1988 was a decent year for arcade games, which saw the release of games such as Superman, Toobin', Super Contra, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, Cabal, NARC, two versions of Tetris, the frustratingly challenging Robocop (one life per continue), and the almost impossible Ghouls and Ghosts (even infinite lives won't save you). But, for some reason, no other arcade game from that year was as memorable for me as Bad Dudes. Why? It's kind of hard to say, given the fact that it's not even one of the greatest arcade games ever made. Hell, when Double Dragon came out a year before, it revolutionized the beat-'em-up genre, which made Bad Dudes seem like an archaic throwback. Yet, I still find myself attracted to the game to this day (it was one of the big reasons, other than Heavy Barrel, that I bought Data East Arcade Classics for the Wii).
The game plays less like Double Dragon and more like the NES title Kung Fu (which was a port of an arcade game in Japan called Spartan-X, based on the Jackie Chan movie of the same name). You walk from one end of the stage to the other, fighting enemies that swarm you from all sides. With the exception of the bosses, each enemy only takes one hit to knock out, unlike Double Dragon and just about every other beat-'em-up to come afterward.
The games plot is just as simplistic. The President has been kidnapped by an evil ninja clan and it's up to two generic looking dudes to see if they're bad enough to rescue him. It's the kind of plot you'd find in an American Ninja movie, though I can't really say that any beat-'em-up arcade game really hinges on a plot that's more complex than, "(Insert person here) is kidnapped/murdered and it's up to you to rescue them/get revenge."
While you do fight a ton of ninja - some of which throw shuriken/caltrops/smoke bombs at you, others leave power-ups when you beat them, others have weapons, such as claws or swords, some light themselves on fire, while others are women who came straight out of an '80s exercise show, some of the bosses don't really fit the ninja mold. For instance, Karnov, the big guy who spits fire from his own arcade game, makes numerous appearances in the game, as well as some big guy that looks like he was auditioning for the Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome video game (no, that game doesn't exist).
It doesn't sound like game of the year material, but, in 1988, an nine-year-old me couldn't get enough of this game. My younger brother and I would play this all the time at the local movie theater. We liked the game so much, that when they released Bad Dudes on the NES in 1989, we just had to have it. Our mom got it for us that Christmas. Early Christmas morning, we pestered the hell out of her to let us open one gift before she woke up. Of course, we had already figured out which gift was the game, so all we had to do was open it, pop it into the NES, and be content for the rest of the morning.
What we expected was to get some cooperative two-player action going, just like in the arcade. What we got was disappointment. While the game does have a two player option, and you can pick between Blade (Player 1 in the arcade version) or Striker (Player 2), you take turns playing the game, which pissed us off. What's the point of having a two-player mode (even to the point of choosing between two characters that are exactly the same) if you can't play together at the same time?
The NES version actually differed from the arcade original in other ways. While the arcade game has Ronald Reagan as the President, the American NES version vaguely refers to him as "The President" and not "President Ronnie." They also changed the ending to where the President looked less like Reagan and more like a cross between President George H. W. Bush and and V.P. Dan Quayle. The name also changed. If you notice, the full title of the arcade game is Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja (in Japan, the game was called DragonNinja). The NES game is just called Bad Dudes, as that's what everyone called it, anyway. Oh, and who can forget that horrible, digitized voice saying "I'm bad" at the end of every level? That voice was so gravelly, it sounded like a computer with smoker's lung.
The changes weren't just cosmetic, though. Bad Dudes on the NES was significantly harder than in arcades. The NES version gave you three lives with no continues, some of the ninja take more than one hit to defeat, and some of the hazards in the game, such as the water in the sewer level, actually killed you, instead of just doing regular damage as in the arcade version.
Bad Dudes for the NES was a testament that arcade games still had a place in gamer society in the late '80s, as console games could not surpass the arcade experience. Still, there were many other arcade games released around that time that were superior to Bad Dudes. So what makes Bad Dudes so appealing? Well, a lot of people consider the game to be a cult hit, citing that the thin story and the cheesy lines in the game (such as when the President asks if you want to go out for a cheeseburger or the infamous, "Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?" which was on the NES version) actually make it a game that's "so bad, it's good." I, however, feel that the gameplay, despite being simplistic, is actually fun. Sure, it's not realistic that some dude can take out a horde of ninja so easily, but it makes you feel, as I said before, like you're in one of those '80s ninja movies. It may seem cheesy now, but, back then, it was pretty cool to pretend you were Michael Dudikoff, kicking all kinds of ninja ass (Did you know that he had a bit part in Tron? It's true).
So, while it may not be one of the greatest arcade games ever made, Bad Dudes still holds a special place in this old-school gamer's memory. Until next time, keep your scores high and you quarter pockets full.
No comments:
Post a Comment