4/5 ★ – usagichann's review of Double Dragon: Neon.

I recently had time to replay this on a February trip. It made extensive use of my steam deck and this just seemed like a fun romp through memory lane. The game was one of WayForward's first fighting games released and some parts of it has aged, but not particularly badly imo. The game still features one of the best soundtracks (the Double Dragon Opening theme in particular ROCKS) in the double dragon series, and I think sound design is one of WayForward's best features (River City Girls 1 and 2 both have excellent sound and music direction!). As for the gameplay itself, its quite good, although its very different from previous iterations of Double Dragon. They've basically turned Double Dragon into quite a bit of a technical fighter. Billy/Jimmy Lee both have lag when you press the attack button, and recovery time is definitely noticeable. You have to be deliberate about when you attack, as once you start on an attack pattern, its difficult to stop. Defense is pretty much all about dodging and you can get a damage multiplier if you perfect dodge in time. This makes for a pretty technical fighter as you have to think about when to attack, when to dodge, and what mobs to attack and finish off first. There are also special moves beyond the must-have hurricane kick. There's fireballs, dragon summons, and a few others that I haven't bothered to play with. You don't really need the special moves much and you can't really abuse them a lot as your special meter is depleted by them quite quickly. Some of them can be used as a get-out-of-jail-free card, but only when you hit the button before you get hit. The bosses are all fairly entertaining and memorable. None are too difficult on normal difficulty. There's a bit of grinding available to do if you want that sort of things, and they are achivements for those hunting for that. The story..uh..no one plays this game for the story, but making it to the end rewards you with a very entertaining song! Highly recommended if you like beat-them-ups. I played only solo and still enjoyed it immensly!