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Did you ever wonder why Die Hard Arcade has nothing to do with the movie Die Hard? Because it's a totally unrelated game, Dynamite Deka, in Japan! Originally developed for Sega's ST-V arcade system, (a Saturn with additional RAM, much like Namco's System 22) this is AM1's attempt at a Final Fight/Double Dragon style side-scrolling fighting game. I didn't enjoy it as much as either of those arcade classics, but it's still very good.

The story unfolds through polygon cinema scenes acted in English and subtitled in Japanese. The voice actors clearly know how to speak our language, but they have no actual acting talent. At least anyone who buys this version can understand the simplistic story. Some bad guys have broken into a skyscraper and are robbing the place's safe. The situation is more complicated because they have the president's daughter! Why was Chelsea left unattended in a building that size, you ask? Just for fun, I suppose. 2 members of the SWAT team are sent in after her, one male and one female. That's it, nothing too complicated going on story-wise. The mid-game cinemas are sort of busted, because the game has to black out and load them, instead of them just happening on the fly. So they're divided up awkwardly, and you'll want to turn them off after a while. The problem is clearly a result of not enough RAM, but I still think they could have been done better. And you get a crappy ending, as with any Sega arcade game.

The gameplay is basically a faster, more complicated version of Final Fight. You have punch, kick and jump buttons, which produce combos if hit in the right order. Throws and other moves are also produced, in ways such as "kick, kick, punch, punch, punch." Problem is, the complicated moves like that one are just too hard to do in the heat of battle. They do look great if you ever pull one off though. Deka still has more moves than any other game of this type, even if you exclude the combo-type moves. You might not like how the enemies can block but the player cannot... That always did seem unfair to me.

Add in the weapons you can pick up and the game gets really exciting. There are lots of pipes and such, plus some guns you really wouldn't expect a cop to shoot anyone with. Heh heh... There's nothing more thrilling than blasting bad guys with an anti-tank gun, nothing! All guns have an ammo supply shown at the bottom of the screen and you can pick up clips dropped by enemies. They also drop med-kits which actually add on a second life bar if you're at full health! Nice touch.

Another unique gameplay feature is the interactive cinema scene. At various points in the game, you find yourself running down a hall towards an enemy and the screen prompts you to quickly press punch, kick or jump. If you successfully press the button in time, you either don't have to fight that opponent or you start with an advantage against them. Fail and you have another fight on your hands. This adds a tiny bit of variety to the game, but really it's not important. Interestingly, if your system is Japanese or converted to run in Japanese mode, the text-prompts will be in that language. But if you play with a convertor cartridge they appear in English. Think about it, Sega programmers actually took American import gamers into account!

Dynamite Deka differs from most other games of this type in that it's entirely polygonal. The characters may be rather simple looking (a tad better than those in World Series Baseball 98) but they move great. The camera movement is really special. It zooms in and out to make the game more dramatic. In a one-player game if you throw someone (or get thrown) it gets really close and then backs out after the move is completed. 2 player, it just zooms in and out a bit so as not to confuse either player. You can see they chose less-detailed characters in exchange for impressive camera movement, and it works well. There's some occasional polygon drop-off in the backgrounds, but only a little more than Virtua Cop 2 had, so not much.

Sega added no FMV intro or Ranking Mode to the game, so how did they compensate? By including Deep Scan, an obscure 1980 arcade game where you control a ship dropping bombs on passing submarines. Via code, you can play super-fast or hard versions of it, too. Deep Scan is not just an option, you virtually HAVE to play it before you play the main game. That's because you only start with 4 credits otherwise, and the game requires 20 or more to complete. By accumulating points in Deep Scan you earn extra continues. That's an unfortunate programming decision, because plenty of times I want to jump right into DD and can't because I have to play DS for 15 minutes first. Of course, the retro game is fun in its own right, I admit, but it still should have been done differently. And I would have taken a new intro and some extra features instead of Deep Scan any day, but that's just me.

Dynamite Deka's music is forgettable. It's orchestral stuff, sort of like a movie soundtrack. However, despite the movie atmosphere the music just doesn't fit, or excite in any way. Like most Sega arcade soundtracks, (the notable exceptions being Daytona and VF) Deka's is just sort of there, not appalling or delighting. The shrieks and yells when characters get hit or die are annoying, with most female voices probably done by a male actor. At least there's an amusing "boing!" sound effect whenever someone does a low blow... Very funny. On the other hand, gun sound effects are realistic, helping to make shooting someone a satisfying experience.

The options are sparse in DD as well. You can turn off the cinemas, (thank goodness!) turn off the blood, (which there is a lot of) toggle friendly hits and adjust BGM volume. Unfortunately, the game has no scoring system or multiple difficulty levels, which really cuts into the replay value.

Overall I have to recommend DD (or Die Hard Arcade) to fans of the genre, or action packed games in general. It doesn't have the great level design of Double Dragon, nor is it a truly refined game, (too short for one thing) but it's really quite fun. The 2 player aspect greatly enhances this title. Much like Virtua Cop 2, whenever friends come over we like to give it a spin. Side-scrolling fighters are a rare breed, so you might as well give this one a chance. That is, unless you're a masochistic gamer like my friend the Dork Falcon. (Just kidding!)