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For the boss in Battletoads/Double Dragon, see Roper (Battletoads/Double Dragon).

Roper (ローパー Rōpā?), also known as Rowper or Lopar in some translations, is a recurring enemy in the Double Dragon series, often appearing alongside Williams.

Appearances[]

Double Dragon[]

In the arcade version of the original Double Dragon, Roper is the second most recurring minor enemy in the game, after Williams. He has short black hair and wears a shirtless vest with matching colored pants and spiked shoulder pads. Like Williams, Roper appears in a variety of different outfit colors and skin tones, which change with each stage. His fighting style isn't much different from Williams's, the main difference being that Roper can not only wield all the same weapons that Williams uses (baseball bat, throwing knife and dynamite stick), but he can also lift and throw heavy objects at the player, such as oil drums, packaging boxes and boulders.

Roper exclusively wields heavy objects in the NES and Game Boy ports, which only appear when he's around. However, in the VS Mode minigame of the NES version, he can also wield a tonfa when two players are competing. His techniques primarily consist on jabs and a back spin kick. Player 1 controls the Roper in the blue outfit, while Player 2 controls the one in the green outfit.

While in the arcade version, Roper's base sprite has fair skin, in the NES version, his basic sprite is black skinned.

In the Master System port, Roper retains the ability to use bats, knives and dynamites, but can no longer lift heavy objects like he does in the other versions.

In the Sega Genesis port, all of Roper's palettes have dark skin; this is in contrast to Williams, who only has light-skinned color palettes. 

Double Dragon II: The Revenge[]

In the arcade version of Double Dragon II, Roper wears the same outfit from the first game, although now he fashions a scruffy beard and wears an eye patch, giving him the appearance of a pirate. His only new techniques in this game are a back kick and the shovel throw.

In the NES version, Roper more closely resembles his first game incarnation, lacking the beard and eye patch from the arcade version. He no longer throws heavy objects, but instead wields incendiary bombs and boomerangs.[1] The boomerang is an exclusive weapon that cannot be taken away from him by the player.

In the PC Engine CD remake of the NES version, Roper retains the beard from his arcade counterpart. His repertoire of moves has also been increased: he can now use whips and perform a backward kick. Compared to the NES version, Roper appears more often and his A.I. is much more aggressive.

Super Double Dragon[]

A member of Shadow Warriors who forms a formidable pair with Williams. He specializes in brute strength.
~ Translated description from the Return of Double Dragon manual

Roper is a head-swap of his partner Williams. He wears a hachimaki (Japanese headband), along with a shirtless white vest and pants. His fighting style is almost identical to Williams's, aside from the addition of a slide kick. The darker skin variants of Roper tend to carry weapons. Mission 5 introduces variants in light green clothing who tend to carry oil drums and large rocks. There is also a rare variant in Mission 3 who wears a yellow vest and purple camouflage pants (matching Williams's standard colors).

Battletoads/Double Dragon[]

An old enemy of the Lee twins, he's going to make sure that this encounter won't end in receiving his usual humiliating beating.
~ Official description from the manual

Lopar is a shirtless, bandanna-wearing thug who confronts the player throughout Level 5, Missile Mayhem, which takes place atop a giant missile traveling through outer space making its way toward the Earth. His techniques include flying jump kicks, cartwheels and shuriken throws.

Lopar's name comes from an alternate translation of the name "Roper" that appeared in the manuals of certain versions of the original Double Dragon - a result of transliterating foreign words rendered in Japanese. Despite this, Lopar appears to be more closely modeled after the Double Dragon II arcade incarnation of Williams, who also had a cartwheel move and threw knives. His bandana appears to be based on the Super Double Dragon incarnation of Roper.

Additionally, the original character, Guido, appears to be more closely modeled after classic depictions of Roper, wearing a shirtless vest (SNES and Genesis versions only).

Main article: Roper (Battletoads/Double Dragon)

Oddly enough, the boss of Level 3, appropriately called Ropes 'N' Roper, is also called "Roper", although he is clearly intended to be Willy Mackey, the leader of the Black Warriors and arch-nemesis of the Lee brothers in the first two games, wearing yellow garments and carrying his trademark machine gun. This discrepancy was probably the result of developer Rare not being very familiar with the Double Dragon storyline and characters.

Double Dragon Advance[]

A member of the Shadow Warriors who specializes in knife throws.
~ Translated description from the Japanese manual

Roper's design in Double Dragon Advance is relatively unchanged from his counterpart in the original arcade game, aside from gaining the ability to throw infinite knives and grenades. Like many home versions, his default skin tone is dark as opposed to Williams's default palette being light-skinned.

Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons[]

He is a similar henchman as William. He lost one of his eyes during the battle with Billy and Jimmy brothers, so he has a strong grudge against them.[2]

Profile
  • Body type: Man A
  • Gender: Male
  • Age: Middle 30s
  • Personality: Oppressiveness
  • Features: Using weapons such as sticks and props, guard.

Double Dragon IV[]

After the Lee brothers fight to the top of the Okada Tower in Japan, Shannon Okada escapes in a helicopter and the brothers beat information out of Rowper. He tells them to go to Rinka Kabukicho.

Gallery[]

Artworks and portraits[]

Sprites[]

Trivia[]

  • Roper is named after John Saxon's character from the 1973 martial arts action film Enter the Dragon, although his name was translated as "Rowper" in the manual of the Famicom port of the original Double Dragon and reprints of it that were used for the manuals of other ports as well.
  • In Battletoads/Double Dragon, the names "Roper" and "Lopar" are assigned to two distinct enemies. The former is a misnamed Willy, while the latter apparently is the recurrent minor enemy from the Double Dragon franchise.
    • In addition, there's a third enemy called Guido who, given his physical similarities to the classic Roper, could have been intended to be that game's actual version of Roper. If this was the case, then the enemy known as Lopar in that game could possibly have been intended to be Williams, taking into account his characteristic cartwheel moves.
  • While the initial Roper in the original arcade game was fair-skinned, several later versions of the game, including the Sega Genesis port and Double Dragon Advance, make the dark-skinned Roper the default.
    • Williams being light-skinned and Roper being dark skinned is a reversal of their namesakes from Enter the Dragon.
  • While Roper never appears in Double Dragon Neon, he is mentioned by the Tapesmith, who wonders out loud whatever happened to him.
  • While Roper doesn't directly appear in the iOS/Android version of Double Dragon, the enemies Bret and Brown could be considered to be loose counterparts. Like the Advance version of Roper, both are a dark-skinned common enemies. Bret is best friends with Williams and carries dynamite, while Brown can carry heavy objects and extensively appears in the Factory stage.
  • Despite being a relatively recent game, Double Dragon IV retakes the name of "Rowper" for this character.

See also[]

References[]

  1. This weapon is referred to as "Boomerang" in the NES manual of Double Dragon II (page 19), although its appearance, being weights (in this case, spiked balls) on the ends of interconnected cords (or chains) resembles more the Spanish "bolas".
  2. An Introduction to Characters | Black Warriors at The Legend of Fighting Action Game: Double Dragon II.

External links[]

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