target Renegade walks over Double Dragon (then jumps up and down on its head).","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"I don't like it and I don't care, I don't like it and I don't care, I don't like it and I don't care - if you like it, you're a banana.","Page":"35","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Chris Jenkins","Score":"51","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Is this Johnny Fartpants or wot!"}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"54%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Lastability","Score":"54%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"51%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"C&VG (Computer & Video Games) Issue 113, Apr 1991","Price":"£1.3","ReleaseDate":"1991-03-16","Editor":"Julian Rignall","TotalPages":108,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Managing Editor: Julian Rignall\r\nAssociate Editor: Paul Glancey\r\nArt Editor: Jon Billington\r\nStaff Writers: Richard Leadbetter, Robert Swan\r\nDebonair Advertisement Manager: Nigel Taylor\r\nTough-Talking Deputy Advertisement Manager: Martha Moloughney\r\nAmiable Sales Exec: Alan Dykes\r\nBeautiful Production Assistant: Emma Sadler\r\nWicked Publisher: Graham \"Nyee-hahaha!\" Taylor\r\nStunt Double For Miss Moloughney: Ruby Wax\r\n\r\nSubscription Enquiries: C+VG Subscriptions, [redacted]\r\nEditorial and Advertisement Offices: [redacted]. Look! No more calls asked for tips, OK?\r\n\r\nPrinted By: Kingfisher Web, [redacted]\r\nColour By: The lovely Proprint people of [redacted]\r\nTypeset By: Your knackered editor. I thank you.\r\nDistributed By: BBC Frontline\r\n\r\n©Computer And Video Games\r\n1991 ISSN No: 0261-3697"},"MainText":"Mastertronic\r\nSpectrum £2.99\r\n\r\nBlurgh! This rather cruddy conversion of the hit coin-op was slated when first released, and it's not much better even at budget price. Unless you were nuts about the coin-op, or just nuts, leave it be!","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"","Page":"72","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Overall","Score":"56%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]