Well this is a surprise. After acquiring the rights to the Double Dragon franchise in 2015, Arc System Works has announced that Double Dragon IV will be released for the PC and PS4 on January 30, 2017.
To help create an authentic sequel, Arc System Works recruited several members of the Technos team that originally worked on the franchise back in the 1980s including Producer Takaomi Kaneko, Director Yoshihisa Kishimoto, Character Designer Koji Ogata, Composer Kazunaka Yamane, and Programmer Kei Oyama.
The last game in the series, 2012’s Double Dragon Neon, was an affectionate parody designed by WayForward. But for Double Dragon IV, Arc System Works will employ NES-style graphics in a game that’ll also serve as a direct sequel to the storyline found in the NES adaptations of Double Dragon, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, and Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones.
Interestingly enough, this won’t be the first game to be thought of as “Double Dragon IV.” Super Double Dragon, developed by Technos and originally released for the Super NES in 1992, was often informally referred to as the fourth Double Dragon game. It was followed by Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls, a one-on-one fighting game based on the Double Dragon animated series, in 1994.
Fans can get their first look at the new Double Dragon IV in the game’s first teaser trailer, which has been embedded above.
