Original Double Dragon Artist Criticizes Upcoming Revival

Koji Ogata, an animator on the original 1987 title Double Dragon, has some choice words regarding the upcoming revival. Next year, Arc System Works, the studio behind Guilty Gear, is releasing Double Dragon Revive, a beat ’em-up title aiming to bring the Technos series back into the mainstream.

Unfortunately, not everyone is thrilled about this upcoming release. In fact, Ogata and other members of the original dev team aren’t even acknowledging Double Dragon Revival as part of the series.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Ogata wrote on X (spotted by Automaton). “The fact is that not a single person in the Technos team recognizes this as a Double Dragon game.” He noted that Muneki Ebinuma, the original game’s designer, wholeheartedly agrees with him.

“According to Ebinuma, this game was made by a current generation of game designers who have never played or thoroughly played the arcade version of Double Dragon,” he claimed. “That’s exactly what happened, and the result is a cheap, modern game that shows no respect for Double Dragon.”

Ogata also shared some screenshots of a conversation he had with Ebinuma, in which the designer claimed that the screen was “too dark” and the “characters and techniques don’t look good.”

Double Dragon Revive will be released in 2025 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC.

“Double Dragon is a game with a strong punch and a unique, distinctive feel, but this game has none of that,” Ebinuma wrote. “I almost wish they hadn’t named such a crappy game Double Dragon.”