Famicom ports of early arcade games often turned out to be far cries from their originals, though they meant well. Development on the Famicom just hadn’t been refined to the point where truly accurate ports of these titles were feasible, and these were the days where arcade technology was so far beyond home console technology that it was often impossible. Kunio’s Famicom port changes up a great many things from the original. The most noticeable is a graphical style that’s significantly closer than the arcade version to that which the Kunio series would become so well known for in its next installment. The music is also incredibly faithful to the original version. There’s an alternating 2 player mode here, which was typical for Famicom beat-em-ups of the time. Each player can also select one of three levels, which seem to do nothing more than change the stage backgrounds between daytime, dusk, and nighttime. Power ups will also appear periodically that will refill health, or temporarily increase strength or speed.
Double Dragon
Thankfully, Double Dragon does have an attack that’s practically guaranteed to get you through without too much trouble, as long as you get the timing down: The elbow smash.