Dynamite Duke

Of the early Sega Genesis lineup Dynamite Duke was the last game I got around to.  They say don’t judge a book by its cover but that is precisely what I did.  Let’s be honest, the game’s box art is not the slightest bit enticing.  And this is coming from someone who bought friggin Fester’s Quest.  Behind the ugly box art is a competent arcade port but not much else.  This is one that has not held up over the years.

Dynamite Duke was released in the arcade in 1989 and the Genesis the following year.  In it a scientist produces a formula to create mutant warriors to rule the world.  Dynamite Duke, a cyborg, is sent to stop him.  The story is not important but the perspective is.  Third person shooters like Cabal were not common, especially on consoles.  But while I give it props for that the reality is Dynamite Duke offers little beyond an all too brief quick thrill.  There are meatier action games to spend your money on.

Like Nam-1975 on the Neo Geo Dynamite Duke is viewed from the third person perspective.  The screen auto scrolls but you have a limited area to move around in to dodge bullets and such.  Duke has a machine gun but can pick up a bazooka, a full auto rifle, and extra ammo by destroying the environment.  You also have melee attacks but those are only used for bosses.  Lastly you have a limited number of dynamite punches that clear the screen.  This strong attack needs to be charged first but is worth it for the damage it causes.

Dynamite Duke demonstrates the Genesis’ extra grunt over the NES immediately.  The sprites are large, and the game matches up with the arcade game pretty well.  Every level crowds the screen with enemy soldiers and never slows down.  Granted most of them aren’t doing much but the fact that there is no flicker or technical problems was practically a revelation in 1990.  Between soldiers chucking dynamite, trucks with machine guns, and the parts of the environment exploding the action is pretty intense.  While they are packed with action the levels are pretty short, lasting a scant minute or two before leading to a boss battle.  Boss fights switch to melee combat, where you can move around in a limited space to dodge attacks and pummel the mutants into oblivion.  As much as I like what they were going for I found the boss battles incredibly cheap and not very interesting.

Like many arcade games Dynamite Duke has spikes in difficulty.  Despite the large number of soldiers on screen it isn’t terribly difficult.  Weapons like full auto and dynamite punches drop frequently enough that you are a one man killing machine.  But once you reach the end level bosses it becomes incredibly cheap.  Your melee attacks come into play here but they don’t feel satisfying to use.  You have to whale on each boss multiple times to reduce their life bar by a single point.  Meanwhile they can wreck you in seconds.  Dodging, ducking, and weaving are part of the strategy for the boss battles but it never feels satisfying.  The last two levels throw an absurd number of enemies at once, followed by two boss rushes.  Rather than presenting a decent challenge it feels incredibly cheap.  There is a little too much of its arcade roots showing for my taste.

There is no denying that Dynamite Duke provides plenty of action.  The problem is that it is over way too fast.  A reasonably skilled player will reach the end in about twenty minutes.  Unfortunately there is no replay value unless you are chasing a high score.  The difficulty spike near the end will trip up some but not many.  This Genesis version is missing three of the arcade game’s levels but at most they would only add a few more minutes to the overall game.  As an arcade port Dynamite Duke is well done but as a console game it is lacking in content.  It is doubly disappointing after seeing the extra content Sega added to Mercs.

In Closing

Dynamite Duke succeeds at being a solid arcade port.  The problem is the game needed more to be worth buying.  If cheap, quick arcade thrills are what you are looking for Dynamite Duke has that.  But if you want something more substantial look elsewhere.  It’s a shame too, as I like it but not enough to recommend it.