People used to say wizard as an adjective, all by itself, just as we now use the word cool. It's true; I saw it in a movie once. But nowadays calling something wizard would just elicit looks of confusion. "Is he saying that Double Dragon: Neon's Achievements wear long robes and cast magic spells?" they might wonder. But what other noun used as an adjective could be more appropriate for an Achievement list that actually references Fred Savage's 1989 magnum opus film The Wizard? None, I say! As it turns out, pretty much all of Neon's Achievements overflow with the game's tongue-in-cheek style of humor and machismo.
Xbox360Achievements.org has the full Double Dragon: Neon Achievement list. I'll offer my commentary on a select few of them:
'You Did What?' - You got 50000 on Double Dragon!?
Here's the Achievement that justifies my opening paragraph, title and description fully quoted from The Wizard.
'A Boo Boo' - Knock Abobo into a pit
- As a Literature major, I approve of the word play in this Achievement's name. There's also an Achievement for knocking Williams into a pit. Basically these are gimmes, but I always thought knocking enemies into holes was the most fun thing to do in Double Dragon anyway, so I'll be glad to get Achievements for it.
'Pick a winner!' - Nail all enemies with the hair pick
- Neon has an abundance of weapons to use, from the traditional bat and knife to silly things like hairpicks. I wonder whether there will just be a ton of picks lying around or if we'll unlock the ability to select weapons at will somehow.
'Bromerang' - Catch a boomerang thrown by your bro!
- I'm not big on the game's overuse of the term bro, but it's part of the humor they're going for so I deal with it. Still, a co-op specific Achievement involving fun with boomerangs is nothing but clever.
'Are You Awake?' - Win an airlock battle without attacking
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Neon's main deviation from past Double Dragon games is its use of science fiction elements. Yes, the original two games took place in a post-apocalyptic setting seemingly inspired by movie The Warriors, but they skewed realistic outside of a few mystical bits.
Several of Double Dragon: Neon's stages take place in space, a move seemingly inspired by the mashup Battletoads / Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team. Whatever the case, the space stages actually have some cool gimmicks like airlocks that open and close. In the E3 demo, we had lots of fun luring hapless enemies into space and watching them drift off helplessly.
'Later Ro-bros!' - Beat every level as a Ro-bro
- Another sci-fi touch? It seems that robotic versions of Billy and Jimm Lee are somehow playable, whether by an unlock or a power-up of some sort. Majesco hasn't publicly mentioned the Ro-bros yet, which makes our Achievement reading all the more worthwhile. Bro bro bro.
'Single Dragon' - Finish every stage solo on Double Dragon difficulty!
- 'Double Dragon' appears to be the hardest difficulty in the game. Here we have the single-player Achievement, with the co-op version appropriately named 'Double Dragon.'
The Xbox Live Arcade version of Double Dragon: Neon features 30 Achievements worth a total of 400 GamerScore. Once the review copy comes in, you can bet I won't rest until I have them all. While this article deals specifically with the XBLA game, you can bet the PSN version will award Trophies for completing the same goals.
Double Dragon: Neon launches on September 11 for 800 Microsoft Points/$10. It features 2 player local and online co-op, ripped jeans, and lots of busting heads.
Source: Xbox360achievements.org