You can hear that Ennio Morricone score just by looking at the poster.
- September 5th, 1953.
In a big city somewhere…
Men making a stand against a gigantic crime.
Dead Connection is a 1992 arcade Run-and-Gun action game released by Taito.
Set in 1953, in the crime-infested streets of the United States (the game doesn't specify any locations, though it appears to be Chicago from what the game shows), a powerful mob kingpin named Don Nerozzia have taken over the entire city. Uniting the mob with himself atop their operations, Nerozzia rules all the mob's activities and have the streets in his grasp. A group of vigilantes have taken a stand to battle the gang, launching raids and ambushes on the hideouts of Nerozzia's underlings.
You are one such member of the vigilante force, after the death of your girlfriend in a gangland drive-by, and it's you against every criminal in the big city, tracking down and eliminating Nerozzia's various cohorts in shootouts set in a restaurant, a mansion, an alley, and various locations as you attempt to uncover Nerozzia's location in order to take him down.
Yeah, this is more or less The Untouchables, re-imagined in video game form.
Do not confuse this with the 1994 film, Dead Connection.
Dead Connection contain examples of:
- Abandoned Warehouse: One level is a shootout in one such warehouse.
- At the Opera Tonight: The game's final stage is in an opera house, which the player ambushes in order to take on Don Nerozzia.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Your default costume is a suit (inspired by those worn by hardboiled detectives in Film Noir movies) and you're a hardened vigilante badass capable of taking plenty of names.
- Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: The final scene. The mob boss, Nerozzia, which you appear to have killed, turned out to be a double. The real Nerozzia then shows up to hold you at gunpoint, cue a gunshot... only for Nerozzia to fall. Turns out he was shot by Julia, a character that literally came out of nowhere whose fiance Andy was killed under Nerozzia's orders. How she even snuck into the opera is beyond anyone's guess.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: The warehouse shootout ends with the entire place being inevitably set alight, where you fight one of the bosses in the middle of the inferno. The narration after the scene said you "left the warehouse burning as you leave".
- Battle in the Rain: "In the Town" is a shootout is set in the middle of heavy rain.
- Big Bad: Don Nerozzia, the criminal kingpin of the city who leads all their criminal activities, and the entire game revolves around your efforts in taking him down. He's also the game's Final Boss until it's revealed you have killed a decoy.
- Body Double: Don Nerozzia, the Final Boss you kill at the end of the last stage, is actually a disguised underling. The real Nerozzia then tries to ambush you, but he was killed by the fiancee of one of his victims.
- Car Fu:
- The Restaurant Campanula shootout, where you infiltrate a mob-owned restaurant (with all its staff being gangsters) by driving through the building's front. You then leap out of your vehicle with a Tommy-Gun in your hands and began taking names.
- Sometimes gangsters can attempt to run you over with their vehicles, but if you saved enough rounds for your shotgun you can repeatedly pump lead into their rides. Damage it enough and the vehicle will come to a standstill, with its occupants coming out to continue fighting on foot.
- Die, Chair, Die!: You can destroy everything that adorns a level, including windows, potted plants, dumpsters, fans and lights in indoor environments, cars in the streets, flip over tables and furniture, destroy the statues adorning the courtyard of the mansion, and of course the classic barrels and crates in video games.
- Down in the Dumps: One such stage is set in a junkyard with wrecked cars stacked in the background. Which you can climb upon to take potshots at gangsters from your vantage position, but be warned that mooks can do the same.
- Drive By Shooting: In the game's opening cinematics, this is how your girlfriend gets offed by mobsters, who are presumably aiming for you (either that, or they have her killed as a form of intimidation towards you). Your quest for revenge kickstarts the game's plot.
- Gotta Kill Them All: The goal of each stage has you being tasked with "eliminating 30 enemies" (or more, depending on the setting) and you'll need to kill that much onscreen mooks to pass the level.
- The Mafia: They serve as the main villains of the picture, with most of their mooks looking like extras from any old, black-and-white gangster picture, wearing suits and wielding Tommy-guns.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: For some inexplicable reason, there's a regular mook variety who comes at you armed with knives, despite most of the mobsters having firearms. The results are as predictably one-sided as you can expect. It could be a reference to a famous scene from The Untouchables (1987), which this game feels like an adaptation of.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: In the character select screen, two of main characters bear an unmistakable resemblance to Andy García and Kevin Costner based on their likeness from The Untouchables.
- One Riot, One Ranger: Despite being introduced as part of a team, when it comes to shootouts you're alone against a literal legion of mobsters. Thankfully you're a highly competent One-Man Army.
- Railing Kill: Mooks on balconies, rooftops, behind windows and elevated positions will inevitably flip over when shot, falling to their deaths.
- Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: With a Magnum!
- Sharp-Dressed Man: You, and all your vigilante crew, who kicks ass in smart suits every single stage.
- Timed Mission: All stages have a timer lasting for 180 seconds (or 3 minutes) displayed atop the screen, and you'll need to kill the required amount of onscreen enemies before it runs out or lose a life.
- Vigilante Man: You're one of these in the game, against a never-ending stream of mobsters.
