Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja (1988)
One of those games that every arcade had, also one of those games that everyone had at home as it was ported to nearly every home computer going. Despite being easier on the home versions it still gave you a little more edge over the competition when it came down to playing it in public.
The game had you attempting to rescue President Ronny ( Reagan ) from the DragonNinja. You constantly get asked if your a bad enough dude to take on the job despite your character proclaiming he's "bad" after every stage. They ain't even satisfied when you beat the shit out of waves and waves of enemy ninjas, dogs, ladies in bondage gear and various boss characters.
Once you manage to defeat the the evil DragonNinja, you get this pretty sweet ending......
Lucky & Wild (1992)
This was the coolest game when I was a kid. For those of us that grew up watching Lethal Weapon, Starsky & Hutch and Tango & Cash, this was the only way to live out those fantasies. It wasn't a very popular machine due to the size it required, but you had hit gold if any amusement had it. First off, check the machine......
That's right! Driving as well as shooting! With two guns! It might be a common thing these days but back in the late 80's/early 90's, only Chase HQ had the police chase, shooting and driving angle really nailed. Lucky & Wild allowed you and a buddy to be cops chasing down and shooting the shit out of everything on screen.
Check the video.............
Mute the sound as its pretty annoying listening to some bozo talking through it.
Pretty sweet looking eh? The attraction of it was the absolute chaos it seemed to involve. You drove through malls and restaurants while blasting bad guys apart! At its heart it was a standard rail shooter, to my young mind it was the nearest I would ever get to being involved in high speed shoot-outs.
Hot bitches
Plus sweet chase music
I am pretty sure this is the king of my mispent, childhood, arcade loitering.
Vendetta (1991)
At one point in time, any urban set, revenge themed beat em up wouldn't have been taken seriously if it didn't have the title screen set on a graffiti strewn brick wall. That was a cast iron certificate that you would see fist/face interface action. Vendetta was a sort of sequel to the Double Dragon rip off Crime Fighters, it was a pretty standard rescue-your-girl-from-nasty-dudes. Now, lots of games dealt with this theme, Vendetta changed it up with the chance to have 3 of your friends back you up. Allowing you to throw each other into enemies and such.
Vendetta added a ton more violence than Final Fight or Double Dragon had, this was what had me coming back. You could hold enemies down and wail on their torso, smash barrels over heads, kick down scaffolding, smash sacks of cement around their faces, tons of pretty rough stuff. Get your hands on a baseball bat with nails or a chain and you could carve your way through the enemies.
Personally, these where my favourites. I always had a few more that I played pretty regular like Captain Commando, Knights of The Round, Narc, Vigilante and some others. Anyone want to throw their own favourites in?
Vendetta added a ton more violence than Final Fight or Double Dragon had, this was what had me coming back. You could hold enemies down and wail on their torso, smash barrels over heads, kick down scaffolding, smash sacks of cement around their faces, tons of pretty rough stuff. Get your hands on a baseball bat with nails or a chain and you could carve your way through the enemies.
Hot bitches and fire.
Your gang is called Cobras.
Rogues gallery.
Did I also mention the pretty bitchin' soundtrack courtesy of Castlevania composer Michiru Yamane? You bet I did.
Personally, these where my favourites. I always had a few more that I played pretty regular like Captain Commando, Knights of The Round, Narc, Vigilante and some others. Anyone want to throw their own favourites in?
Bad Dudes was one of my very favorite arcade games. I used to play it every single time I went to the mall. Two player mode kicked ass. I even bought it later for my NES! Sweet.
ReplyDeletelucky and wild looks badass!
ReplyDeleteFavourite eh...
ReplyDeleteX-Men was about the most boss thing ever in its day, six players and two screens but Magneto's taunts being totally meme-tastic have made the game retroactively shitty so you might want to pass on that one.
I've seen a version of Vendetta that let you beat up leather daddies and rottweilers in heat who both try to hump your leg. Well, it's more things to beat up I guess. The sequel Violence Fight is almost as cool purely because the music in the first stage has actual vocals but it's only three players and the heroes look like total losers and you can't trash a convenience store so it's the lesser game.
Alien versus Predator had Predators that could use guns. Well at least there's a Punisher game where you can shoot fools in the head and beat up robots but the action feels a bit wooden.
I guess most of the games I used to like are pretty terrible in reality. At least I still have SEGA Rally and Rastan, they're still cool aren't they?
Violent Storm rather, Violence Fight is something else entirely and something that you wouldn't want to bother with.
ReplyDeleteI came close to including X-men buy I don't reckon it stands up to much now. Boss taunts and everything. I agree with Jim on Punisher being indeed wooden, AvP got immensely silly and Violence Fight had the tunes but non of the fun. Vendetta's soundtrack had it nailed.
ReplyDeleteNarc Pit Fighter and Smash TV nearly made it.
NARC! hahaha.. i can remember pumping quarters into that thing when my folks were bowling in leagues monday nights. NARC, Double Dragon, and Altered Beast I think were my favorites. "RISE from your grave!"
ReplyDeleteAltered Beast soundtrack ruled.
ReplyDeleteWeird, I'm pretty sure that the Bad Dudes machines in New Jersey read "Madonna was captured by the skinheads" ... no joke.
ReplyDeleteOops! that was the "Vigilante" video game!
ReplyDeleteJim again, The Outfoxies is another good one but only comes alive when you're up against a flesh and blood opponent because it is very easy to trip the AI up. It's pretty frigging cool you run around trying to kill the other guy and you can get guns and shit or just stab fools in the head and you can get mauled by a tiger and there's a tuxedo wearing chimpanzee that can use a rocket launcher so if that's your kind of thing dig in, it's a real find.
ReplyDeleteWrestleFest too, I played a tonne of this when I was a wee lad. Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Sgt. Slaughter, Big Boss Man, the Legion Of Doom and some other chumps but most importantly it was Hulkamania in the Royal Rumble and my little eight year old mind just exploded when I saw that for the first time.
I miss arcades so much I could cry but I can't say that I'll get beaten up.
NAME is the way to go man. Got Bad Dudes on my phone. The Simpson beat'em'up was pretty cool as well. The main thing nowadays is that you can play arcade quality games at home. Back when these boys ruled the scene you couldn't play games like this outside of an arcade.
ReplyDeletedont forget about the gay enemies that feel you up on vendetta
ReplyDelete