Double Dragon Neon Official Soundtrack

There was so much going on in 2012. I meant to make a post about this so much sooner, but here it is, early 2013, and I'm just now getting around to it.

Anyway, I'm sure more than a few of you have played Double Dragon Neon, the downloadable beat 'em up available on PSN and XBLA. The game was developed by Way Forward and published by Majesco. With Technos Japan being kaput, it comes as a bit of a surprise that we'd get a new Double Dragon game, but well, here we are. Despite not being handled by it's parent company, from my understanding, Double Dragon Neon is pretty radical. GENZOMAN handled the art duties, while Jake Kaufman composed the soundtrack. On September 11, 2012, the same date as the North American version's release date, the Double Dragon Neon Official Soundtrack was released at the excellent price of free.

Being a score written by Mr. Kaufman, I knew I was in store for some sweet tunage and this soundtrack does not disappoint. There are plenty of arrangements of classic Double Dragon themes, such as the Title Theme, City Streets 1 (Double Dragon 1 - Mission 1) and a number of other tracks from the first Double Dragon, including the NES version. Double Dragon II also got some remix love from Lab 1 (Double Dragon 2 - Mission 1) and Level Select. There may be some other remixes as well, but I'm, not as up to date on my Double Dragon history as I am other game series, so forgive me if I missed them.

There are also some tracks with lyrics that offer some very nice vocal performances like City Streets 2 (Mango Tango - Neon Jungle) and Space Dojo 2 (Billy and the Breakers - Firebird). These tracks have a heavy '80s vibe to them so while that may make them come off as a bit cheesy, I view that as part of their charm. There are even some hilarious short mixtape tracks in this soundtrack, which even contain sounds of the tape being switched sides on each mixtape track. Bomb Toss sound suspiciously like something sung by Rick Astley and Healing Touch sounds very similar to Sexual Healing. These things are more than likely intentional.

Jake Kaufman easily could have charged us for such a wonderful soundtrack but the fact that it's free is all kinds of awesome. The Mixtape tracks alone make this worth a download, but then you've got the fantastic Double Dragon 1-2 remixes along with the freshly composed tracks. Unless you're against getting free stuff that has high production values, I see no reason to pass on this soundtrack.

Double Dragon Neon Official Soundtrack