Arcade games are getting more love than ever. Companies such as HAMSTER are bringing the classics to a new generation, and Flying Tiger Entertainment is becoming a force to be reckoned with as well. Their release of Gate of Doom wowed me with its presentation values, and now they have another arcade re-release with Bad Dudes. The game is notorious for its plot set up “Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president”, but is the game itself good?
Bad Dudes as an arcade game is similar to the console game but has a much more refined gameplay. When i first reviewed the game a little while back, there were a number of issues with this port. This is the reason that the game kept getting pushed back for release and this affected my original review as well, due to it being based on that very flawed released. Now that the game has been fixed and officially released, I find the gameplay is much more fun and I actually see what many others were talking about when they praised the game. The game uses a dual plane system, where you jump and down between sections of the screen to fight enemies. This adds a nice element of strategy to boss fights as well, and reminded me a bit of Shinobi.
I was quite surprised that there is more variety than I thought gameplay wise. While it is not on the level of say, Final Fight the bizarre setting and enemy variety do a lot to keep you interested. I was also delighted to find there are more new ways to attack and move around than one may have thought for an early beat em up. In fact, I would say that despite the reputation the game has, it turned out to be a much better experience than I had anticipated. The audio was excellent and the visuals were amazing, since Flying Tiger Entertainment has done an amazing job giving us the various visual styles of the arcade experience. I must say that the NES conversion did not do this game justice and regretfully I walked in with a bias against the game due to said conversion.
Do I think this one is worth getting? If you are a massive nostalgia fan, then yes I would say so. If you like old school beat em ups like Shinobi, then you will also love it. It may not be the deepest beat em up ever, in terms of substance, but it is a quality game and the presentation is top notch.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided