Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone

From Sega Retro

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DoubleDragon3 title.png

Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Flying Edge
Developer:
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
US
$49.9549.95[2] T-81166
Sega Mega Drive
EU
T-81166-50
Sega Mega Drive
BR

Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone is a 1990 arcade beat-'em-up from Technos, part of their Double Dragon series, and was developed by East Technology; it was ported by Software Creations to the Sega Mega Drive and published in 1993 by Flying Edge. The boxart refers to the game as Double Dragon 3: The Arcade Game, distinguish it from the earlier Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones, an NES adaptation of the game produced by Technos and published in the west by Acclaim (Flying Edge's parent company), which differed significantly from its arcade counterpart.

Gameplay

The purpose of the game is to collect three "Rosetta Stones" in order to face off with an adversary in Egypt. The Lee brothers and other characters must travel the world to reach this objective. A punches, B jumps, C kicks. Besides the ability to run by double tapping in a direction additional moves can be bought in a in-game store. The in-game store, which can be entered through a door in certain parts of a level, offers extra moves, extra characters, agility, energy, and weapons for purchase with coins. The extra characters only appear when the main character presently being used is killed. Extra characters include the Urquidez brothers, the Chin brothers, and the Oyama brothers.

There are five levels available. This includes America, China, Japan, Italy, and Egypt.

Versions

  • The arcade version of Double Dragon 3 featured item shops where players could gain additional moves, weapons and other playable characters by inserting more credits into the cabinet. This system was retained in the Mega Drive (despite the existence of a Japanese version that removed it), but since the console naturally lacks a coin shutter, the player instead starts off with a certain amount of credits (15 by default in 1-player mode, which is raised to 19 in 2-players mode), which are used as both, currency in item shops and for continues. Additional credits are gained after clearing a stage
  • The arcade version can be set for up to three players simultaneously, while the Mega Drive version only allows up to two.
  • The Mega Drive version features an options screen that allows the player to adjust the number of credits the player start with, change the starting character for both players and turn the background music on or off before the game begins. The Japanese version of the arcade game had a character select feature, but it allowed each player to choose their individual character instead of choosing the same type for everyone.
  • The purchasable items work differently in the Mega Drive version.
    • In the arcade version, "energy" restores the player's health to 150%, while "power up" increases the player's movement speed. In the Mega Drive version, the "energy" item was removed, but "power up" serves the same purpose. However, instead of restoring the player's health to 150%, it restores the player's health to 100% and adds 50 HP more.
    • Both versions allow the player to purchase a stock of up to three extra fighters. However, the arcade version allows the player to have different character types in reserve, while the Mega Drive version only allows one character type at a time. This means that if the player is controlling a Lee brother and the first extra fighter purchased is a Chin brother, every additional extra fighter will be a Chin until the player runs out of extra fighters and returns as a Lee brother.
  • The name of the second Oyama brother was changed from Kunio to Nunio.
  • The starting HP for each character type are distributed differently. In the arcade version, the Lee and Oyama brothers started with 230 HP, the Urquidez brothers started with 270 and the Chin Brothers with 290 HP. In the Mega Drive version, the Lee brothers start with 250 HP, the Urquidez brothers start with 225, the Chin brothers with 300 and the Oyama brothers 375. The damage data for both, player and enemy attacks, are also different.
  • The animation frames for consecutive attacks and running are missing in the Mega Drive version. The belly-to-back throw was removed as well. The enemies also lack their "stun" poses, leading to a much harder difficulty than the arcade version.
  • In the arcade version, the hurricane kick is performed by doing a neutral jump and pressing the kick, while the jumping throw is performed by pressing the punch button while jumping over an enemy. In the Mega Drive version, both of these moves are performed by holding down the d-pad up or down and pressing the C button near an enemy.
  • The two co-operative moves (the back-to-back hurricane kick and the triangle jump kick) were removed in the Mega Drive version.
  • The arcade version have multiple music tracks for each mission for different areas and situations (including boss battles). In the Mega Drive version, there's only one track for each mission.

Promotional material

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Print advert in VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US) #50: "March 1993" (1993-0x-xx)
also published in:
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Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
68 №43, p48[2]
25 №24, p163
10 №9, p38/39
20 №35, p153
31 №40, p28/29
35 №16, p42/43
35 №18, p65
39 №3, p64
70 №14, p14-16[8]
Sega Mega Drive
37
Based on
9 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
30
[9]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
50
[10]
Cool Gamer (RU)
40
[11]
Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U
72
[12]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
68
[2]
Joypad (FR)
25
[13]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL
10
[14]
Mega Force (FR)
69
[15]
Mega Fun (DE) NTSC-U
27
[16]
Player One (FR) PAL
35
[17]
Play Time (DE) PAL
49
[18]
Sega Power (UK)
31
[19]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
35
[20]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
35
[21]
Sega Zone (UK) PAL
39
[22]
Sega Force (UK) PAL
70
[8]
Supergame (BR) NTSC-U
77
[23]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
38
[24]
Sega Mega Drive
44
Based on
18 reviews

Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone

Mega Drive, US
DoubleDragon3TheRosettaStone MD US Box.jpg
Cover
DoubleDragon3 MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
DoubleDragon3 MD US manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
DoubleDragon3TheRosettaStone MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
DoubleDragon3 MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, BR
DoubleDragon3 MD BR Box.jpg
Cover
DoubleDragon3 MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 b36ab75c
MD5 783a70fd1a6339d947a2ba8556bd7bba
SHA-1 663dfeebd21409942bcc446633b9b9f0dd238aa8
1MB 1992-12 Cartridge (US/EU)

References

  1. File:SegaVisions US 11.pdf, page 100
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 File:GamePro US 043.pdf, page 50 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:GamePro US 043.pdf_p50" defined multiple times with different content
  3. File:SegaForce UK 14.pdf, page 16
  4. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 41
  5. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "April 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 97
  6. S.W.A.T. Pro, "May 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 63
  7. GamePro, "May 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 17
  8. 8.0 8.1 File:SegaForce UK 14.pdf, page 14 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaForce UK 14.pdf_p14" defined multiple times with different content
  9. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 94
  10. Aktueller Software Markt, "August 1993" (DE; 1993-07-12), page 136
  11. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 67
  12. Electronic Games (1992-1995), "March 1993" (US; 1993-02-09), page 70
  13. Joypad, "Octobre 1993" (FR; 1993-xx-xx), page 163
  14. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "May 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 38
  15. Mega Force, "Septembre 1993" (FR; 1993-0x-xx), page 119
  16. Mega Fun, "05/93" (DE; 1993-0x-xx), page 63
  17. Player One, "Octobre 1993" (FR; 1993-xx-xx), page 153
  18. Play Time, "6/93" (DE; 1993-05-05), page 101
  19. Sega Power, "March 1993" (UK; 1993-02-04), page 28
  20. Sega Pro, "February 1993" (UK; 1993-01-14), page 42
  21. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 65
  22. Sega Zone, "January 1993" (UK; 1992-12-xx), page 64
  23. Supergame, "Maio 1993" (BR; 1993-05-xx), page 17
  24. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 53



Double Dragon games for Sega systems
Sega Master System
Double Dragon (1988)
Sega Mega Drive
Double Dragon II: The Revenge (1991) | Double Dragon (1992) | Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone (1992/1993) | Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team (1993) | Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls (1994)
Sega Game Gear
Double Dragon (1993)