Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone (ダブルドラゴンIII ザ・ロゼッタストーン)
Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone (ダブルドラゴンIII ザ・ロゼッタストーン)
Price: US$13.99
Weight: 100Grams
Item description
Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone (ダブルドラゴンIII ザ・ロゼッタストーン) is the 3rd game in the Double Dragon series of side scrolling Beat 'em Ups. It looks and sounds good but I have to confess I have not gotten very far in this game. Part of that is because I am weak sauce. The other part is that it is notoriously difficult. Maybe you will have better luck with it than me? You can play without knowing Japanese but you might want to read a translation of the story (if that is important to you in your beat 'em up).
As for the differences between the US and Japanese version, like has this to say:
The English version altered the plot of the game during the translation process, as the Japanese version (titled Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone) features a script that is much closer to the arcade game. While the English version involves another rescue mission to save Marion, there's no mention of her in the Japanese script and the Lee brothers are simply searching for the stones in order to become the world's strongest fighters (the final boss is a resurrected Cleopatra instead of Princess Noiram). Additionally, the death of Brett (whose name was Aldo in the Japanese version) was not connected to the search for the stones, but rather the culprit turns out to be Jim, the boss of the first stage, who is revealed to be the brother of Willy from the original Double Dragon (a subplot that was eliminated in the English version). Additionally, the purpose of the trip to Italy was to find a clue to solving the riddle of Egypt, rather than train for the big battle; it turns out that the boss of this stage, a shirtless muscle-bound gladiator, had the map of the Pyramid, and rather than revealing in the third stage that Hiruko had the last stone, it is in the Italy stage that she reveals she has it. Lastly, the difficulty is slightly different between the two versions. In the Japanese version, the player starts each stage with more health for their characters and there are fewer enemies to fight. However, the ending of the Japanese version differs depending on which of the player characters are still alive by the end of the game, whereas the English version always shows the complete ending with all four protagonists no matter what.
While Billy's name is spelled correctly throughout most of the game, even in the 1-player version of the opening, the opening of the 2-players mode has his name misspelled as "Bimmy" when both Lee brothers are shown together on the first screen. While this mistake is often attributed to a translation error, the English script is not a direct translation of the Japanese original, as the story underwent changes during the localization. A promotional flyer for the Famicom version features a more direct translation of the original opening text, which spells the name correctly. This typo served as the inspiration for the enemy characters "Bimmy 'n' Jammy" in Double Dragon Neon, deformed clones of the Lee brothers who are described by their introductory tag line as "Mistranslated Mutants".
The game has been tested on an actual Famicom system and plays great. The photo uploaded is of the actual game I am selling. Check the condition before buying. Make sure that you have the necessary hardware to run Japanese Famicom games before bidding. This cart will not run on an unmodified NES system. It should run on most Famicom clones but I cannot guarantee it's compatibility.
Loose Famicom carts will be wrapped in a removable plastic sleeve and then placed in a bubble wrapped mailer for shipping. Boxed or fragile games will be cushioned with bubble wrap or newspaper and put in a larger box. Please remember, the games will ship from Japan so please allow some additional shipping time. Also during Japanese postal holidays (New Year's, Golden Week, Obon) orders will be delayed while the post office is closed.
As always, if you have any questions about this or any item on the store, you can contact me on:
Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/JapanRetroDirect/
Twitter at: @JpnRetroDirect
Bluesky: @japanretrodirect.bsky.social
As for the differences between the US and Japanese version, like has this to say:
The English version altered the plot of the game during the translation process, as the Japanese version (titled Double Dragon III: The Rosetta Stone) features a script that is much closer to the arcade game. While the English version involves another rescue mission to save Marion, there's no mention of her in the Japanese script and the Lee brothers are simply searching for the stones in order to become the world's strongest fighters (the final boss is a resurrected Cleopatra instead of Princess Noiram). Additionally, the death of Brett (whose name was Aldo in the Japanese version) was not connected to the search for the stones, but rather the culprit turns out to be Jim, the boss of the first stage, who is revealed to be the brother of Willy from the original Double Dragon (a subplot that was eliminated in the English version). Additionally, the purpose of the trip to Italy was to find a clue to solving the riddle of Egypt, rather than train for the big battle; it turns out that the boss of this stage, a shirtless muscle-bound gladiator, had the map of the Pyramid, and rather than revealing in the third stage that Hiruko had the last stone, it is in the Italy stage that she reveals she has it. Lastly, the difficulty is slightly different between the two versions. In the Japanese version, the player starts each stage with more health for their characters and there are fewer enemies to fight. However, the ending of the Japanese version differs depending on which of the player characters are still alive by the end of the game, whereas the English version always shows the complete ending with all four protagonists no matter what.
While Billy's name is spelled correctly throughout most of the game, even in the 1-player version of the opening, the opening of the 2-players mode has his name misspelled as "Bimmy" when both Lee brothers are shown together on the first screen. While this mistake is often attributed to a translation error, the English script is not a direct translation of the Japanese original, as the story underwent changes during the localization. A promotional flyer for the Famicom version features a more direct translation of the original opening text, which spells the name correctly. This typo served as the inspiration for the enemy characters "Bimmy 'n' Jammy" in Double Dragon Neon, deformed clones of the Lee brothers who are described by their introductory tag line as "Mistranslated Mutants".
The game has been tested on an actual Famicom system and plays great. The photo uploaded is of the actual game I am selling. Check the condition before buying. Make sure that you have the necessary hardware to run Japanese Famicom games before bidding. This cart will not run on an unmodified NES system. It should run on most Famicom clones but I cannot guarantee it's compatibility.
Loose Famicom carts will be wrapped in a removable plastic sleeve and then placed in a bubble wrapped mailer for shipping. Boxed or fragile games will be cushioned with bubble wrap or newspaper and put in a larger box. Please remember, the games will ship from Japan so please allow some additional shipping time. Also during Japanese postal holidays (New Year's, Golden Week, Obon) orders will be delayed while the post office is closed.
As always, if you have any questions about this or any item on the store, you can contact me on:
Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/JapanRetroDirect/
Twitter at: @JpnRetroDirect
Bluesky: @japanretrodirect.bsky.social