Most of the characters were named after characters in the 'Lee, Bruce' film, Enter the Dragon (1973). Such as the Lee bothers, Williams, Roper, and even Linda who is named after Linda Lee-Cadwell the wife of Bruce Lee.
One of the most remade arcade games in history with over 15 versions spanning multiple consoles. Such as the Master System, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari ST, Amiga, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance (Double Dragon Advance), Genesis, Lynx, Zeebo, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, iOS, Android, and even a best-selling port to the Famicom titled Sou Setsu Ryuu.
Double Dragon was designed and written by just three people, all of whom, prior to joining Technos, were with Data East and had worked on another arcade fighting legend, Karate Champ (1984).
The game's setting and characters were inspired by eight action blockbuster films from both Golden Harvest and Warner Brothers such as The Big Boss (1971), Fist of Fury: The Chinese Connection (1972), The Way of the Dragon (1972), Enter the Dragon (1973), Game of Death (1978), Mad Max (1979), Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981), and Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome (1985).
Billy and Jimmy Lee both mastered the family art of Sou-Setsu-Ken (Chinese: Shuang Jie Quan, lit. "Twin Sever Fist"), the fighting style is based on that of Bruce Lee's found martial art of Jeet-Kune-Do (Chinese: Jiht Kyuhn Douh, lit. "The Way of the Intercepting Fist").