Publisher Midnight City is revealing some nice cross-up news for some of its more celebrated titles today. Not only is the PC indie darling Slenderman: The Arrival coming to consoles as a digital release, but now, the arcade styled beat 'em throwback Double Dragon: Neon is coming to Steam.
In a press release, the publisher announced that the rebooted retro brawler is coming to Valve's own Steam distribution service sometime in the first quarter of 2014. The release date isn't specific, but the price is - players can grab the game for $9.99 whenever it does get here.
Reads the release: "Billy and Jimmy Lee are back in Double Dragon: Neon, a reboot of the classic side-scrolling beat-em-up that is coming to Windows PC via Steam. To mark the occasion, developer Abstraction has gone back to the dojo and returned with an all-new online co-op mode for the true Double Dragon experience players have been waiting for."
Like its double D predecessors, Neon is a side scrolling beat-em-up where brothers Jimmy and Billy Lee must rescue girlfriend Marian from a gang of thugs, aptly titled Skullmageddon in this latest Dragon incarnation. Combat begins fairly basic, but abilities can be added as you progress via the mix tape system. You begin the game with a blank tape, and can add different "songs" (abilities) to it by purchasing them from a character called the "tapesmith." Like the release notes, "The tapes can be stacked to pump up their effects, while playing two tapes at once creates a fusion of powers for devastating results!"
Two player gameplay is strongly emphasized with different high-five options, which can result in sharing health, "psych" up your buddy, or reviving a downed dragon.
WayForward was responsible for the console port after earning high praise for A Boy and his Blob re-make, as well as Contra 4 on the DS. Released digitally for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2012, Neon's Assistant Product Manager Pete Rosky said the game is actually a re-imagination of the whole franchise, so you'll see elements of all three of the original games (with all the proper elements of that Rosetta Stone garbage removed): "We're actually re-imagining the whole franchise, so it's not 1, it's not 2, it's not 3, its not any one of those. Lots of elements of all of them are thrown in for nostalgia; it's an all new game on its own. The bottom line, it's a re-imagining in the sense that we wanted to give you a new experience, but make it feel like Double Dragon. And that's kind of where our hearts were, and that's what I think the game is."
We'll keep you posted when we get a specific release date for the game. In the mean time, make sure to check out our Double Dragon: Neon review.
