President Ronnie has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?
Bad Dudes (or Bad Dudes vs DragonNinja) is a side-scrolling Beat 'em Up by Data East for the arcades and ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System. The plot, such as it is, goes as follows: There are rampant ninja-related crimes these days, and the White House is no exception. A guy who looks like he could be Duke Nukem's uncle informs you that the President has been kidnapped by ninjas, and asks you if you are a bad enough dude to rescue the President. The correct answer is to beat up an army of ninja, while shouting "I'M BAD!!!", and repeat until the President is rescued. Said President thanks you for your troubles, and suggests burgers for lunch.
There was a crowdfunding campaign for a sequel.
Sadly, it never reached its goal.
Are you a bad enough dude to provide examples of tropes?
- Adaptation Name Change: Some of the bosses are named differently on the Famicom version's manual compared to the enemy roll call in the end of the Japanese arcade version.
- Iron becomes Nenail
- Kamui (the third boss) becomes Hanzo
- Akaikage becomes Killer Joe
- Devil Pole becomes Kon Bōsai
- All There in the Manual: The third boss, a green ninja with ability to create duplicates of himself, is the only boss character unnamed in the ending cast roll. However, Gamest's coverage of the game refers to him as Kamui.
- And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt: How does the President reward you for saving him from his kidnappers? He takes you out for burgers.
- Antagonist Title: The game is known simply as Dragon Ninja in Japan.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Especially the arcade version. "Rampant ninja-related crimes these days. White House is not the exception."
- The Cameo: Karnov, hero of his self-titled Data East game, is the first stage's boss.
- He later reappears as a normal but tough enemy, sporting the same grey coloration he has in the NES version after he's taken damage. His official name is "Kusamoci Karnov".note
- Catchphrase: "I'm BAD!" Or through the NES's sound system, "GWAM BAAA!"
- Collision Damage: Most of the mook ninjas don't bother to attack the player but instead just run through him to do damage.
- Color-Coded Multiplayer: In the arcade version, Player 1 wears white parachute pants, while Player 2 wears green.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Multiple mook ninjas? No problem. One boss ninja? Bigger problem.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: A to attack and B to jump?!
- Dare to Be Badass: "The forces of good have never been so BAD!" claimed one advertisement for the home version.
- "Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?" Let's find out!
- Degraded Boss: Kusamochi Karnov and Zombie Animal. Inverted with the third boss, who is literally a Boss in Mook Clothing.
- Distressed Dude: The President. Maybe Badass in Distress too, depending on your point of view.
- Doppelgänger Spin: The Ninja boss in the sewer level.
- Dragons Up the Yin Yang: The Big Bad is named "DragonNinja".
- Eagleland: Bad Dudes saving the President of the U.S. in a game made in Japan. A lighthearted use of the positive version. Complex magazine even named it the number one "video game where you kick ass in the name of America".
- Excuse Plot: Provides the trope picture. Save Ronald Reagan, who was kidnapped by ninjas. It's almost your standard Save the Princess plot, just gender inverted.WE ARE IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY!Someone has kidnapped the President.Find the enemy's hideout ASAP and rescue him!
- Guest Fighter: Karnov was actually the star of a previous, more obscure Data East game.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: Blue ninjas, grey ninjas, red ninjas, green ninjas, on fire ninjas.
- Hurricane Kick: Pressing jump and attack simultaneously executes this. It makes the player more vulnerable to Collision Damage, unfortunately.
- King Mook: The green ninja boss in Stage 3.
- Man on Fire: The aptly named Fire Ninjas will light themselves on fire. The only way to kill one of them is to do a spinning kick on their head.
- Market-Based Title: Known as Dragon Ninja in Japan, Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja for the American arcade release, and then shortened to just Bad Dudes on the NES.
- Mooks: The blue ninja mooks are appropriately called "Zako Ninja" in the end credits ("Zako" means mook in Japanese). The red-clad weapon-wielding variants are called "Buki (Weapon) Ninjas", and the black-clad shuriken-throwing ninjas are called "Nage (Throw) Ninjas". There are also Kunoichis, dwarf-sized Mini Ninjas, and helmet-wearing/sword-wielding elite mooks called Kabutos.
- Ninja: Ninjas are the main adversaries of the games.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed
- The President was changed from Ronald Reagan ("Ronnie") in the arcade version to George H.W. Bush (just "The President") in the NES version, since Reagan was no longer president when the NES version was released.
- One of the bosses is a Road Warrior/Legion of Doom lookalike named "Animal".
- Named by the Adaptation: The two player characters were nameless in the arcade version. On the NES, they were called Blade and Striker.
- Palette Swap: The three basic types of ninja mooks (Zako, Nage, and Buki) are the same sprite with different colors for their outfit (blue, black, and red), while the boss of Stage 3 is a green ninja who can make duplicates of himself. Likewise, the female ninjas (Kunoici), the short clawed ninjas (Mini), and the swordsmen (Kabuto) come in multiple colors, with slightly different attack styles for each color. The Degraded Boss versions of Karnov and Animal, Kusamoci Karnov and Zombie Animal, are the same guys with weirder skin colors.
- Protagonist Title: The NES port is simply referred to as Bad Dudes.
- Power Glows: You can charge your Dude's punches to make him glow and take out enemies in fewer hits.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Another part of the tough-as-nails 80's hero aesthetic.
- Totally Radical: You can smell The '80s radiating off this game.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Burgers for the President.
- Traintop Battle: The second and fifth levels.
- Versus Title: The North American arcade version is referred to as Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja.
- A Winner Is You: "Hey dudes, thanks for rescuing me. Let's go for a burger...Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!"note
I'M BAD!
