Double Dragon: Neon Neon Brawling With a Killer Soundtrack

This is a game made to be punched through with someone next to you. Grab a second controller for local co-op, or play online, and the two Lee brothers take on Skullmageddon's henchmen together. The best part is the high-five: you and your partner can slap hands almost anytime to activate team power-ups, including sharing health when one of you is in trouble. If your friend goes down, you can pick them back up, which turns a losing fight into a comeback. It is fast, loud and social, the kind of game where the plan falls apart and nobody minds. Solo works too, but a beat 'em up like this is at its best with a partner covering the other side of the screen.

The twist on the classic formula is music. Enemies drop cassette tapes, and each one holds an ability or a passive bonus: special moves like fireballs and hurricane kicks, or boosts to your stats. Stacking copies of the same tape makes that power stronger, and you can swap tapes mid-fight, so a brawl becomes a small build decision. Switch to a magic tape, hurl a few fireballs, then flip to a healing tape to get back in the fight. Shops sell tapes too, and you can raise their level caps further with crystals from bosses. Even the menu is charming: every tape plays its own track while you browse.

Neon leans fully into the decade that made the original. The visuals are bright and cartoony instead of gritty, the villains are gloriously absurd, and Skullmageddon himself is a bombastic skeleton who is somehow also a scientist and a singer. The brothers crack jokes as they fight, and the whole thing is knowingly campy rather than serious. The soundtrack by Jake Kaufman carries the mood: original songs full of synths and drum machines, plus remixes of classic Double Dragon themes. It is one of those scores people remember long after the credits, and the credits themselves are worth sticking around for.