Ah Dynamite Duke. Not to be mistaken with Duke Nukem. 

The story of this game is pretty simple. You're Dynamite Duke, a bad ass with a robot arm and an Uzi. An evil scientist is trying to rule the world with his armies of grunts, other guys with robot arms, guys with jet packs and ninjas, and it is up to you to stop him through 9 missions. There's nothing more to it than that.


This is a pretty unique game for the arcade and the Sega Genesis. Basically the game is an on rails shooter. You move from left to right for most of the game, shooting a bunch of bad guys and destructible objects in the background like cars, machine parts and walls. For the most part you do this to collect points and to get a high score after you finish a mission. The more objects you destroy, the more points you will get. Sometimes if you shoot some of the objects, you will get different power ups. The power ups consists of bullets for your Uzi, temporary unlimited ammo, health packs to restore health, a rocket launcher and a Duke super punch, represented by a giant D square. A Duke super punch can wipe out every enemy on the screen at once. You unleash it by holding down the punch button, the button 2, and unleash it when the gauge is on maximum. It's pretty satisfying to pull off especially when there's tons of enemies on the screen. Unfortunately it's limited to how many of these you have, and they are essential during tough boss battles so it's best to keep them till the time is right.

The unique part of the game is that it's not just a rail shooter, but it's also a beat em up. If an enemy is directly in front of you, you can punch or kick him and he'll go flying. In certain parts of the game, usually at the end of a stage, you have to fight a boss in hand to hand combat. This part of the game is a bit like Punch Out, but less responsive. The control for these sections is basic. You move left and right like normal, you can duck to avoid enemy attacks, button 1 and 2 are used for punching and 3 is used for kicking. The problem with the hand to hand combat is that it's not clear sometimes if you can punch the enemy or not. Sometimes it's straightforward, you just punch or kick the guy when his guard is down. But other times the enemy will constantly be in defensive mode, and you can't tell when his guard is lowered so you can beat him up, so the more sensible solution is just to button mash the punch button until the enemy is hit. Or if you have your super punch bar, just use. Sometimes the super punch will reduce the enemy health bar by a lot, but sometimes it's just a bit depending on where you are standing and if his guard is up, so make sure to use it at the right moment.

Continuing in this game is quite different from normal arcade games. Usually once you die, you have to put in your quarter and press continue to return where you left off. In this game, after you die, you have to start over from the beginning of a boss fight, or a section in the on rails shooting mode. 

The music is catchy and very Genesis esque. It pumps you up during each of the stages, although it's nothing really noteworthy. The graphic is pretty good, fluid and detailed, although it would be nice if there is more colour because it looks kind of pale in certain areas of the game. 

Overall, this is a pretty good game, with a unique combination of a rail shooter and a beat em up. The game has a fair amount of challenge, and most of the difficult parts is in the boss fights where it's unclear what their pattern is. There is not really a lot of re playability to be had. Once you play it one time, you will be satisfied and may not want to go back playing again, although strangely enough the game actually challenges you to play it again to get a higher score. 

I give this game the rating of 7 out of 10. Or "pretty good that you will want to play the sequel if it exist".