Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja

Bad Dudes
North American arcade flyer of Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja.
Developer(s)	Data East
Publisher(s)	Data East (Japan) Data East USA (North America) Imagine Software (Europe)
Platform(s)	Arcade Game, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, NES, ZX Spectrum, Zeebo
Release date(s)	1988
Genre(s)	Beat 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player, cooperative
Cabinet	Upright
CPU	68000
Sound	Sound CPU : M6502, Sound Chips : YM2203, YM3812, OKI6295
Display	Raster, 256 x 240 pixels, 1024 colors

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja, often referred to simply as Bad Dudes, and known in Japan simply as DragonNinja (ドラゴンニンジャ^?), is a 1988 beat 'em up arcade game developed and published by Data East. It is based on the U.S. pop culture of the late 1980s, featuring references to Michael Jackson's Bad and to ninjas, which were popular in the 1980s due to films such as Octagon and Enter the Ninja.

After Data East became defunct due to their bankruptcy in 2003, G-Mode bought the intellectual rights to the arcade game as well as most other Data East games and licenses them globally.^[1]

Plot

The game starts in New York City, where President Ronnie (based on U.S. President Ronald Reagan) has been kidnapped by the nefarious DragonNinja. The game's intro begins with the following introduction: "Rampant ninja related crimes these days... Whitehouse is not the exception...". As soon as that occurs, a Secret Service agent (who resembles Arnold Schwarzenegger as he appears in The Terminator) asks two street-smart brawlers, named Blade and Striker: "President Ronnie has been kidnapped by the ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue Ronnie?". After hearing that, the Bad Dudes pursue the DragonNinja through the city streets, highway, sewers, transport train, forest, cave and into the secret ninja base in order to save President Ronnie.

The Japanese and English language versions' endings of the game differ. In the English version, after the Bad Dudes defeat DragonNinja, they celebrate by eating burgers with President Ronnie. At the very end, President Ronnie is seen holding a burger while standing between the Bad Dudes. Behind them are many security guards with the White House behind them. In the Japanese version, President Ronnie gave the Bad Dudes a statue of them as a tribute to them. The Bad Dudes are seen leaning against a fence on a sidewalk next to their statue. Unlike the ending of the international version, the Japanese version's ending shows a list of every enemy in the game with their names (except the green ninja boss that multiplies himself), while some faces appear next to the names of the game's staff. The background music played in both versions' endings are also completely different.

Gameplay

Screenshot of arcade version.

Bad Dudes VS. DragonNinja was considered by many outside of Japan at the time of its release as Data East's answer to the 1987 beat 'em up hit Double Dragon by Technos; however Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja was heavily inspired by the 1987 Sega arcade game, Shinobi.

Player One controlling Blade (in white pants) and Player Two controlling Striker (in green pants) will start with nothing but the ability to do punches, kicks and jumps (however most enemies can be beaten with only a single hit of any kind). Some moves are special like spinning kicks and the ability to charge themselves up to throw a powerful, but short-ranged punch toward opponents. Players will also come across several power-ups: some are weapons and some recharge a player's health, yet others add a few seconds to the remaining time. Using the picked-up knives and nunchakus both had their advantages and disadvantages.

The various types of enemies encountered in the game have their own means of attack. The basic blue-colored ninja directly charge the player, while some leap with their swords, or throw shuriken and makibishi; there are also acrobatic female ninja, attack dogs, and even people who are on fire. The enemies may be beaten down or avoided. At the end of each level, a boss will appear which needs to be defeated to progress to the next level. The first of them is Karnov, who cameos from the Data East game of the same name;^[2] the background music during the fight with him is similar to the main theme in Karnov as well.^{[note 1]} Each boss has their own special attacks: Karnov, for example, can breathe fire at the player. At the successful completion of each level, the dude(s) strike a "bad" pose and proclaim, "I'm bad!", possibly a reference to Michael Jackson's then-recently released song, "Bad".

Ports and related releases

One of the two front covers of Amstrad CPC version.

The game was ported to several home systems, including the Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX and MS-DOS in 1988 with the help of Imagine Software. On July 14, 1989, a NES/Famicom port was developed by Sakata SAS and published in Japan by Namco as DragonNinja. In North America, the same version was released the same year by Data East USA simply as Bad Dudes. In Europe, it version was released in 1990 by Ocean Software as Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja. The arcade version is also featured (along with several other Data East arcade games) on the Wii title, Data East Arcade Classics, by Majesco Entertainment with permission from G-Mode.

The 8-bit versions (including the PC version, which was technically 16-bit) lacked the two-player cooperative mode, instead having an alternating two-player mode. The title screen of the Japanese version became different, while the English version's was unchanged. The Secret Service agent's quote at the intro screen to the NES version was phrased slightly differently ("The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?"), while the Famicom counterpart's quote was slightly similar to the international arcade and NES quotes. The reference to President Ronnie was removed because Nintendo of America did not allow political content in games. In that version, the President bears a resemblance to George H. W. Bush, who was president when the NES version was released. The endings of the Japanese and English language versions of the NES port are based on the international arcade version; however, the Japanese version, does not show the credits but only shows "The End" at the White House scene and lasts a shorter time than the English version. The 8-bit home computer versions lacked the intro from either the arcade or the NES versions. The "I'm bad!" speech was only present in the NES version; however, it does not sound identical to its arcade counterpart.

Karnov, the titular character of another Data East arcade game, made a cameo appearance as the game's first boss. The background music during the fight with him pays homage to the main theme in Karnov as well. The NES instruction manual claims the reason Karnov is working with the "ninjas" is a mystery. The titular character of another Data East arcade game Chelnov can be seen being transported in a frozen container on a freight train in the arcade version of Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja. The logo for the aforementioned "Bad Dudes" can be seen at the end of Stage 4 in another Data East arcade game Sly Spy.

Reception

Computer Gaming World noted the IBM port was satisfactory and compared favorably to similar ports of Double Dragon and Renegade but the Apple II port suffered greatly.^[3]

President Ronnie, as he appears in the arcade version of the game, was ranked second in Electronic Gaming Monthly’s list of the top ten video game politicians in 2008.^[4] In 2010, UGO wrote: "No ninja game retrospective could possibly be complete without some mention of ... Bad Dudes."^[5]

Popular culture

• The British alternative rock band Lostprophets' first release, entitled thefakesoundofprogress, included a track titled "Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja". This is a reference to the video games Shinobi and Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja.

• The arcade game appears in the movie Parenthood. The son of Steve Martin's character wonders why the game is so difficult and Martin, groping for an answer, looks at the warning and says: "Because they're... bad dudes!"

• The Sam & Max Season Two game based on comic book characters Sam & Max spoof on the Bad Dudes intro in the episode Chariots of the Dogs.

• In the 1990 film RoboCop 2, Officer Duffy gets pushed by RoboCop into a Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja arcade cabinet (also by Data East), but with Sly Spy, another Data East arcade game, built into it.^[6] Along with a few other Data East arcade games, they appeared in the film due to licensing and advertising agreements between Orion Pictures, Data East and Ocean Software after the release of two video games based on the RoboCop property.

Agent's quote

The quote from the beginning of the arcade and especially the NES versions became an infamous meme and is often lampooned on the Internet. (In the Japanese versions, however, the words are completely different.)

Notes

1. ^ The NES instruction manual says the reason Karnov is working with the "ninjas" is a mystery.^{[page needed]} In later levels, another version of him with a different color palette sometimes appears as a minor enemy referred to as "Kusamoci Karnov".^[2]

References

1. ^ "Bad Dudes vs Dragonninja - DATA EAST GAMES". G-Mode. http://www.dataeastgames.com/title_badudes_doragonninja.html. Retrieved 2008-08-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Closing credits of DragonNinja, the Japanese arcade version of Bad Dudes VS. DragonNinja. Retrieved on 05-09-09.
3. ^ David M., Russell (May 1989), "Street Lethal", Computer Gaming World: 26 
4. ^ Scott Sharkey, “EGM’s Top Ten Videogame Politicians: Election time puts us in a voting mood,” Electronic Gaming Monthly 234 (November 2008): 97.
5. ^ Ninjas in Games | An evolution of ninjas in video games throughout the years., UGO.com, June 4, 2008
6. ^ "ROBOCOP 2 - TRIVIA". RoboCop Archive. http://www.robocoparchive.com/info/making2-2.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-07. 

External links

• Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja at the Killer List of Videogames
• Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja guide at StrategyWiki
• Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja at MobyGames