Now weapons are only available by putting actual human money into the arcade machine and investing a credit in the shop that opens each level. A variety of cool weapons usable by you and your opponents? Gone. Seriously, DD3 takes everything its predecessors did right and flings it out the window. There then ensues one of the worst games I have ever played. Obliging crone Hiruko tells them of the legend of the Rosetta Stones, which are a bit like the Rosetta Stone except instead of unlocking a millennia-old linguistic puzzle they let you travel to Egypt to face ‘the world’s strongest enemy’. In DD3, crisply-bouffanted muscle twins Jimmy and Billy Lee emerge from two years of training, looking for a new challenge. My working assumption was that DD3 was a victim of history, a well-meaning effort made obsolete by the relentless march of progress. I knew that, between the release of DD2 and DD3, Final Fight had come out, completely transforming the side-scrolling beat em up market. I remembered seeing it in the arcade – the exciting combination moves, like whirlwind kicks, the additional characters, the in-game shops where you could use credits to buy weapons, boost your energy or power, or unlock new characters.
#DOUBLE DRAGON 3 THE ROSETTA STONE GENESIS SERIES#
When, a few weeks ago, I committed to reviewing Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone, I remembered it as a disappointing conclusion to the groundbreaking DD series – a game that had bitten off more than it could chew. Other titles went on to bear the brand, granted, but this was the one that emphatically killed Double Dragon as a viable top-flight franchise.
#DOUBLE DRAGON 3 THE ROSETTA STONE GENESIS PC#
In short: a faithful PC port of a mediocre arcade game that ends a blockbuster series with a fizzle instead of a bang.Systems: Arcade, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, NES, ZX Spectrum, DOS, Game Boy, Mega Drive/GenesisĪnd so we come to the last game in the Double Dragon trilogy. The graphics and animations are much improved over the original, but that can’t make up for repetitive gameplay.
![double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis](https://www.oldgames.sk/images/oldgames/action/Double.Dragon.3.The.Rosetta.Stone/double-dragon3-md-02.png)
The plot is also a dramatic departure from the gangster setting: now Billy and Jimmy Lee must find the Rosetta Stone to fight an evil in Egypt.
![double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis](https://gamefabrique.com/storage/screenshots/genesis/double-dragon-3-the-arcade-game-07.png)
You can beat them very easily with jumping kicks and punches – like the first game, keeping the attack keys pressed is all you need to do. Ironically, that turns out to be negligible, since the enemies have an IQ level of a rock. It’s unnecessarily tedious, and unlike Legend of the Mystical Ninja, weapon shops are few and far between.
![double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2BGPM27/double-dragon-3-the-rosetta-stone-sega-genesis-mega-drive-editorial-use-only-2BGPM27.jpg)
So while there are interesting new power-ups including an item that makes Billy/Jimmy twice their size, you’ll have to first collect enough money (by beating enemies of course) and THEN find the weapon shop, and hope that the one you enter have what you want. The faults lie squarely with Technos for making poor design decisions, such as: you no longer can pick up cool weapons or power-ups to use at will, but must buy most of them in stores. And that’s true, although it’s ironic because this is arguably the most faithful PC conversion of all three games. That said, you shouldn’t expect this PC port to be somehow better than the rest.
![double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis double dragon 3 the rosetta stone genesis](https://r.mprd.se/MAME/flyers/ddragon3j.png)
The arcade version met with only lukewarm response, so naturally the NES version (which is always the best port), is still a lot less fun than the first two games. Ask any longtime action gamer, and most will tell you that Technos’ classic arcade classic Double Dragon series took a nosedive with the final game in the trilogy, Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone.