Let’s Play Double Dragon 2! 
I don’t really know what people think about the later Double Dragon games. I personally love 3 because of playing it with my brother, but I have a soft spot for 2, as well. There’s just something inherently badass about clearly billing the theme of a game as revenge. Maybe it was because I went to Catholic school fom kindergarten through middle school and the drilled it into my head that it was better to forgive and forget, but something in 8 year old Tony really responded to the whole “they killed my girlfriend, now let’s kill them”. Fuck yes.
Let’s Play Double Dragon 2:
Speaking of they killed my girlfriend, that was refreshing to see from a plot standpoint, as well. Eventually it really DOES get old playing the same rehashed plot over and over in these games, when you know it’s all cartoony and they’re not going to really do anything to your girlfriend while they’ve captured her. No, in Double Dragon 2, they outright KILLED Marion! So yes, Catholic school be damned, I think it’s time to bust some deserving teeth.
While not having the impact or being as classic as its predecessor, Double Dragon 2 did have some notable improvements over the first installment. Most notably, you and your friend could play at the same time! Unfortunately, like Double Dragon 3, it’s full of pits (damn pits), and the friend you invited over would always invariably fall into the first or second hole over and over until they were out of lives, then bitch that the game wasn’t fun. YOU’RE the one who isn’t fun, Martin! Admittedly though the game would be more fun on a multiplayer level at least if they did away with the cheap parts which I personally can’t complain about, but everyone’s respective Martin couldn’t get past (Level 5, with the fricking spikes and moving platforms, are you serious?
To sort of make up for this, there are two modes, one where you can beat the crap out of your friend through friendly or unfriendly fire, and one where you can’t. The former was murder on friendships, but you’d find that if you were the one who landed the last blow on your friend which killed them, you’d gain an extra life from them. Nice.
Great music in this game, a ton of fun exploiting the knee move via turbo and using it over and over and over again, pretty graphics for the time, and damn if I didn’t swear I’d have glass floors like level 7 in my place when I grew up (still working on that).
SPOILER ALERT
Of course in the end some kind of voodoo magic brings Marion back from the dead, and I think we can all agree that that’s basically a good thing that she’ll remain alive, until Double Dragon 3 of course.