Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja
This memory is brought To you by Antstream
Arcade 1988 data east
When I was a youngster, I would regularly visit Quay Amusements in Poole because it was an incredible arcade that had virtually every big game you could think of at the time. I would regularly visit it with friends at the weekend, and typically I’d head over there with Wayne Osbourne as we had similar taste in games.
Wayne would always want to play partly because he was a big fan of the whole ninja craze that was going on at the time, and partly because he was really into karate and loved Jeanclaude Van Damme films. More importantly, however, he was really good at it – like seriously good at it. He got so skilled at it that he was able to complete the game on a few credits and I’d normally be there at his side riding his coattails as boss after boss fell to his mad button skills.
I’ve never been any good at but because Wayne had more money than me we’d typically end up playing whatever he wanted (which I was fine with, obviously). You’d think that with all those free credits I’d have upped my game over the six months it probably stayed at Quay Amusements, but no, I remained completely rubbish at it and I would continually get chided as we played, because let’s face it, I was little to no help.
I’m not sure why I could never get on with Data East’s beat-’em-up. I was pretty good at and and could regularly complete them on a single credit, but felt like an impossible challenge. Maybe it was the lack of moves, or the sheer onslaught of enemies, but I could never really get beyond the second stage on a single credit unless I was assisted by Wayne – and even then I’d sloppily lose lives because I would take risks or just bungle my attacks like an idiot.
I have not seen Wayne for over two decades, but I can remember those games of we played at Quay Amusements like they were yesterday. And that memory of us only popped into my head because I was watching Nick play while he was reviewing Antstream. Isn’t it funny where your mind goes?