How 90s do you want to cover to be?
When the world is in danger, only one man can save humanity. One man who is the duke of danger. The duke of action. The duke of destruction.
The Dynamite Duke.
Dynamite Duke is a 1989 arcade Run-and-Gun action game made by Seibu Kaihatsu (of Raiden fame) and Sega, with a gameplay format lifted from Cabal. Players assume the titular character who goes around kicking ass from a behind-the-back perspective across 9 stages (6 in the Sega Genesis port) as they attempt to stop a rebel army from unleashing mutant abominations across the world.
Not to be confused with Dynamite Dux, another SEGA game.
The Duke is ready for action:
- Alliterative Title: Dynamite Duke, the protagonist.
- Artificial Limbs: Duke's right hand is mechanical, and in the event where he's close enough to mooks or bosses he can deliver an Enhanced Punch that deals even greater damage than bullets.
- Company Cameo: One stage which is a shootout in city streets have a SEGA billboard in the background.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: The second boss, a heavily armoured mercenary armed with a writs-mounted flamethrower attached to a tank on his back, which he'll repeatedly use to burn Duke.
- Kevlard: The first boss is overweight with his oversized guts bulging out his exposed stomach, but his fat allows him to tank plenty of hits before going down.
- McNinja: One of the bosses, a blonde Caucasian man who fights like a ninja, complete with Blade Below the Shoulder on both hands, sumersaulting all over the place ninjutsu-style, have a Spin Attack based on oriental martial arts, and prefers fighting from up close instead of relying on firearms. He's one of the game's tougher bosses despite his lack of ranged attacks.
- Power Fist: Duke, who can deliver a supercharged punch from up close thanks to his mechanical right hand. The first boss have similar mechanical arms as well, both of them.
- Punched Across the Room: If Duke is fighting mooks from up close, his uppercut can send them from the foreground into the background. Finishing off bosses using this method will net higher points.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: The unnamed enemy leader who serves as the Final Boss is the most powerful of the lot, even without resorting to his One-Winged Angel form.
- Recurring Boss: The first two bosses reappears in later levels, and are fought pretty much the same way as before.
- Rocket Punch: The first boss have two mechanical arms, one which he can launch at Duke from a distance away. His punch is spring-loaded and goes back to him after each launch.
- Sequential Boss: The enemy forces' leader, basically. He starts off as a tougher-than-average human, who absorbs far more bullets than the previous bosses until his health expires - at which point he sheds his human form into a translucent green humanoid monster and attacks with a new health bar. Kill him a second time and he falls into the reactor... into a flying abomination capable of spamming projectiles everywhere. The third form is his last, however.
- Shoot the Bullet: Enemies in the background will attack Duke with ranged projectiles, such as rockets, dynamites, or grenades, but Duke can shoot them in the air instead of dodging them. Doing so nets extra points for Duke.
- Smart Bomb: One of Duke's available pickups, which can clear a screen of lower-level mooks, including tanks and armoured vehicles.
- Stationary Boss: The boss of the laboratory stage, unlike previous bosses, is a single reactor core that couldn't move around. However, it has its own turrets firing at Duke, as well as a couple of Super Soldiers in Hazmat Suits flanking its sides. Those soldiers cannot be killed - once they're gunned down, the boss somehow revbives them a few seconds later, and the only way is to blow up the reactor.
- Take It to the Bridge: The third mission have Duke assigned to destroy a bridge, heavily guarded by enemies with a massive turret underneath. Destroy the turret and the bridge collapses, taking any enemies on it together.
- Villain in a White Suit: The game's (unnamed) Final Boss who's also the leader of the enemy forces Duke spends the whole game fighting is a blonde man in a white suit, in contrast to his mooks who wears military gear or armour. He can take a lot of punishment before going down, and also have a couple One-Winged Angel forms when his first form's destroyed.
- A Winner Is You: If you beat the Final Boss and complete the game, you're rewarded with a single congratulatory screen that tells you to "try again!"
You have saved the world.
Your bravery and Courage are
to be commended.
Your video game skills are
that of an expert player
Thank you for playing "Duke"...
Oh, by the way,
We bet you can't do it again!!
