Double Dragon Gaiden - I have to say: I love this rouge-lite! Not to mention, it's my first rouge-lite brawler! Technically my first was Mr. X's Nightmare from SOR4, but that's a separate bonus mode. DD Gaiden entire campaign is built around it. For my first playthrough I chose Jimmy and Marian, while my boss order was: Okada, Triangle Gang, Duke, and finally Willy! You can choose any stage you want, but the further you go, the more elaborate stages get, and bosses become harder with different phases. Willy for example, uses an attack helicopter, if you do his stage last! He never does this if you select him first or early.
Marian is fun to play and almost a game breaker, except she can't take a hit for shit. She's the glass cannon of the group. You have special attacks you can combo end to and tag out with another character to chain combos together. Your Tag Meter and Special Meter used the same bar, and the bar has to be full to tag. SP attacks can be performed with simple directional inputs, and there is a run button too. After beating each section and stage, you will get 1 of 3 random upgrades to choose per character. From increased health, doing more damage, SP regeneration, etc. What's cool about the levels changing is that platforming gets more elaborate is actually....good. Platforming in a DD game is actually good for once, and not just average, basic, or very terrible.
You can adjust the difficulty parameters however you like. Obviously, the harder you make the game, the more rewards you get. Even on the default setting, the challenges rises quickly, and you are given a lot. There is an alternative ending, if you choose continue after beating all 4 stages, but I am going to wait on that. Quitting after beating all of the regular stage, let's you end the game with $10,000 bonus added to your overall cash. The cash is converted into tokens to unlock characters, art, music, and tips. I focusing on unlocking characters first.
Some minor complaints: when you character gets hit, they will sometimes be knocked back hard. I say this, because when you are near bottomless pits, they suffer from Belmont/Ryu Hyabusa knockback disease! You can do the same to enemies and bosses, the player characters seem to go further they should at times. Some enemies are overpowered, if you're not careful, and I don't care much for the fat guys. Nor enemies like the rats and scorpions. Thankfully, those got down quickly; especially if you have Marian. There is no online as well, but that will come as later update, and it does not bother me at all.
