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Not to be confused with Williams.

Willy Mackey (ウィリー・マッキー U~irī Makkī?),[3][4] commonly known simply as Willy, is a major villain in the Double Dragon series, acting as the main antagonist in most versions of the first and second games (and their expanded ports), being the indisputable leader of the criminal organization known as the "Black Warriors" and often serving as the final boss.

History

Willy is the leader of the Black Warriors, originally a biker gang known as the "Killers"[4] until it grew in members after the nuclear war and became the dominant criminal organization in New York City.

Appearance

Willy is generally depicted bearing a pronounced widow's peak hairline and short, unshaven, stubble mustache and beard. He's usually seen wearing a set of matching yellow leather jacket and pants (red in the arcade and PC Engine CD versions of Double Dragon II and colored diversely in many artworks), the former featuring a spiked metal pad over his right shoulder. He's always seen armed with his trademark and trusty weapon: a machine gun that can kill the player in one shot (or at least take a huge chunk of their health).

Appearances

Double Dragon

Arcade

Willy is the leader of the Black Warriors, a criminal organization which had been terrorizing the city after the war. He orders the kidnapping of Marian, Billy Lee's girlfriend, in order to lure him to his hideout and force him to surrender the secrets to his fighting technique, since his martial arts school was opposing his gang. However, Marian's kidnapping instead prompts Billy and his brother, Jimmy, who tags along after hearing the terrible news, to look for her whereabouts themselves. The two brothers set off to the streets and face the gang in hand-to-hand combat on a journey that takes them through many locations, beginning in the city slums and culminating inside the enemy's headquarters atop a distant hill in the countryside.

The brothers infiltrate Willy's hideout, and after eluding many traps, they reach the building's main hall, where Willy looks down from a balcony how they fight the remnants of his gang. Seeing how his last men are being defeated by the brothers, Willy grabs his machine gun from the wall and climbs down to join the battle himself.

Willy proves to be a formidable foe indeed. He has enhanced speed and resilience; and like Jeff, if the brothers try to grab him by the hair, he'll immediately break himself free and retaliate (unless he's down on health). But more than anything, he tends to go trigger-happy with his machine gun during battle, and the bullets he shoots are capable to fell the heroes in a single shot. Nonetheless, the brothers eventually succeed in subduing him and finally rescue Marian.

NES

In the NES version of the game, Jimmy acts as the leader of the Black Warriors instead, although Willy still appears as the second-to-last opponent, just before the battle between the Lee brothers, and the manual still describes him as the "Big Boss" of the gang, which implies that Willy leads the group in some sort of figurehead capacity.

Master System

In the Master System version, published by Sega, Jeff and Willy had their names switched in the English version of the manual. Willy's design is similar to his NES sprite but has red eyes.

Double Dragon II: The Revenge

Arcade

In the arcade version of Double Dragon II, Willy regroups his gang and retaliates against the Lee brothers for his previous defeat by brutally murdering Marian at the start of the game, an act which once again sets the two brothers to take it to the streets in a quest to exact revenge on him and his men. Willy and his gang are once again defeated, but this time Willy is presumed to have died from injuries sustained during the battle.

Willy is not the final boss of the game, though; after his defeat, the brothers are challenged by two new opponents and the actual last bosses of the game: the Double Illusion. Their appearance after Willy may hint on him possibly being their subordinate, or perhaps even being controlled by them, implied by their evident magical nature.

Willy is the only enemy character, besides Jeff, who retains his design from the first game, only this time he wears a red version of his standard outfit.

ZX Spectrum

The manual for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum English computer version of Double Dragon II expands on the story and takes some liberties not seen in other versions of the game and/or the series' established canon.

In it, it is stated that Willy indeed died at the hands of the Lee brothers five years ago, as did almost all the other members of the Black Warriors during the events of the first game, with Linda being the only survivor. Linda managed to nurse herself back to health and employed the following years in studying oriental magical arts which allowed her to bring all of her fellow gang members back from the dead, including their leader Willy.

Thirsting for revenge against the Dragons, Willy ordered his men to kidnap Marian one more time, and not willing to take any chances this time around, he immediately murdered her and placed her lifeless body inside a magical barrier inside their hideout.

The Dragons once again set on their way to Willy's headquarters to settle things once and for all, and they once again managed to defeat and kill him and all of his minions.

Being bestowed with magical powers themselves due to their Shinto birthright, and gathering enough energy from the ether after their final battle against their own tortured souls, the brothers performed a ritual with which they managed to bring Marian back to life.

NES

Willy was eliminated from the NES version of Double Dragon II and a new character, known as the Mysterious Warrior, serves as the Lee brothers' antagonist in his place.

PC Engine CD

While based around the NES version of Double Dragon II, Willy reappears as a boss character encountered at the end of Mission 8 in the PC Engine CD version. He no longer appears to be the leader of the Shadow Warriors this time around and instead seems to be taking direct orders from the Mysterious Warrior.

Appearance-wise, Willy wears a red uniform similar to his arcade counterpart, is taller than most other enemies (around the size of Bolo and O'Hara) and has a fully grown beard.

Willy's rifle club attack is more damaging and has longer range than in prior games and he's also able to jump. There are unused animations for an unarmed Willy picking up his rifle off the wall much like the original arcade game.

Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone

While Willy does not appear in this game (nor in the NES version), his brother Jim does. He forms a new gang called the Neo Black Warriors and attacks the Lee brothers' dojo to avenge Willy's defeat at their hands. His victory is short lived, though, as he and his men are quickly dispatched by the brothers, who pursue and corner them in a nearby warehouse.

Double Dragon (mobile)

One of the Black Warriors' founders. A master of all means of combat, he's learned of the Sosetsu Arts and now seeks the Brothers Lee.
~ Official description
Personal data[5]
  • Age: 49
  • Height: 184 cm
  • Weight: 92 kg
  • Hobbies: Motorcycles

A more developed version of Willy appears in this retelling of the first game, where his reasons for kidnapping Marian are more widely explained via cutscenes, with his main goal being to get his hands on the secrets of the brothers' Sou-Setsu-Ken fighting technique. His hideout features dragons murals and torches glowing red and blue, the same colors as the Lee brothers, though this is not elaborated on. He has gray hair instead of black in this rendition and is described as one of the founders of the Black Warriors. This version of Willy speaks with a thick Southern accent and has an eccentric personality.

While he starts the fight with a machine gun, after his health is depleted, he puts away his gun and uses advanced martial arts instead. He also enters a special state where his eyes glow red and purple flames emanate from his body, implied to be him using the power of the scrolls. Willy is an unlockable playable character in his martial artist form.

In Willy's hideout, there are pairs of statues of him and a clean-shaven man with spiky hair. During the ending, an identical motorcyclist, who notably has the same shade of gray hair as Willy, watches the Lee's car as it passes by him, as the narrator says "this was the beginning of a long battle" and "what awaits our heroes". It is speculated this figure is an ally or relative of Willy Mackey.

Double Dragon II: Wander of the Dragons

As the leader of the Black Warriors, he strove to defeat the twins several times but failed.

He can kill anyone who disturbs him. He tried to kill the brothers by gunshots during their battle with his followers following Jeff's advice, after he kidnapped Marian to lure them in.

He failed once again, but he murdered Marian this time around.

He cannot do anything except going all the way to the end, anyway.[6]

Willy reprises his original arcade role from Double Dragon II in this 2013 remake. He makes his appearance at the end of the tutorial stage after a swarm of his minions storm inside the Lee brothers' dojo. He walks in and shoots Marian (controlled by the player) to death as she desperately tries to defend the building from the raid, thus setting off the event that will drive the brothers during the remainder of the game in their quest for revenge.

Keeping with the new aesthetics of the game, Willy looks more Asian-like and smokes a cigar this time around, although he still wears his red leather suit with metallic shoulder and calf pads from the arcade original. He is also taller and more muscular than his arcade counterpart.

Profile
  • Body type: Boss W (beefy man type A)
  • Gender: Male
  • Age: Late 30s - early 40s
  • Personality: He'll do anything to achieve his ambitions, using both fair and foul means.
  • Features: Attacks with an automatic rifle.

Double Dragon IV

In this game, it is revealed that a rival gang to the Black Warriors, The Renegades, commandeered by their "leader", Jake,[7] were the ones who actually assassinated Willy, a feat they were easily able to pull off after his defeat at the hands of the Lee brothers; this with the purpose of taking over his territory and obtain control over the entire West Coast. The remaining members of the Black Warriors were then absorbed into the ranks of The Renegades.

Double Dragon IV follows the continuity of the NES versions, rather than the original arcade games.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons

Known as M.G. Willy for the unusually large machine gun he carries.
Willy served in the military before the nuclear war. When the city lost control and the citizens asked the military for help, Willy took advantage of the situation.
He took control of the military equipment, became a formidable force, and created his gang: The Killers.
~ Official description

Willy, referred to in-game as "M.G. Willy", reappears as the boss of the Killers, one of the four gangs that seized control of New York City after the nuclear war. Depending on the player's choices, he is fought either in the interior or on the rooftop of an abandoned skyscraper.

In his first form, he has no close-range attacks, instead opting to back away and fire bursts from his machine gun, either straight ahead or in a cone pattern. If he is launched into the air, he can flip and fire a diagonal downward burst that propels him backward, making air combos more difficult.

In his upgraded form, he instead descends in a helicopter circling the rooftop, where he will fire downward bursts with his machine gun and toss down stick grenades with short fuses, while periodically flying into the foreground to drop off additional minions. If he is knocked off the rooftop or out of the helicopter, he will quickly jump back up after losing some health.

If the player chooses not to side with with The Mayor after defeating all four gangs, Willy will appear alongside the other gang bosses to defend him in one last battle before facing The Mayor himself.

As a playable character, Willy can also perform a charging tackle and a backward roll while dropping several stick grenades.

Other appearances

Battletoads/Double Dragon

Main article: Roper (Battletoads/Double Dragon)

Roper, a character appearing in the beat 'em up crossover game Battletoads/Double Dragon, despite sharing his name with a recurring underling and being nothing more than a stage boss, is clearly intended to be Willy, the leader of the Shadow Warriors and arch-nemesis of the Lee brothers in the first two games (and their remakes). This discrepancy was likely the result of developer Rare not being very familiar with the Double Dragon storyline and characters.

Double Dragon (animated series)

The character Wild Willy in the Double Dragon animated series is loosely based on Willy from the games, but rather than being a gang leader like his game counterpart, he's simply a henchman of the Shadow Boss alongside Abobo. He's shown to be a reckless wannabe cowboy armed with two laser pistols who is eager to commit any crime just for the fun of it. Other characters, such as the Shadow Master and even Abobo, are openly irritated by him. Wild Willy only appears in the first two episodes, as he ends up being punished for his constant failures alongside Abobo by being blasted into the Shadow Mural in the beginning of the second episode.

Interestingly, his design resembles the artwork of Willy in the Zap Pax card, which had been released a year before the cartoon.

He was voiced by Garry Chalk.

Gallery

Artworks and portraits

Sprites

Miscellaneous

Trivia

  • Willy's yellow uniform bears a resemblance to Max Rockatansky's outfit from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981).
  • He is nicknamed "Machine Gun Willy" among fans, due to his weapon of choice, as well as to distinguish him from the similarly named character Williams who serves as a common enemy type throughout the series.
    • Interestingly enough, this nickname was actually used in the iOS/Android version of Double Dragon.
  • The manual for the Genesis port of Double Dragon, published by Accolade, misidentifies Willy as Jimmy Lee, probably due to the writer mixing up the differing storylines between the arcade and NES versions.

See also

References

  1. Commodore Amiga introductory text in Double Dragon II: The Revenge.
  2. Only in Double Dragon for iOS/Android, which is a remake/retelling of the first game.
  3. His full name appears in the Japanese sales brochure for the Famicom version of Double Dragon, as well as the manual for the Mark III version.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Chirashi (sales brochure) of the Famicom version of Double Dragon. (Japanese)
  5. Double Dragon Characters (iPhone/iPod Touch/Android version) at Double Dragon Dojo.
  6. An Introduction to Characters | Black Warriors at The Legend of Fighting Action Game: Double Dragon II.
  7. It is later revealed along the game's storyline that the real leaders of The Renegades were the Okada sisters, with Jake only acting as their lieutenant.
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