Double Dragon is Technōs Japan's 1987 arcade beat 'em up about Billy and Jimmy Lee fighting through a street gang to rescue Marian.
Double Dragon follows martial-arts brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee after Marian is kidnapped by the Black Warriors gang. Players move through side-scrolling city stages, fighting waves of enemies with punches, kicks, elbows, throws, and weapons picked up from the street.
The arcade game expanded the language of the brawler with simultaneous two-player cooperative play, layered movement, enemy weapons, stage hazards, and a simple rescue story that gave each screen a clear forward push. Its controls are direct, but survival depends on positioning, crowd control, and learning how enemies recover and surround the player.
Released in arcades in 1987, Double Dragon became one of the defining beat 'em ups of the late 1980s. Taito published the game outside Japan under license from Technōs Japan, and the arcade hit quickly led to home versions across consoles and computers.
Double Dragon helped make the urban co-op brawler a durable arcade template. Its kidnapping setup, weapon pickups, boss fights, and two-player street-fighting structure shaped many later beat 'em ups, from arcade successors to console-era side-scrolling action games.