It's Back.

Dong Dong Never Die, the cult classic fighting game originally released in 2009, makes its triumphant return! Truly, Dong Dong never dies. Judgment Day is a massive overhaul of the entire game that makes radical changes to every character and the game systems. It is the culmination of about 20 months of intermittent work, and we think that it's evolved into something really special.

Why update Dong Dong now?

Dong Dong Never Die became famous for a reason. Its visual style is unique (to say the least), and it is chock-full of references to other fighting games. It is very easy to pick up and play, with simple controls, lenient inputs, and easy-to-use moves. The game is also very "loose:" there's lots of weird little quirks for invested players to explore, and combos are very open-ended.

However, its gameplay was far from perfect. The game has several fatal flaws that prevent it from being seriously considered as a competitive game, including fully invincible, spammable rolls, easily accessible infinites on many characters, and extremely poor balance. Even beyond those core issues, many of the characters just don't feel very fun to play, as they lack interesting and compelling tools, and don't stand out from the rest of the roster.

So, the core design philosophy of Judgment Day is this: retain the style, accessibility, and unique quirks that make Dong Dong appealing, while radically overhauling its gameplay and characters.

So, what's changed?

A lot.

To start, every single character has received significant changes. We stopped keeping changelogs because it just got to be too much, but I'd hazard a guess to say that every character has enough changes to fill at least 2 or 3 pages of a Word document. Every single character has received new moves, with some having their entire character concept completely reworked. We've done our best to stay respectful of the original vision for each character, and keep in mind each character's visuals and backstory when designing their movesets.

We've also added an entirely new character, with completely original sprites and a moveset designed from the ground up. Watch the trailer to find out who it is!

Additionally, we've made many universal character changes, as well as many system changes. Some highlights include:

• Roll cancel, a new universal action that allows a character to cancel nearly any action into a roll for 1 bar, while briefly pausing the opponent in place. This can be used to extend combos, create openings, escape pressure, or do a variety of other things.
• Two types of universal overhead, with different purposes. Use the light version for a quick surprise attack, or the heavy version for a slower attack that leaves you at greater advantage if it connects on a crouching opponent.
• Hitstop and blockstop have been reduced, increasing the pace of play.
• Blockstun has been reduced across the board, which should make characters' pressure feel more manageable. Additionally, stand blocking now causes more pushback, giving you a legitimate reason to stand block rather than crouch block.
• Rolls now have vulnerability frames, preventing them from being indefinitely spammable.
• Light normal frame data has been adjusted across the board, and dashes now have a bit of startup before they can be cancelled into other actions. This prevents those pesky midscreen infinites that much of the cast had, while allowing us to keep the frame data and movement parameters mostly the same.
• A new gravity scaling system, which causes characters to fall faster during juggle combos the more times they have been hit. This allows us to keep characters' tools combo-friendly without worrying about enabling infinites.
• ...and many more!

While the game obviously feels and plays very differently, we hope that it will still be recognizable as Dong Dong Never Die.

Any plans for future changes?

Yes, absolutely! There are two big ones that we want to knock out as soon as possible: better AI and online play.

The AI currently in the game is, for the most part, pretty rudimentary. Additionally, it hasn't been updated to account for the new changes, so many of the CPUs will do things that just don't make very much sense. We decided AI was a secondary priority, instead focusing on getting the versus mode playable. We don't really have a timeline on AI reworks, but rest assured they are coming.

We've figured out online play! You can use an online client called Lilithport to play Dong Dong Never Die: Judgment Day online. It's delay-based, but from our testing the netcode is still pretty good. Lilithport 1.07 is already included within the game files, all you have to do is set it up. Consult Dong Dong Never Die/Netplay - Mizuumi Wiki (gbl.gg) for instructions on how to set up Lilithport for online play.

That's all for now!

We hope you have fun with the game! And remember: Dong Dong Never Dies!

Want to learn more?

Join the DDND Discord to learn about the game, keep up to date with future updates, and chat with us!

Link: https://discord.gg/Qg8K8MKAfP

Credits

Dong Dong Never Die (Original)
Design and Development: Jiangxi Konglong
Character Portrayals: Wang Dong, Ren Shuang, Gao Yukun, Yin Yin, Yin Zifeng, Deng Yitong, Guo Renyuan, Deng Xiaoxia, Ling Jing, Yang Jing, Jiangxi Konglong, Chen Xueyan, Chen Jin, Dong Xiaoxu, He Wenhui, Chen Jie, Huang Wentao, Xu Zhongrong, Da Lan Tang, Liang Zhisong, Lin Fei, Qi Jin, Zhang Zheng
Announcer: Yin Yin
Character Design and Animation: Huang Yanfu, Qian Ying, Huang Wentao
UI Design: Tong Xin

Dong Dong Never Die V1.6-1.651
Design and Development: hlwz

Dong Dong Never Die: Judgment Day
Lead Design and Development, Effects, Sound, New Character Animation: Sam Harkness (DismasThePenitent)
Additional Development: erasedfromexistence, DEspite, speedmccool25
New Character Model: chained_tan
Playtesters: Dandourado, erasedfromexistence, Corn Thrower
Special Thanks: grayfruit, for without his seminal work "Pong Pong Never Die" this would never have happened