Double Dragon (NES)/Mission 4

'Billy has finally made it to the inside of the Black Warriors' base. But is he ready to fight against the entire gang? And is he prepared to deal with all the tricks and traps the base contains? One thing is for sure: if he makes it all the way to the end, he will come face to face with whoever is controlling the Black Warriors, and the answer may be the biggest surprise of all.'

Part 1

 * Section 1 - Bricks
 * You begin the final mission in the entrance of the Black Warriors' head quarters. Just beyond the entrance is a brick wall.  No enemies appear to welcome you, but this is just a trick to lull you into a false sense of confidence.  The wall itself is actually your enemy here.  The bricks pop out of the wall, like battering rams, in a random fashion.  There's little you can do to prepare yourself except to wait and move as soon as a brick returns to the wall.  Stand by the left column and wait for the first brick to pop out.  As soon as it's done, move to the right.  You may even choose to jump as you go.  It may or may not help, given that the bricks which pop out are chosen at random.  Do the same thing for the next set of bricks, and then proceed to (relative) safety.


 * Section 2 - Chintai × 5
 * You must now face down a group of Chintais who tend to appear from behind the alcoves. Some of them will appear with a knife.  Use Jump Kicks to disarm them of the knife if you're able to, or get close enough to them to make them throw the knife, and then quickly step out of the way.  There's a gap in the floor in the lower right corner.  You can take advantage of this, and toss some of the Chintais down the hole if you manage to get them in a hair grab.  Just be careful not to get pushed in there yourself.  It's also possible to get one of the Chintais stuck in the upper right corner above the gap (typically the one with the knife) thereby preventing two of them to gang up on you at once.


 * Section 3 - Abobo × 2
 * After you jump over the short gap, the screen will scroll forward, and an Abobo will bust through the wall. If that weren't bad enough, another Abobo is waiting just behind him.  If you happen to defeat both Abobos and continue to the right, you will find yourself... back in Section 1.  The truth is you do not need to fight either Abobo.  Between the gap and the hole where Abobo appeared is a wall that you can climb.  Ignore Abobo and climb right up to Section 4.


 * Section 4 - Roper × 7
 * If you saw through the Black Warriors' trap and climbed the wall, you will reach a level where seven Ropers will appear, all wanting to stop you in your tracks. Ropers aren't the most difficult enemy, but they can still be quite dangerous if you underestimate them.  If you've reached the seventh and final level of fighting experience, you have access to the Spinning Roundhouse kick, which replaces the regular Roundhouse as the finishing kick move.  Just one of these is powerful enough to knock a Roper out.  However, if you're having trouble connecting with one, use tried and true methods like hair grabs and throws over the gap to the right, or sit down on them and punch them out.  It doesn't take many punches to knock them out while sitting on them, so you can risk being approached from behind.  Chances are you'll finish off the first Roper before the second one reaches you.  If you're low on health, be very careful and play it safe; full health lies just beyond the doors in section 5.

Part 2

 * Section 5 - Williams × ∞
 * This section is a bit like the final section in Mission 3. It is a maze of platforms that you must navigate in order to reach your goal, which happens to lie in the upper right corner.  Many Williams will appear throughout this section, but don't pay them much respect; knock them down or throw them over a ledge if possible, but don't stop to defeat them.  Keep moving towards your goal.  From the start, climb up the ladder.  A Williams will appear to your right.  Knock him down and then jump over to the bridge on your right.  Cross the bridge, and climb the next ladder.  Keep climbing to the platform above, and then jump down to the next platform on the right.  Climb down the next ladder to the platform below.  Watch out, as another Williams is likely to appear from behind the door.  Knock him down and climb down the ladder.  Wait by the right side of the platform for the small lift to reach your level.  It's very important to be patient with these lifts.  There is plenty of time, so you shouldn't rush.  One wrong jump, and you could find yourself falling to your death into the water below.  When it's safe, jump over to the lift, and let it carry you up to the top.  Jump to the right to reach the next platform and climb the ladder.  Walk to the left edge and wait for the next lift to reach the very bottom of its path.  Make the leap over the gap to the lift, and allow it to take you up.  When you reach the top, jump over to the right.  Climb the ladder and walk a few steps to the left.  Repeat the process of jumping onto the lift at the bottom and jumping off to the right at the top.  When you reach the final platform, walk to the door and push.

Part 3

 * Section 6 - Williams × 7
 * You're very close to the final confrontation. Before you make it to the grand hallway, you're going to have to do battle with seven Williams.  There's no landscape to take advantage of, so you'll have to knock them all out.  Sitting down on them and punching them out is a good choice if there are no other Williams close enough to you to retaliate.  When you're given the thumbs up, you will walk to the right, and proceed to the grand hallway.


 * Section 7 - Abobo × 2, Chintai × 2, Linda × 2, Roper × 2, Willy
 * Once you arrive, you will be taken on by pairs of fighters, starting with the toughest pair of all, two Abobos. To defeat them, you can rely on the same Jump Kick tactic that you used against the first pair of Abobos outside the caverns in Mission 3.  Or you can try to alternate between the two Abobos and use the Elbow Smash.  The Elbow Smash method is faster than the Jump Kick, but it leaves you more vulnerable to attack.  Once both Abobos are down, two Chintais will appear.  Use Spinning Roundhouses as much as possible, and hair grab / knee bash / throw combos to slow them down.  After the Chintais come two Lindas, followed by two Ropers, who should all be comparatively easy after the Abobos and Chintais.  However, you'll need all of your health because as soon as you defeat the Ropers, Willy will appear.


 * Willy is an incredibly difficult opponent who carries a machine gun. Getting hit by a bullet from the machine gun will reduce your health substantially.  If that's not bad enough, if you die in the fight with Willy (or any of the previous opponents), you will have to start back over from the beginning of the section, starting with the Abobos and working your way back up to Willy.  For this reason, it's extremely important to minimize the amount of damage you take while fighting Willy.  WHen he is not busy shooting his gun, Willy will try to get close to you and hit you with the butt of his gun.  Don't try to use the elbow trick against him, as it may place you in danger of getting shot.  Instead, you should aim to kick him and grab his hair.  Then you can knee bash him before throwing him.  If you manage to do this three times, he will be very close to dying.  You can't sit down on him and punch his face unless he is considerably weak.  If he doesn't die after three hair grabs and tosses, he should be weak enough to sit down on top of and finish off.  If you're having trouble pulling off the hair grabs, focus instead on kicking him three times.  Most importantly of all, never stay in the same horizontal row as him for a very long time.  He can't shoot you if you keep moving up or down.


 * Section 8 - Jimmy Lee
 * After Willy is defeated once and for all, the door in the back of the room will open one last time. Your greatest opponent will arrive; your brother Jimmy Lee.  Whether this is meant to indicate that Jimmy is the leader of the Black Warriors, or it is simply Techno's way of providing the final climactic battle from a two-player arcade game that is otherwise impossible in the NES version is open to interpretation.  Either way, the only way that you're getting to Marian is through Jimmy.  The good news is, if you die, you will return to fight Jimmy.  You'll return, that is, as long as you have another life available.  You won't have to go through all of the other opponents again.  Jimmy is capable of performing every move that you can, including the regular Roundhouse kick which you no longer have access to.  Jimmy attacks fast, quite often faster than you can.  You can't sit-down on Jimmy until he's incredibly weak, and hair grabs are a little more difficult to pull off too.  Elbows are effective but difficult to pull off since Jimmy will likely strike you before he gets close enough to hit.  The best strategy to use against Jimmy is to kick him three times as quickly as possible.  In fact, you can get him trapped in the upper corners of the room and finish him off there as long as you strike fast enough and prevent him from counter-attacking.  Keep up this constant barrage of kicks every time he begins to rise off the floor, and you'll knock him out eventually.  Then you will be treated to the ending cinematic.  Surprisingly, there are no credits at the end of this game.