Not much in the way of originality went into the making of Double Dragon II in 1988. A follow up to the uber popular Double Dragon, it was pretty much a carbon copy of the original with a few slight changes. The plot brought back our heroes Billy and Jimmy Lee from the first game only this time things have progressed. Billy's girlfriend Marian, who it is your goal to save in the first game, has since been murdered by Willy, the leader of the infamous Black Warriors who are also hold overs from the original. Now on a revenge spree, the boys take to the streets to find Willy and bring him their own brand of martial arts justice!

You fight your way through waves of enemies using your martial arts skills and weapons that you can pick up along the way. Weapons included a ball and chain, hand grenade, steel ball, knife, crate, log and shovel. Enemies were slight variations on the originals, giving them a slightly different look. There were some new ones, however, such as Burnov, Abore, Chin Taimei and The Doppelganger who is your exact match in moves and skill and can possess your body to drain you of energy. The game, while similar in many ways to it's predecessor, was much more difficult and took much more skill to beat.

The flyer is done in a really nice comic book style and our heroes seem to have gotten a bit of a makeover, trading in their Rambo style look from the first game for a more studly, All American appearance. Apparently, Billy must not be missing Marian all that badly given the hot babe he's got clutched to his chest. And Jimmy Lee's aim must be off as it looks like he just missed punching that guy in the face. Guess things start to go downhill when you're part of a cheap sequel. Just ask Toby McGuire.

Flyer courtesy The Arcade Flyer Archive