Rage of the Dragons NEO review

Noise Factory may not be as well known as some of the other players in he world of 2D fighting games, but the developers formed from ex members of Atlus have a decent pedigree having worked on some pretty cool niche one-on-ones, including the underrated Power Instinct/Matrimelee. Their first stab at the genre was Rage of the Dragons, a spiritual successor to the slept-on 1995 Neo Geo Double Dragon tie-in, which originally came out in 2002, very late on in the life of the 16-bit arcade behemoth. It was a joint effort between Noise Factory and Mexican developer Evoga, this being their sophomore title before they went kaput in 2004.

Featuring new takes on the likes of Billy and Jimmy Lee from the legendary scrolling Technos fighter, Rage of the Dragons features a bevy of other interesting original and returning characters and an aesthetic and style that is very much in keeping with the latter-day entries in the Neo/SNK Playmore canon. It has a great tag team system that allows you to switch between characters on the fly in real time, whenever you fancy. Like any good Neo Geo game, it is also tough as old boots, and provides a genuine challenge to even intermediate fight vets.

This updated modern port, with a load of quality of life extras not doable on the Neo Geo, and the benefit of playable bosses, proves exactly what I said in my recent review of all-new fighter Blazing Strike; releasing a lacklustre fighter in 2024 only draws into sharper focus just how good we had it in the glory days – as Rage of the Dragons Neo is a polished and wholesome version of what is still a high-quality take on the genre, even though it came out more than two decades ago.

The developers clearly understood how to program a fighter for the Neo Geo, as many of the same mechanics present in other classic franchises are mimicked in Rage, such as the rolls and hops of KOF, the multiple jump variants, super-moves, counters and dashing. With the standard four button layout from the original hardware, it is easy to pick up but has a level of complexity and nuance that keeps it interesting, fresh and competitive on or offline once mastered.

It has a great tag team system that allows you to switch between characters on the fly in real time, whenever you fancy. Picking predetermined teams of certain characters also opens up custom dual tag team attacks, which adds an extra element of characterisation to the combatants and their stories and role within the game. There is an excellent and unique QTE style First Impact attack which asks you to match a series of commands that flash up in a short window of time, that if executed will pull off a devastating combo. Best of all, if you nail it, you can also extend the life of the combo by switching your teammate in and following suit.

There are superb training modes, moves lists that you can call up during play, a ton of interesting achievements, and of course the rock-solid stability of rollback netcode enabling you to play online without issues. QUByte has even thrown in a brand new multiplayer tag mode which enables you to play with teams of up to five a side.

When I looked at a previous collection they had put together for Visco’s Breakers titles, things were a bit sparse in terms of content, even if the original games were excellent brought to life for modern players. Rage of the Dragons Neo is not only a much better game overall, but there are a stack of extra bells and whistles that make it an absolute no-brainer for fighting game fans in what has been a top-class year for the genre.