Dynamite Dux! Bin and Pin to the Rescue!

Uno dei titoli che riscosse successo fu certamente Dynamite Dux, glorious side-scrolling beat 'em up by SEGA which later had numerous adaptations for home consoles, first and foremost the princess of the legendary Tokyo house: I am obviously talking about the Sega Master System.

Dynamite Dux stands out right from the start for a rather simple but well-defined plot, with our handy ducks, Bin and Pin, upset by the kidnapping of their best friend Lucy, abducted on an ordinary festive day by the very evil Achacha, a sort of demon who wears on his head a crown worthy of an emperor with kitschy tastes and features that evoke a hybrid between a pig and a bearded man!

If these premises already seem crazy enough to you, you haven't seen anything yet, I assure you: Bin and Pin will immediately set off to the rescue, determined to snatch their precious friend from the clutches of the evil diabolical being, so they will make their way through the streets of the city, punching, and not only punching, anyone who gets in their way.

The cartridge version for console differs in terms of the story prologue, as, for mysterious reasons, the protagonist Bin is initially a boy who is transformed into a duck by the villain, but this in no way affects the unfolding of subsequent events in the game.

Classical in its gameplay, which suggests three-dimensionality through 2.5D (a must in those years for arcade video game programmers), allowing you to move anywhere on the playing field alongside the opponents we will face, Dynamite Dux proves to be a fun, colorful title with original ideas: the cities, cartoonish versions of real existing metropolises, are detailed if we consider the console port, the level design is careful, and the inclusion of varied enemies in shape and abilities, as well as obstacles scattered here and there, such as barriers and open manholes for example, guarantee that touch of variety that never gets boring and encourages players to carry on with their rescue mission.

Due words about the game's cover: the main character and his antagonists are portrayed in a deliberately comic-book style, so as to attract a younger audience and embrace that segment of users who perhaps had not yet approached the arcade world.

Even the in-game appearance of the many enemies we will encounter in the streets of the cities we visit will emphasize their basic friendliness: certainly, the coyote with the mortar and the little wolf with the rocket launcher are hardly a hymn to peace, but they do their job on screen admirably: personally, I still have unfinished business with that poor little fox on skates, but that is another story.

Dynamite Dux in the end is a must-have title for anyone, as you may have understood: it goes without saying that, just like with the arcade version, playing side by side with a friend, each with their own joypad and their trusted duck, multiplies the fun factor to the nth degree.