Super Double Dragon

As with previous installments of the series, the player takes control of martial artists Billy and Jimmy in their fight against the Shadow Warriors gang. The objective is to proceed through each stage and defeat all enemies, including a boss. The game consists of seven stages, which includes a casino, an airport, a martial arts dojo, a fight atop a moving truck, a city slum, a forest, and the hideout of the boss.

In addition to the punch, kick, and jump buttons, the player now has a guard button for blocking attacks. If the player times the guard button right, their character can not only defend against an enemy's punch, they can also put certain enemies in an arm grab, leaving the enemy vulnerable to successive attacks. The arm grab only works on Williams, Roper, Steve, Jackson and the Chin brothers. There's also a "Dragon Power" gauge under the life gauge, which the player can fill by holding down the L or R buttons.

Muneki Ebinuma, who worked as the lead game designer of Super Double Dragon, published a commentary about his involvement in the development of the game in 2004, where he detailed his original plans for the game that he was unable to fully realize due to time constraints. The game was supposed to feature cut-scenes prior to boss battles and between stages, as well as a full ending sequence, in contrast to the lack of in-game plot in the retail release (where no explanation is given as to why Billy and Jimmy Lee are fighting the enemy). The plot would've involved Billy and Jimmy Lee investigating a criminal organization known as the Shadow Warriors following the disappearances of several local martial artists, eventually coming face to face with their leader Duke, who would've been revealed to have been a childhood friend of the Lee brothers. The character of Marian was also supposed to appear in the game as a policewoman who assisted the Lee brothers (an occupation she had in the Double Dragon comic book and animated series produced around the time).

While Marian is still mentioned in the instruction manual and packaging description, she never actually appears in the retail version of the game. In addition to the cut-scenes, some of the stages were supposed to have more traps and obstacles, and there was supposed to an additional boss after defeating Duke.