Scrolling Fighting Games #17

Dragon Ninja a.k.a. Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja (1988)
By: Date East Genre: Fighting Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 52,900
Also Available For: NES, Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Apple II
Download For: Nintendo Switch

I've never been particularly skilled at videogames. As if to illustrate this, most of the times I've actually managed to complete one without cheating are lodged firmly in my memory. One of them pertains to a certain fighting game with a very cool name, here in the UK at least. Yes, that's right, it's Dragon Ninja! American gamers knew it as Bad Dudes vs Dragon Ninja of course, and it's actually almost acceptable as US name-changes go since, to the eternal disappointment of both younger and current me, you don't play as ninjas but fight them. Many of them. I first discovered this on my trusty Speccy, for which I had the game (on +3 disk as I recall), and I enjoyed it a lot, black and white graphics and all. So much so, in fact, that I actually kicked every arse in the game and finished it! I'm extremely confident I couldn't repeat that nowadays but I did recently find myself reminiscing about the occasion and the game generally, and was then wondering if the arcade version is much harder, as is usually the case.

A lorry-load of ninjas is delivered for an arse-kicking...

Actually, it has been about 35 years since my heroic Speccy feat so I probably won't even remember how difficult it was but never mind, I'm still keen to investigate another arcade classic, especially one with ninjas! As it turns out, the Dragon Ninja of the title is evil and has not only kidnapped 'President Ronnie' (Ronald Reagan), but also send his ninja legions all over the US to cause havoc. Who can put an end to this reign of tyranny? According to one of Ronnie's Secret Service agents, the only answer is 'the Bad Dudes', amusingly known as Blade and Striker in the US version at least. Why does a Secret Service agent know a couple of street punks though? Hmm, who can say? Maybe he's an ex-street punk himself. People can change, after all. Anyway, as the wisest among you may have already realised, the fact that there are two of them means you can invite a friend to kick ninja arse alongside you, and there are seven side-scrolling, mostly urban-themed stages of them, each ending with a ghastly boss fight.

And on stage two we're fighting atop the speeding lorry!

They are viewed from side-on and most areas of the game are two-tiered as well, much like Shinobi or Rolling Thunder. It's quite similar to those games to play as well, just with punching and kicking instead of shooting. There's only one attack button along with one for jumping which means Blade and Striker do not have a enormous repertoire of moves available. A few different standing kicks can be performed as well as one of the jumping variety, though it can be a pain to pull off. Splendidly, the musclebound oafs also have a 'charge punch' (hold the attack button for a couple of seconds), although it's only really any use against the bosses as all stage enemies are felled by a single strike anyway. You can even take out several at once if they are very close together! Talking of whom, you may have already noticed that an overwhelmingly high percentage of the Dragon Ninja's henchman are garbed in blue. These cretins can run and jump and attack when close and that's about it, but they have strength in numbers.

Stage three in the stinky sewers and no rats to be seen!

Less commonly you'll face sword-wielding ninjas and cowardly grey ninja who fling shuriken or bombs at you from afar, as well as red ones who leave pick-ups behind which can sometimes be weapons like sai or nunchaku if they are carrying them. Grab these and you can use them for the rest of that life! There are also examples armed with the claw things called tekagi-shuko and leaping female ninjas in blue and red varieties. That pesky Dragon Ninja sure has a sizeable barracks (or whatever the ninja version is called)! The game is both fair and unfair in terms of your progress. Blade and Striker get energy meters as well as three lives, and the time limit is pretty relaxed too, especially since the extra time pick-up is the most common one. On the other hand, their energy is not refilled at the start of a stage so you may not last long if you had trouble with the previous boss. There is an energy refill pick-up but not every stage seems to have one, so that, for me at least, is the toughest thing about the game, but it's still not as tough as I was expecting.

Pow! Nunchuks to the underpants region!

In truth, I've always preferred the Double Dragon or Final Fight type of scrolling fighting game (known as 'belt-scrollers' to some) - these side-on examples rarely seem to have progressed much since Kung Fu Master in my mind. I suppose this one hasn't either really, aside from the two-tieredness, but it's pretty decent anyway. The graphics and audio are a bit of a mixed bag; the sprites are excellent (ninjas always look cool and the 'dudes' look suitably formidable) and the stage locations are varied (city, freeway on a speeding lorry, sewer, forest, on top of a moving train, caves, and the headquarters of the main man himself), but most of the colours used are rather dull regardless of stage, with grey being a particularly favourite. Likewise, the sound effects and music are pretty good (the very loud "GOT IT!" when you collect a pick-up always makes me chuckle) but there aren't too many different examples - I believe there are only two main stage themes, for example. It is pretty enjoyable to play though.

Foom! An indestructible fiery guy appears!

Despite what I said earlier, there's more to this particular side-scroller than just walking along stabbing the attack button - there are gaps to jump, things to avoid, and you'll have to keep on the move, up and down as well as left and right, to cope with the startling number of ninjas the game throws at you. It applies to the bosses too - you're unlikely to last long if you try to go toe-to-toe with them but most are fairly easy to defeat (with a bit of practise!) if you keep jumping up and down. It's worth mentioning too, that the first boss is none other than a certain Soviet fire-breathing lunkhead from another of Data East's arcade games of the time - that's right, it's Karnov! I'm not sure what he's doing over in the US but I bet he regrets it now! Being serious though, I wasn't expecting to think much of this game but it has aged better than others of the same style. The action is fast without becoming overwhelming, it's challenging without being too unfair, and it's just great fun to play, especially with a friend. I'm afraid I'll have to knock off a point for the grey-fest though.

RKS Score: 7/10

Gameplay Video: here's a video of the whole game being played by one of the talented fellows at World of Longplays (check out their great channel here). Oh, and don't watch if you want to avoid spoilers!