Play Double Dragon on GB Online

Double Dragon on Game Boy is basically the same classic beat 'em up you remember from arcades, just shrunk down for portable brawling. You play as Billy or Jimmy Lee (or both if you’ve got a friend handy), punching, kicking, and elbow-smashing your way through waves of gang members to rescue Marian. The levels take you from grimy city streets to weirdly placed forests—because of course a street gang’s hideout is deep in the woods.

The controls are simple—jump, punch, grab weapons like bats when they drop—but that elbow move is weirdly overpowered once you get the timing down. The Game Boy version cuts the two-player co-op from the NES release, which is a bummer, but it’s still satisfying to plow through thugs solo. And yeah, the sprites are tiny, but they somehow still nail that 80s martial arts vibe.

If you’ve played the arcade or NES versions, you’ll notice some missing stages and the VS. mode is gone, but it’s impressive how much they crammed into this little cartridge. Just don’t expect the screen to keep up when too many enemies swarm you at once.