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Japan-only 'Double Dragon' game comes to the Super NES this summer

Play the original Japanese game with a new SNES cartridge.

It might be time to dust off that old Super NES, especially if you're a Double Dragon fan -- on July 19th, you can check out a version of Super Double Dragon that wasn't available in North America before now.

If you have a SNES (or a third-party machine that can play SNES cartridges), you can grab a copy of Return of Double Dragon. The game was released in Japan only in 1992 and has been out of print for years, but it didn't stay dead forever. Arc System Works, which grabbed the rights to the series in 2015 and released Double Dragon IV on PS4 and Steam last year, and Retroism got approval from Return of Double Dragon's creators for the re-release.

It's a beefed-up version of Super Double Dragon, which was released in the US. As ever in a Double Dragon game, you can take on the Shadow Warriors as Billy or Jimmy Lee. There are new moves, along with some extra stages, an updated soundtrack and drop-in co-op play -- a feature that's sorely missing from many modern games. If you drop $50 to snag a copy of Return of Double Dragon on the first print run, you'll get a limited-edition red cartridge as well. Until we can get our hands on this (as well as that sweet Mega Man cartridge re-release), we'll be over here, listening to the Double Dragon cartoon theme song ad nauseum.