Back in the earlier days of gaming, cross platform releases in North America were kind of rare. It was not with every release that every viable platform got a version at the same time. Take Operation Wolf from Taito for example, it was released in arcades first, then the Nintendo NES. That was the end of the home ports to consoles. See, during this time, Nintendo had a stranglehold on the home console market. This was something that Sega was on the short end of the stick on more often then not.

Imitation… well ripping off is more like it

Doing what any company in Sega’s shoes would do, they created their own version of Operation Wolf. Sega called their version Dynamite Duke. Similar game play, similar backdrops and of course, familiar weapons round out the facsimile work Sega did on their game.

Let me copy your homework

Dynamite Duke plays just like Operation Wolf. The game auto scrolls and your left in control of a reticle on the screen. Moving Duke out of harms way is also part of the gameplay. Pretty simple sounding but it is harder than you think as the reticle and Duke both move at different speeds.  Collecting ammo and armor is as simple as shooting it, along with the bad guys and their equipment.

Sega being Sega

Notable in its absence is parallax scrolling. That was something Sega prided their Genesis on being able to do that Nintendo’s NES could not. Also, considering this was intended to be a light gun game, it is annoying not having light gun support. Some may remember, at this point in history, Sega did not have a light gun accessory yet. Whoops. This is just one of many marketing fails Sega would go through in their history as a console manufacturer.

Left in 16-Bit

Dynamite Duke is only available in its original format even though Sega has released many Genesis collections on newer platforms. That leaves you hitting up eBay or Amazon if you want a copy. Your purchase helps us keep the lights on so thank you (it costs you nothing extra). If you want to check out more light gun style games, we have your back.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams