In the late 80’s there were a flood of games inspired by the success of Double Dragon. One of my favorites from the arcades was Bad Dudes (or Bad Dudes vs. Dragonninja), where you took your tank-top wearing dude on a mission to save the President from ninjas. The only thing that would make that sentence more 80’s would be if it was accompanied by a saxophone melody.

While Bad Dudes was a fun experience in the arcade, how well did it translate to the NES? Lets dig in.

Gameplay

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Well, I hate to report that the gameplay of this game didn’t make the transition to the home very well. After a brief mission briefing, you’re thrown into the first stage of the game where you beat up every ninja on the street you come across, before you meet the first boss. Strangely enough, Data East chose a hero from one of their other games, Karnov, as the boss of the first level. The Karnov music even kicks in when you reach this first boss.

The main problem with this game is the control and movement. The animation is really choppy, which makes your dude seem to move at 10FPS while the rest of the game is full speed. You have several punches and kicks at your disposal, and by killing red ninjas you can pick up weapons like nunchucks/nuncha/nunchuku (depending on who you ask) and short swords, which extend your reach and double your attack power. Red ninjas you kill also drop colas to boost your health bar, just like in real life.

As disappointing as this game is, how can you not love this premise?

There is a good variety of enemies you fight through in Bad Dudes. Blue ninjas are the everyday grunt who must have just joined the Dragonninja organization, because their attacks consist of running straight at you. I assume they must have to complete training to earn the privilege of kicking. Gray ninjas throw shuriken and drop caltrops and take two hits to kill. Red ninjas drop powerups. In addition, there are sword-wielding ninjas, lady ninjas, little ninjas and more.

The game is harder than it should be, simply for the fact that the choppy animation makes controlling your dude way harder than it should be. Questionable hit detection lead to lots of ‘oh come on!’ moments and sprite flicker makes spotting projectiles hard too. Bad Dudes could have been a much better port than it is, as games like Kung Fu did similar gameplay several years earlier as a launch title.

Presentation

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While not a bad looking game, Bad Dudes visuals are at best, passable. Some graphics are well-drawn, like the truck that you fight on top of in stage 2, but the sewers in stage 3 are dull and ugly. Like I mentioned before, animation on your main dude is really choppy and brings down the whole game. Enemies seem to be animated better than your character.

Sound effects are pretty well done, though the digitized voice sample of “I’M BAD!” after defeating each boss is hilarious and terribly executed, like its being filtered through a 50-year-old drive thru speaker. Music is pretty good though, fitting the 80’s action theme of the game pretty nicely.

Verdict

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What could have been a great port of a fun and absurdly 80’s arcade brawler seems like a missed opportunity. The game I remember from the arcades is there, but with the polish and most of the fun stripped away.

Hardcore collectors and beat-em-up fans might want to add this game to their collection, but for anyone else I’d say its safe to pass on this. Better yet, if you’re able to find the Data East Arcade Classics compilation, the far superior arcade version is included there. Seek that out and pass on this vastly inferior port.

Score 3.5/10

Current value:

Loose: $6.97 | Complete:$24.97

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