Your job is to rescue President Ronnie who has been kidnapped by a group of ninjas in this Nintendo Switch version of the popular coin-op arcade game. Are you a bad enough dude? Then take a look at our Bad Dudes review!

 

Bad Dudes is a sidescrolling beat ’em up o Nintendo Switch that is not a remaster, but a solid portable and on the go version of the original coin-op arcade classic. You will only be able to go one way as the screen fills up with ninjas from both sides, and as you go, you will be able to perform some martial arts moves to defeat your enemies. You won’t have a single moment to rest since the bad guys will come at you non-stop.

The main moves you can use are punches and kicks, and you can also jump and crouch to avoid incoming attacks. The game is quite short in length, as is usually the case for arcade releases, so you’re looking at 30-40 minutes to complete all even stages in the game. Despite its short length, this is a pretty tough game, which is why you’d end up using coin after coin back in the day to keep going until the end. Luckily on Nintendo Switch, you can drop coins into the virtual arcade machine at the press of a button.

Thanks to modern technology, you can now play a faithful arcade version of a beat ’em up classic at home or on the go with some extras that will make it easier to beat the game, thanks to being able to drop more coins into the virtual arcade machine as well as creating save spots for your gaming session so that you can make some progress as you go in case you want to switch things up a bit and play another arcade game from the Johnny Turbo collection or another of the many great indie releases on Nintendo’s console.

You also have a choice of screen aspect ratios between the classic 4:3 and the extra16:9 option, as well as several optional filters to apply that can give the game a solid old-school feel as if you were playing at the arcade in one of the CRT TVs from back in the day. The game’s soundtrack remains the same, giving us a set of sounds and songs that, for me, feel a bit hit and miss – it’s the one thing about the game that doesn’t feel quite right.

Overall the game might feel a bit repetitive for those of you who didn’t get a chance to grow up playing in the arcades of the past, with its tough bosses and challenging enemies, but it’s a fun arcade perfect experience you can now enjoy at home! And if you prefer to take on some co-op action, then you and a friend can share the same screen, and each use a Joy-Con, so multiple Nintendo Switch units are not needed for some multiplayer action, which is a great selling point for Nintendo’s hybrid console. Go download Bad Dudes today!

Disclaimer
This Johnny Turbo’s Arcade: Bad Dudes review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Flying Tiger Entertainment.