Unlike earlier games in the series, this sequel is developed by
Arc System Works, which was the developer of the
Master System version of the first Double Dragon game and acquired the series rights in 2015 from defunct original publisher
Technōs Japan. Several series developers continued to the project, including the original director, character designer, and composer with production led by Arc System Works designer Takaomi Kaneko. The game was announced in late December 2016 via a gameplay trailer.
GameSpot had expected a graphical update, similar to
Double Dragon Neon, but the new sequel's gameplay and graphics are more akin to the ports made for the
Nintendo Entertainment System, with several character sprites taken directly from those titles, rather than the arcade original. Producer Takaomi Kaneko said the team made the decision use
Double Dragon II for the NES as a template because the game sported the same visuals in Japan and the rest of the world. Composer Kazunaka Yamane based the soundtrack on the original NES
Double Dragon games he had worked on in the past, although at first he could not find his original compositions for the past games. His new music was subsequently converted to a retro 8-bit style soundtrack that is available as an option in the game. Similarly, character designer Koji Ogata, who had also worked on
Double Dragon II: The Revenge also tried to preserve the classic graphics from the older game, while adding new animations and backgrounds. The game's development team had only five members, a smaller team than the ones that worked on the NES titles. The game was released digitally on January 30, 2017, for
PlayStation 4 and January 31 for
Windows. A version for
Nintendo Switch was released digitally on September 7. The game received a limited physical release on the PlayStation 4 on December 8 the same year, and on 2022 on Nintendo Switch by
Limited Run Games. ==Reception==