Double Dragon II -- Mission 8: The Double Illusion

Hey, wow, a thug that apparently...didn't get wiped out first and questioned later, or maybe he did, don't question the Double Dragon method of gathering information, because eventually it has to work out, right? Such naturally-flowing heckling, though...all thugs these days must be saying things like "You'll only destroy yourselves!" I have to assume that guy was the only one to survive the Lee method of face rearrangement and is in surprisingly good spirits to be taunting us given the particular condition of his clearly-remodeled mugger's mug. --- Mission 8: The Double Illusion Look at that highly polished and reflective surface...which...confusingly (but not surprisingly, given the age of the game itself) reflects only the background, and nothing else. This stage is also host to my favorite song in the whole game, although there are quite a number of closely-tied runners up. I actually really like this stage, particularly in light of all the insane platforming that the Lee brothers are forced to do, acting against type... Because, y'know, those guys are all about bustin' heads rather than making sure-footed negotiation of unfriendly terrain. No, this one is all about the frankly ridiculous number of enemies around here that are all a-cruisin' for a bruisin', and that's something the Double Dragons happen to have in abundance. All comers should feel more than free to have a heaping helping. The only even maybe tricky bit here is the same as with the first ladder in the Forest of Death. If you manage to miss the point of embarkment, you will suffer a nasty spill, and even by yourself you won't survive the landing...because the edge of the platform confusingly seems to be over the edge of the platform below...which...doesn't at all begin to explain why you can climb down a vertical ladder to reach the wall-adjacent edge of that same platform. Escher would be proud! Such a shame that huge door-looking feature on the top floor wasn't as meaningful as it looked like it could have been. A few big ol' bruisers later, we reach the big main attraction for this stage, an open area with a very ornately-designed emblem which will be where the REAL battle begins. We were fairly unsporting and decided to refill each others' health bars before proceeding...one of the unfair perks of playing "competitively" but completely abandoning the point of doing so when things are far more advantageous pragmatically if we commit to a cooperative double death pact. And then suddenly ninja(s, thousands of them!) attack! In an isometric faux-3D area this time, too! This is both good and bad for them, since they can apparently do the unthinkable and run diagonally in their rush attacks, as well as do something no other enemy or even player can...they can jump between horizontal lines of pixels! They can actually jump so well that if you're patient enough, they may even eventually jump so far as to throw themselves off the edge at the bottom of the screen...although whether or not you are that patient and sadistic is another matter entirely, as we know the only thing really deadly about these guys right now is their extreme strength in numbers. Then, the eponymous "Double Illusion," as it were. A neat trick and an interesting notion, but nothing too terribly beyond what the Dragons can handle. The only unique tricks that you should be very wary of are a fast-moving and curving fireball attack, and a move where the enemy will literally vanish into the floor. The former isn't as troublesome as it might seem as long as you jump or sidestep ahead of its approach (watch for the brief "Kamehame-HA!" style windup)...the other trick is less obvious. If you're airborne when your quarry rematerializes, they won't be able to hurt you...it's really most annoying because it's a span of time where your foe risks absolutely nothing and is completely immune to attack before returning to the field, and apparently has no limit on how often they can choose to use this move. If you're playing single-player, there will actually only be one of these final enemies. And really, it's not a very long stage physically...but what will really take it out of you is having to wade through a marathon of enemies, particularly the two types near the end which are almost guaranteed to be set up precisely to put you on the defensive. That's exactly why such a short stage is able to have a longer running time than even longer stages like the Forest of Death or Trap Room.