Classic arcade video game 'Double Dragon' now available on the Switch

Classic arcade video game "Double Dragon" is now available for download at the Nintendo Switch eShop.Nintendo official website

The Nintendo Switch Eshop is bursting with new game releases this week, and one of them is the classic retro beat 'em up video game "Double Dragon."

"Two brothers fight with evil, to rescue Marian that has been kidnapped by a violence organization," read the game's description on the Nintendo eShop. "Please enjoy the masterpiece that built a generation for video games."

"Double Dragon" is a highly popular arcade game first released by Technos Japan in 1987. It's a staple arcade game everywhere, and its popularity has led to its own animated series and a live-action film adaptation.

HAMSTER's Arcade Archives, the team responsible for porting classic arcade games into consoles, were also behind the game hitting on the Switch, and it's already available for purchase at the eShop for $7.99.

The Switch version will feature two-player co-op gameplay, and players can tweak the settings in terms of game difficulty, and if they like—replicate the arcade display settings such as that of the original game. With the Switch's Joy-Con capability, "Double Dragon" is set to be a perfect fit for the console.

The game, like its classic arcade version, takes place in a pseudo-3D perspective. To those who don't know, "Double Dragon" features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight their way through various rivals and adversaries they meet on their adventures.

Mostly, the players use a variety of unnamed fighting techniques to defeat their enemies, but they also have access to melee weapons such as throwing knives and baseball bats (which are commonly collected from defeated enemies). Other installments of the game sometimes feature some fighting combination techniques with another player.

It's unclear whether the Switch version of "Double Dragon" would retain the names of the original enemy characters. In the arcade version, the main enemies of the Lee Twins are the Black Warriors gang, a group of criminals in New York formed when a nuclear war led to the depravity of law in the city.

Aside from "Double Dragon," another classic arcade game, "Power Spikes II" was also released to the Nintendo eShop on the same date.