Double Dragon (NES)/Mission 3

'Just like the arcade version, the third mission is quite long. Unlike the arcade version, this version will take you inside not one, but two large caverns, where you must dodge falling stalactites and bouncing boulders. Multiple paths are present, and going the wrong way means you'll end up walking in circles. You'll need to hang on to your health as long as possible here.'

Part 1

 * Section 1 - Williams × 5
 * You begin this mission deep in the woods. You will be approached by a Williams holding a knife.  If you're fast, you can Jump Kick him just as he's about to throw it, and force him to drop the knife.  Then you can pick it up and throw it back at him and knock him out.  The next Williams will be waiting for you high atop a tall tree stump.  He will jump down to attack you when you pass by.  If you can, grab his hair, knee bash him three times, and toss him for a knock out.  Another Williams will appear on the right with a knife, followed by a weaponless Williams.  Jump Kick the one with the knife and throw the knife back at him to knock him out, and hair grab the other Williams.  One final knife Williams will appear.  Use the Jump Kick, knife throw combo to get rid of him.


 * Section 2 - Chintai × 3
 * No longer content to be just the boss of the previous mission, a whole gang of Chintais awaits you here. Don't mess around with these guys, or they will reduce your health to a level that will make it impossible to reach the first cavern without dying.  As soon as one Chintai appears, stop advancing and focus on beating him.  If you scroll too far ahead, you'll have to deal with two Chintais at one time.  Use kicks to attack from a safer distance, and to try and grab their hair.  Once you have the hair, do three knee bashes before tossing them over your shoulder.  After each Chintai is defeated, walk forward a short distance until the next one appears, and stop.  Do this for all three Chintai and you should survive with the greatest amount of health possible.


 * Section 3 - Williams × 4
 * In addition to confronting more Williams, you'll have to navigate a broken bridge over a rive. The first Williams will greet you as you approach the bridge.  He will be holding a bat.  Jump Kick him to make him drop the bat, then pick it up and use it against him until he is knocked out.  Then approach the gap in the bridge and perform a Jump Kick to hop over the water.  When you land on the other side, another Williams will be waiting, this time with a knife.  Jump Kick him to make him drop the knife.  If you ever lose the bat, you can pick up and throw the knife before resuming with the bat.  Defeat the second Williams, and continue on.  One of the last two Williams that appear may or may not be holding a knife depending on whether the original one is still lying on the ground.  If it is, the remaining Williams won't have one.  Hit them with the bat to make short work of them.


 * Section 4 - Roper × 4
 * To get through the next section, you must do battle with four Ropers. The safest way to get through these fights is to initiate hair grabs as often as possible.  However, if you're fortunate enough to reach the fifth level of fighting experience by this time, you can engage in the sit-down and face punch maneuver.  Just knock a Roper to the ground, and press  when you're standing over them.  Then press  repeatedly to punch them in the face until they are knocked out.  Some enemies like Chintai are capable of repelling this move if they are still strong enough, but Ropers can't escape.  Just watch out for attacks from behind.  Stand up by pressing  if another enemy is getting close.


 * Section 5 - Abobo × 2
 * Not only is this the first time you've had to face Abobo since the end of the first Mission, now you have to fight two Abobos. One Abobo is challenging enough, let alone two of them.  You're going to have to keep your wits about you, and a fair amount of distance between each of them so they don't gang up and clobber you.  The best strategy to use is constant Jump Kicks.  Keep one Abobo on either side of you (which is what they are likely to be inclined to do anyway).  Approach one of them and Jump Kick them when you are right within range.  If you connect, you will knock one Abobo down.  Then turn around and approach the other and Jump Kick him.  By the time you do this, the first Abobo will be standing back up for more punishment.  Stay consistent with your timing.  Don't get creative or try anything fancy; one wrong move can cost you a lot of health.  If you happen to miss with your Jump Kick, and the Abobo ducks down, either perform another Jump Kick right away and hope that you catch him when he stands up, or push up or down to get away from any retaliation.  Once you are down to one Abobo, things get easier.  You can knock him down with a Jump Kick, and then stand by his knees.  When he begins to stand up again, Jump Kick straight up.  He should stand up into your kick and get knocked down again.  Keep this up until the second Abobo is down.

At this time, if you proceed to walk to the right, you will actually cycle back to the beginning of Section 1. To avoid this, investigate the holes in the cliff wall which were created by the two Abobos. Entering either hole will lead you to the start of Part 2.

Part 2

 * Section 6 - Stalactites
 * After surviving such a difficult fight against two Abobos, there is a lot of good news. First, after entering the cavern, all of your health has been restored.  Second, no enemies will attack you upon your arrival.  However, as you walk to the right, a new danger will appear.  Stalactites will fall from the ceiling.  As you proceed, you must keep your eyes on the ceiling, and anticipate where the stalactites will fall.  If the coast is clear, walk forward.  If a stalactite is about to fall on you, it may be safer to walk back a few steps.  Watch where the stalactites appear, and judge your movement accordingly.  When you reach the ledge on the right, the screen will automatically scroll ahead, and the stalactites will cease.


 * Section 7 - Platforms
 * This next section is a test of your jumping skills. You must successfully navigate your way across three platforms that move back and forth across a large gorge (although you really only need to be concerned about the first two.)  Wait for the leftmost platform to pass by you, and jump straight up in order to land on it.  Then let it take you to the far right side.  You'll have to judge if the middle platform is close enough to jump to.  If you can reach it by jumping vertically, that is the safest way to reach it.  If you have to jump to the right, make sure that it is not so far away that you will miss it and fall down.  Once you reach the second platform, ride it as far to the right as possible, and jump all the way over to the ledge on the right, bypassing the third platform altogether.


 * If you do happen to miss a platform and fall, you will drop to the bottom of the gorge, where you may or may not safely land on the ground. If you miss the ground, you will fall into a fiery lava pit and instantly lose a life.  Assuming you do land safely on the ground, you will have to leap over pits until you encounter a group of four Ropers.  After tangling with them, you will return to the beginning of Section 6 at the start of this cavern.


 * Section 8 - Chintai × 2
 * After safely landing on the ledge beyond the platforms, you need only walk a few steps to the right before you find a door. Continue to walk to the right until the door opens and two Chintais appear.  While in a cavern, you are locked into one plane, so you can't move up or down to dodge attacks.  However, enemies will be reluctant to attack you at one time for the same reason.  Therefore, you should have an easier time dealing with both Chintais as long as they both stay on one side of you.  Deal with whichever one is closest to you first.  Knock them down, or throw them after a hair grab and deal with the next one until they are both knocked out.  Once again, it would be a mistake to advance to the right and ignore the door.  If you do, you will find yourself back at the beginning of Section 6.  Instead, investigate the door to explore the next cavern.

Part 3

 * Section 9 - Williams × 5
 * Like before, you will get all of your health back. Unlike before, a group of Williams will attack you as soon as you arrive.  Whenever dynamite is not present, the newest Williams will always appear with a new stick.  Since you can't get out of the way of the dynamite by pressing up or down, you will have to trick Williams into throwing it, and back off when he does so that it lands harmlessly on the floor.  There is a chance that a Williams will pick up the fallen dynamite, but it is small.  Instead, it is possible to lure one or both Williams to stand near it when it explodes, instantly killing them.  Do this when you can, and use conventional fighting when you can't.  (Note that, unfortunately, exploding dynamite has no effect on a fallen Williams.) Hair grabs and shoulder throws are good when two Williams are around.  Sit down and face punch combos are a good alternative for just one Williams.


 * Section 10 - Boulders
 * As you approach the next ledge, the screen will advance automatically. As soon as it stops, a set of three boulders will bounce along the floor behind you.  The safest plan is to walk back to the left and wait for the boulders to bounce over you before you jump.  (Note that you should not jump until after the scrolling of the screen occurs, or the game will consider your player dead.)  If you jump straight ahead from the ledge, you will safely land on the ground beside a lava pit.  If you jumped ahead of the boulders, you must watch out for any that may be falling behind you.  Once they bounce out of the way, continue to jump over the remaining pits.  When you reach level ground, more stalactites will fall from the ceiling.  However, this section is so short that by the time you reach it, you will have traversed almost all the way across it.  Continue walking to the right, watching out for any stalactites that might threaten you, until you reach the next ledge.  When you do, you can either jump or fall down to the bottom.


 * Section 11 - Abobo × 2
 * Once you reach the bottom of the next gorge, the wall will bust open and a green Abobo will appear. Looking a bit like the Incredible Hulk, fighting this Abobo will be no different from fighting any other, except that you can't move up or down.  You can still take advantage of the trick of knocking Abobo down, and then standing on his knees and waiting for him to stand back up before jump kicking him back down to the ground.  As soon as you defeat this Abobo, another green Abobo will appear from the right.  You must defeat this one as well before you can advance.  If you have acquired fighting Level 6, you will gain access to the powerful elbow move.  Four elbow smashes can be used to knock an Abobo out.  Remember to face away from Abobo before you press  to use your elbow.  Once both Abobos have been defeated, you have the choice to investigate the hole in the wall, or advance to the right.  Of course, if you advance to the right, you will find yourself back at the beginning of the cavern in Section 9.  To avoid this fate, explore the hole.

Part 4

 * Section 12 - Linda × 8
 * In this final section of Mission 3, there are a lot of doors, platforms, and ladders that go between them. There is also a high number of Lindas about.  You goal is to reach the entrance to the Black Warriors' base in the lower right corner.  In the process, you must defeat any and all Lindas that prevent you from gaining access to it.  You can shortcut a large chunk of this section by jumping down and to the right, for the first two levels of the section.  Then climb down one level until you are directly above the entrance.  From there, you can use the ladder along the right side to safely reach the door.  However, the door won't open until you've defeated all of the Lindas.  Because you've gotten all of your health back, this is an excellent section to take advantage of, and increase your fighting experience as much as possible before you walk through the door.  The best way to do this is to rely on punches until your health drops to a critical level (4 bars or less).  Once this happens, switch to safer methods like kicks, hair grab / throws, or sit down / face punches.  When the door finally opens, safely climb down to the lowest level and pass through the door to begin the final mission.