Bad Dudes

Bad Dudes (BD) starts off simply enough, "The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?" With such a setup, it’s hard not to get drawn into the game.

At its core, BD is a pure kick and punch sidescroller. The two playable characters, Blade and Striker, can perform a few different kicks and punches. This ability is augmented by their ability to jump and use weapons, such as knunchucks. (Then there’s the chance to pick-up Coke cans for health and clocks to gain more time.) But by far the most powerful move is the power-punch, activated by holding down the punch button for a couple of seconds. Once you start to glow, you’re ready to unleash a powerful punch that will obliterate all but the most powerful enemies. And enemies are everywhere and come in all shapes and sizes, including female ninjas in fishnet stockings. End bosses are varied. In some circles, a debate still rages over whether or not the first level boss is Karnov, who starred in a self-titled NES game. Most of the bosses have an easily learned and exploited attack pattern, and can be dispatch quite easily. The challenge diminishes somewhat when BD is tackled with two players – the bad guys just can’t put up much of a fight. And when facing the end bosses with two players, it’s nearly a cakewalk, unless your buddy is totally useless.

Level design is typical of side-scrolling punching games. To say BD is straightforward is like saying the sky is blue – it’s obvious just by looking at it. Some of the locations are kind of interesting to look at and do add a little challenge. One level takes place on top of a tractor trailer, which requires that you pay attention since there’s a gap between the two trailers that always seems to be in the wrong place. Part of the