Earlier this year, Arc System Works released the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle for modern consoles and Switch, bringing heaps of NES beat ‘em up goodness to Sony’s console. It looked like Xbox owners would be left out of the fun, but that has thankfully changed today. Seven of the games from the Retro Brawler Bundle are now available as $5 individual downloads on Xbox One. At last, Microsoft fans can play Double Dragon II, Double Dragon III, and River City Ransom in local and online co-op! While the Xbox Store page does list Double Dragon as having co-op, since this is the NES version of the game, it actually does not offer cooperative play - instead it's a two player versus mode.
The following classic NES games (originally developed by Technos and now published by Arc System Works) are now available to buy on Xbox One in English markets for $4.99 each. Co-op titles appear in bold:
Double Dragon
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
Renegade
Super Dodge Ball
Crash'n the Boys Street Challenge
Curiously, the remaining 11 games from the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle are only available to buy on the Japanese Xbox store. Non-Japanese gamers can still buy them by switching the region of their consoles and then redeeming a Japanese Xbox gift card (as I did), but it’s a hassle.
The Japanese-exclusive classics for Xbox include:
Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-kun
Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club
Downtown Nekketsu Story (Japanese River City Ransom)
Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club - Soccer Story
Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day!
Downtown Special Kunio-kun's Historical Period Drama!
Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness Surprise!
Nekketsu New Records! The Distant Gold Medal
Nekketsu Fighting Legend
Kunio-kun's Nekketsu Soccer League
Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes
Speaking of the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle, that bundle IS available for Xbox One, but only in Japan, where it’s called Kunio-kun: The World Classics Collection. It’s a shame that English markets apparently aren’t getting the Xbox version of the bundle, but at least beat ‘em up fans can grab the individual Double Dragon and River City Ransom games à la carte.
Double Dragon II, Double Dragon III, and River City Ransom all feature 2-player local and online co-op. Additional features include optional enhanced graphics, save states, customizable controls, multiple display and sound modes, individual Achievement lists for each game, and more.