It’s hard to believe that nearly two years ago, I wrote the first exclusive preview of Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons for Co-Optimus. A 3D remake of the classic Double Dragon II arcade game, it seemed destined to revive the historic beat-em-up franchise after years of inactivity. Korean game developer Gravity Co, Ltd. and publisher Barunson Creative Co Ltd. understood the series’ importance in the gaming landscape and found the second game’s story most exciting, hence their decision to remake it for modern audiences.

Double Dragon Neon reimagines the beloved beat-em-up series as a love letter to the 1980s, with tons of humorous references to the time period. Does it still feel like a Double Dragon game? And is the co-op brawling as fun as it ever was? In a word, yes, dude.

In honor of Double Dragon: Neon's recent release on XBLA and PSN, this month's Co-Op International looks at a couple of classic Double Dragon games that never made it out of Japan. Both are ports of Double Dragon II: The Revenge and share a few things in common, but otherwise they could hardly be more different.

Double Dragon: Neon, the eighties-themed reimagining of the Double Dragon franchise is now available on both Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. That's good! But publisher Majesco has revealed a bit of bad news at the last minute: the game only supports 2-player local co-op at launch. Don't worry, though - online co-op is "coming soon" in a post-release update. It's your basic Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light situation. Majesco probably should've announced the online co-op delay a little earlier so as not to mar news of the game's launch, but what's done is done.

People used to say wizard as an adjective, all by itself, just as we now use the word cool. It's true; I saw it in a movie once. But nowadays calling something wizard would just elicit looks of confusion. "Is he saying that Double Dragon: Neon's Achievements wear long robes and cast magic spells?" they might wonder. But what other noun used as an adjective could be more appropriate for an Achievement list that actually references Fred Savage's 1989 magnum opus film The Wizard? None, I say! As it turns out, pretty much all of Neon's Achievements overflow with the game's tongue-in-cheek style of humor and machismo.

Coming to XBLA and PSN with a 1980’s flair, Double Dragon Neon rewinds the side-scrolling beat'em up genre over two decades to bring us a co-op game worthy of a chest bump.

While we're still waiting on the XBLA-exclusive Double Dragon II remake from Korean developer Gravity Co, Ltd, a separate team on the other side of the world has set their sights on remaking the original Double Dragon for both XBLA and PSN. The new game, Double Dragon: Neon comes from Wayforward Technologies (makers of Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Contra 4) and Majesco. Like Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons, this one uses the original game as a template, switching to a 3D engine and revamping the actual fighting mechanics. Neon takes many more creative liberties with the source material, and thus Majesco calls it a "radical reinvention" rather than just a remake.

As we’ve said before, the arcade version of Double Dragon was a hugely influential co-op beat-em-up. It set the standard by which all subsequent “belt-scrollers” were judged, from Final Fight to TMNT. Naturally Double Dragon received a sequel, Double Dragon II: The Revenge. That game is now coming to Xbox Live Arcade courtesy of Korean developer Gravity Co, Ltd. and publisher Barunson Creative Co. Ltd.

It's time once more for a video edition of Co-Op Classics. Today, we are in beat-'em-up mode, with two great examples of this teamwork-heavy genre. Double Dragon is arguably the most influential brawler of all time. Knights of the Round is a solid, flavorful offering from Capcom's heyday.

Everything old is new again, it seems.  Retro remakes are all the rage right now, and with so many different systems to release on, anyone can have easy access to the classics of yesteryear.  One such vintage powerhouse coming to a phone near you is Double Dragon.  If you're not familiar with Double Dragon, stop what you are doing and read the Co-Op Classics article covering it; it's one of the most influential games of all time, particularly from a co-op standpoint.  A few years back, Billy and Jimmy made their way onto XBLA, and next month, they're headed to iOS devices.

It's one of the most influential video games of all time.  Two brothers.  A kidnapped heroine.  A trek to the distant lair of an evil overlord.  The description might fit Super Mario Brothers, and that game is excellent, for sure.  But this is Co-Optimus, and only co-op will do.  We're talking about Double Dragon, a game that is synonymous with co-op; indeed, for many people, it was the first co-op game they ever played.  We'll take a closer look at this genre-defining brawler for this week's installment of Co-Op Classics.