by Brett Weiss
tive, are strategic in nature, with players select-
been selected, a window appears detailing
ing from the following choices: battle, tactic,
available commands (movement, attack, power,
defend, item, retreat, report, and all-out (a
and the like), fuel and ammo supply, and more.
speedy, computer-controlled system where all
Types of units include tank, armored car,
living characters run to the center of the screen
transport, supply truck, field cannon, anti-air-
and duke it out). Instead of hit points, as in
craft gun, infantry, fighter, and bomber. Ter-
most RPGs, combatants in Destiny command
rain, such as towns, bunkers, airports, and
a certain number of troops. Includes battery
rocks, plays a strategic role, as does the cus-
backup. See also: Romance of the Three King-
tomization of forces (though players can select
doms (NES).
72
CLASSIC HOME VIDEO GAMES, 1985–1988
Dick Tracy
Dig Dug II: Trouble in Paradise
PUBLISHER: Bandai. DEVELOPER: Realtime As-
PUBLISHER: Bandai. DEVELOPER: Namco. Over-
sociates. Adventure/Side-Scrolling Platform, 1
head View Action, 1 or 2 players (alternating).
player. 1990.
1989.
An obscure sequel to the popular coin-op
Unlike the Genesis and SMS versions of
classic Dig Dug (Namco, 1982), Dig Dug II: Dick Tracy, which are simplistic platformers, Trouble in Paradise is a nice port (despite blink-the NES game lets players gather clues, look at
ing when the screen gets busy) of Namco’s 1985
mug shots, interrogate criminals, do some
arcade game (which was simply called Dig Dug
overhead view driving (while avoiding sniper
II). Once again, Dig Dug walks around the
fire and shooting enemy cars), and visit a po-
screen, using a pump (called an “inflator” here)
lice station for renewed health. After entering
to blow up and destroy round, shades-wearing
a building (other than the police station), Tracy
Pooka and fire-breathing Fygar. However, un-
will punch and shoot bad guys and dogs, jump
like the original Dig Dug, which found the title over obstacles, and climb ropes, ladders, and
character digging maze trails, Dig Dug II has pipes. Special weapons to grab include a
players drilling on fault lines to sink sections
Tommy gun (for rapid fire), tear gas, and
of an island, killing nearby enemies in the
knock-out punches. Based on the 1990 feature
process. Drilling three pieces of an island into
film (which, in turn, was based on Chester
the ocean makes a bonus vegetable appear, and
Gould’s classic comic strip). Also released for
flying fish can be caught as well. There are 72
the Game Boy, but without the driving se-
islands in this fun, addictive, strategy-inten-
quences.
sive game. The original Dig Dug didn’t make it to the NES, but console gamers can play that
Die Hard
classic on the Atari 7800, Game Boy, and vari-
PUBLISHER: Activision. DEVELOPER: Pack-In-
ous other systems. Followed by: Dig Dug: Dig-
Video. Overhead View Free-Roaming Shooter,
ging Strike (2005, Nintendo DS).
1 player. 1992.
Digger T. Rock: The Legend of the Lost
A terrorist group led by Hans Gruber has
City
infiltrated the Nakatomi Building, ruining a
PUBLISHER: Milton Bradley. DEVELOPER: Rare.
Christmas party attended by John McClane
Side-Scrolling Platform, 1 player. 1991.
and his lovely wife, Holly. John’s mission is to
Published by board game giant Milton
stop Hans from blowing up the roof, killing
Bradley ( Operation, Battleship) and developed the hostages, and absconding with Holly and a
by fan favorite Rare ( Gunstar Heroes, Donkey fortune in bonds. This involves running
Kong Country), Digger T. Rock, despite the around the labyrinthine building, punching
mainstream pedigree, is an obscure title. Play-
and shooting bad guys while finding and break-
ers assume the title role of an explorer who
ing seven different locks. John begins with a
looks like a small child (he favors Calvin of
pistol, but can obtain a sub machine gun, extra
Calvin and Hobbes), but wields a mean shovel, ammo, a radio (for listening in on Hans’ plans
which he can use to hit ghosts, skeletons, di-
and contacting the police), flash grenades, C4
nosaurs, and other enemies, many of which re-
explosives, an axe, and detonators. The non-
spawn. More importantly, he can use the shovel
linear action takes John through heating/air
to dig down through caverns. Digger can also
conditioning vents, up and down stairways and
kick enemies, crawl through narrow passage-
elevators, through finished and unfinished
ways, jump on ledges, throw rocks, climb lad-
offices, and more. As in the 1988 feature film
ders (selectable via an inventory system), use
(which starred Bruce Willis as the hero), John
dynamite (for breaking walls), and grab dia-
slows down after walking on broken glass,
monds (cash), goblets (points), and mush-
which is a nice touch in an already impressive
rooms (invincibility). The objective in each
game.
level is to find the exit door.
NINTENDO NES
73
Dirty Harry
unleashed vampire bats, flying skeletons, and
PUBLISHER: Mindscape. DEVELOPER: Gray Mat-
other transdimensional monsters all over his
ter. Side-Scrolling Combat/Platform Shooter,
house. Michael begins with a knife, but can
1 player. 1990.
collect a pistol, a machine gun, grenades, jump
Loosely based on the popular film series
boots, an air helmet, a shield suit, and a laser,
(“Go ahead, punk ... make my day”), this
the latter of which is gained by defeating 10
mediocre game puts players in the Clint East-
bosses. Filled with diverse challenges, Dr. Chaos wood role of “Dirty” Harry Callahan, a vigi-alternates between a standard third-person/
lante cop on the trail of Anaconda, a ferocious
side-view perspective, with typical jumps and
drug kingpin. The action takes place in The
attacks, and a first-person viewpoint, where
Streets, on The Waterfront, and in and around
players guide a hand around a room, search-
Alcatraz, with players shooting, punching, and
ing for medicines, weapons, and warp zone en-
kicking bad guys, climbing up buildings and
trances.
telephone poles, entering sewers through man-
holes, jumping across rooftops, grabbing help-
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
ful items (including bulletproof vests, plastic
PUBLISHER: Bandai. DEVELOPER: Advanced
explosives, crowbars, and missile launchers),
Communication. Side-Scrolling Platform, 1
avoiding mines,
snakes, falling rocks, and laser
player. 1989.
security systems, and much more. Produced
and directed by Don Siegel, the first (of five)
A butchering of Robert Louis Stevenson’s
Dirty Harry movie was released by Warner
seminal The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Bros. in 1971.
Hyde (1886), this mess of a game finds Dr. Jekyll walking through a town, a park, and a cemetery
Dizzy the Adventurer
(six levels in all), trying to get to the church to
PUBLISHER: Camerica. DEVELOPER: Codemas-
marry Miss Millicent. Jekyll jumps sluggishly
ters. Side-Scrolling Platform/Adventure Puz-
and fights enemies (townsfolk, birds, spiders,
zle, 1 player. 1993.
and the like) by weakly poking a cane at them.
The pack-in game with the Aladdin Deck
Should Jekyll’s agitation meter get full from
Enhancer, Dizzy the Adventurer was the only
taking too much damage, he transforms into
Aladdin title that was not previously released as
Mr. Hyde, who battles through forced-scrolling
a standard NES cartridge. Players guide the
stages, punching and using a psycho-wave to
egg-shaped hero as he endeavors to save his
defeat the various hunchbacks, demons, flying
girlfriend from an evil wizard. Gameplay re-
skulls, and other creatures he will encounter.
volves around platform jumping, collecting 50
One of the worst games in the NES library, Dr.
stars, and solving puzzles by manipulating ob-
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is so bad it’s scary.
jects, such as the first scenario where Dizzy uses
a match and straw to burn down a door, then
Dr. Mario
a bucket of water to put out the fire. Dizzy also
PUBLISHER: Nintendo. DEVELOPER: Nintendo.
builds a bridge, gives a harp to St. Peter, uses
Action Puzzle, 1 or 2 players (simultaneous).
pliers to pull a thorn out of a lion’s paw, and
1990.
much more. Curiously, falling from high places
does not kill Dizzy (few things in this game are
In this Tetris-inspired puzzler, Mario, po-
lethal), but water does. See also: The Fantastic
sitioned near the top of the screen, drops vita-
Adventures of Dizzy (NES). Unlicensed.
min capsules into a bottle filled with viruses,
and the player must rotate the capsules and po-
Dr. Chaos
sition them in such a way as to remove the
PUBLISHER: FCI. DEVELOPER: Pony Canyon.
viruses from the screen. The capsules, which
Side-Scrolling Platform, 1 player. 1988.
are divided into color-coded halves, come in
As Michael Chaos, players must search for
red, yellow, and blue, as do the viruses. When
their scientist brother, who has inadvertently
four or more capsule halves and/or viruses of
74
CLASSIC HOME VIDEO GAMES, 1985–1988
the same color are lined up in a row, they dis-
vines, pushing keys up chains, dropping fruit on
appear. Dr. Mario is one of the better puzzle (or avoiding altogether) nitpicker birds and
video games for any system, thanks to pleas-
snapjaws, and jumping on platforms and over
ant audio/visuals, strategic gameplay, and
gaps. As with Donkey Kong, the animated inter-smooth difficulty progression. Also released for
missions found in the coin-op version are ab-
the SNES (via Tetris & Dr. Mario) and Game sent. Both games, DK and DK Jr. , are great fun.
Boy. Followed by: Dr. Mario 64 (Nintendo 64)
When compared to the Atari 7800 game, the
and Dr. Mario & Puzzle League (Game Boy AdNES version has tighter controls, better graph-
vance).
ics (the 7800 game looks a little blocky), and
vastly superior sounds. Also released for the
Donkey Kong
Atari 2600, Intellivision, and ColecoVision.
PUBLISHER: Nintendo. DEVELOPER: Nintendo.
Climbing, 1 or 2 players (alternating). 1986.
Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Like the ColecoVision and Atari 7800 ver-
PUBLISHER: Nintendo. DEVELOPER: Nintendo.
sions, Donkey Kong for the NES is missing one Educational/Math, 1 or 2 players (simultane-of the screens found in Nintendo’s 1981 coin-
ous). 1985.
op classic (the Conveyor Belt level), as well as
An offshoot of Donkey Kong Junior (ar-
the animated intermissions. However, the re-
cade, 1982), Donkey Kong Jr. Math uses the
maining three screens are nicely emulated, de-
basic climbing elements of DKJ to drill gamers spite altered placement of certain items, slower
ages eight and up on addition, subtraction,
elevators, and various other nitpicks. In addi-
multiplication, and division. Calculate A and
tion, the NES port has much better sound ef-
Calculate B are two-player games, with each
fects (including Mario’s squeaky shoes) than
contestant guiding a junior Kong (one brown,
the 7800 game. As most classic gamers know,
one pink) up and down vines and on top of
DK has players guiding Mario up and down
small islands in order to form equations. The
ladders and across steel girders, jumping over
objective is to reach the number depicted on a
barrels and gaps, pulling up bolts, and smash-
sign that Papa (Donkey Kong) is holding at the
ing barrels and fireballs with hammers, all in
top of the screen. Gamers can play solo, but
an effort to rescue Pauline. Also released for
there’s no real way to lose unless there’s an op-
the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. Remade for
ponent. A one-player affair, +-x÷ Exercise has
the Game Boy.
gamers climbing up chains to select the correct
numbers to solve math problems, with a Nit-
Donkey Kong Classics
picker Bird showing the position of the num-
PUBLISHER: Nintendo. DEVELOPER: Nintendo.
ber to be filled. Though good for exercising
Climbing, 1 or 2 players (alternating). 1988.
mental math muscles, this cartridge is light on
Donkey Kong Classics contains two previ-
action as there are no enemies to avoid.
ously released NES titles in one cartridge: Don-
key Kong and Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong 3
PUBLISHER: Nintendo. DEVELOPER: Nintendo.
Donkey Kong Jr.
Non-Scrolling Shooter, 1 or 2 players (alter-
PUBLISHER: Nintendo. DEVELOPER: Nintendo.
nating). 1986.
Climbing, 1 or 2 players (alternating). 1986.
A stellar port of Nintendo’s vastly under-
Unlike Donkey Kong for the NES, Donkey
rated arcade game (1983), Donkey Kong 3 strays Kong Jr. includes all four looping screens from from the climbing genre popularized by Don-its respective coin-op classic (Nintendo’s Don-
key Kong and Donkey Kong Junior, opting in-key Kong Junior, 1982). Players guide the titu-stead for a shooter format somewhat similar to
lar boy ape as he attempts to rescue his father
Gorf, Centipede, and Galaga. Stanley the Bug-from Mario’s cage at the top of
each screen.
man, who first appeared in Greenhouse (a Nin-
This requires climbing up and sliding down
tendo Game & Watch title from 1982), runs
NINTENDO NES
75
and jumps around the bottom of the platform-
the game, new fighting techniques will be
enhanced playfield, firing upward at bees, but-
added to Billy’s arsenal, including over-shoul-
terflies, and other critters, and at Donkey Kong
der throws, spin kicks, pin attacks, and the
himself, who slowly makes his way down a pair
ever-popular hair-pull kicks. In addition, Billy
of vines. Fast, fun, and frantic, DK3 is a bug-can pick up such dropped weapons as dyna-
shooting blast. While technically the last game
mite, knives, bats, and whips, and he can throw
in the original Donkey Kong trilogy, Donkey rocks and boxes. The cartridge is missing the
Kong 3 was followed by numerous games in the standard two-player simultaneous mode from
DK franchise, including such titles as Donkey
Taito’s groundbreaking coin-op classic from
Kong 64 (Nintendo 64), the Donkey Kong
1987 (something the Master System and Atari
Country trilogy (SNES), Donkey Kong Land 7800 versions retain), and certain levels have
(Game Boy), and Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
been redesigned, but the game does add an op-
(GameCube).
tion in which players can fight as one of six dif-
ferent characters: Billy, Williams, Rowper,
Double Dare
Linda, Chintai, or Abobo. Also released for the
PUBLISHER: GameTek. DEVELOPER: Rare. Game
Game Boy, Genesis, and various other systems.
Show, 1 or 2 players (simultaneous). 1990.
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Double Dare for the NES is based on the
PUBLISHER: Acclaim. DEVELOPER: Technos.
kids’ game show (hosted by Marc Summers),
Side-Scrolling Combat, 1 or 2 players (simul-
which began airing on Nickelodeon in 1986 and
taneous). 1990.
had numerous spin-offs, including Family Dou-
ble Dare and Double Dare 2000. The format fol-As with Double Dragon, Double Dragon II
lows the TV program pretty well, with gamers
for the NES is not a note-for-note port of its
answering trivia questions and competing in
respective coin-op counterpart (Technos re-
three types of challenges: Toss-up (bowling,
leased Double Dragon II to the arcades in 1988).
golf, hungry clowns, and gorilla), Physical
Many of the same elements are present, and
(cake catch, putty golf, ring toss, and the like),