Dynamite Düx (Arcade)

Dynamite Düx is an arcade game developed by Sega AM2, and was released in 1988. This was the original version of the game, which was ported to the Sega Master System, Commodore Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 the following year. The game is known for its cartoony art style, catchy music, unique power-ups used by the duck protagonists and the bizarre plot, as well as the numerous acts of violence and carnage caused by the player, owing to the fact that this game is in the Beat-Em-Up genre. Why the "U" in the title has a diaeresis is unknown.

Plot
Note: this version of the plot applies to some of the ports that followed. Others removed Pin entirely, and the Master System version has an altered introduction which makes the rest of the game even stranger.

A girl named Lucy is playing with her two duck pets Bin and Pin in a poppy field (described in-game as a "flower garden"). Whilst they are playing, a mysterious black shadow materialises next to them, only to reform into Achacha The Great. Achacha kidnaps Lucy by shrinking her in size and traps her inside a "miracle ball" (which resembles a crystal ball), and taking her to his place of origin, Achacha World, an alternate dimension of sorts. Bin and Pin decide to rescue Lucy and travel to Achacha World through a magic door. As they traverse the streets of Achacha World, they fight everything in sight, as everyone and everything inexplicably desires to harm them. Warping through areas using a rock portal, Bin and Pin eventually confront and defeat Achacha, and return with Lucy back to the real world.

Locations
The various locations of Achacha World are presented in a mini map which serves as each level's title card. Despite the name of this realm being Achacha World, references to real-world locations imply that this is an alternate version of our own world.


 * Down Town - the high street of Achacha World, complete with mini water geysers, sentient dog heads, skittle-shaped red moose creatures, the coyote military (yes, really), rabbits with spring legs and giant fire and stone monsters. Curiously, Colonel Sanders and KFC both exist in Achacha World, making a cameo appearance right at the start of the level. Sanders himself is also the referee of the boxing bonus stages.
 * Japan - renamed Pseudo Japan in the Master System port, this stage is rural, sporting a countryside-esque appearance, with Sushi shops, pigs dressed in stereotypical Japanese clothing (the fact that Japanese developers would wish to reference stereotypes of themselves is rather ironic), moles with hard hats, people operating a Dragon costume (not too dissimilar from the ones seen during Chinese New Year) and a Cloud Monster.
 * Jungle - This stage is absent from the Master System port due to size limitations. The jungle area resembles the one seen in The Jungle Book of all things, but the similarities end there, as many of the enemies are the same as in the previous areas. New elements to this stage include a clump of rocks resembling a man, leaping fireballs and a literal ring of fire, which turns into stone once water touches it.
 * Chicago - renamed Almost Chicago in the Master System port. A bizarre depiction of America, to be sure: this stage depicts the USA as a run-down backstreet, filled with rhinos in American Football gear, skating wolves, an angry star, sentient bombs, and a rematch with the fire monster from earlier.
 * Texas - renamed Little Texas in the Master System port. From one U.S. state to another, this stage is like something from the wild west. Unique to this level are dogs wearing sombreros (a reference to how Mexico and Texas border each other no doubt), dogs dressed as Native Americans (how many cultures are we referencing here?), stoned cows, a penguin army and their king, various teepees scattered across the background and a rematch with the Rock Cluster from earlier.
 * Achacha - the Palace of Achacha the Great and the end of your quest to rescue Lucy. The walls of the palace are decorated with many weird carvings such as the Sun, Griffins and Elephant heads. Bin (and/or Pin) does not fight Achacha directly at first, instead fighting his large metal man who looks like a blank metallic version of the Michelin man and breathes fire. Once that thing is defeated, Bin (and/or Pin) have the opportunity to fight Achacha, punching him until all his clothes and rich items disappear, reducing him in size. Bin (and/or Pin) must continue to punch him until he dies amidst a lot of smoky explosions.

Bin and Pin are warped back to the poppy field and Lucy returns. The player is then asked to enter their name, which is added to the leaderboard. The credits roll, which feature numerous caricatures of the development staff to the tune which usually plays in Down Town due to an oversight. A unique credits tune still exists in the game, referred to internally as "Tropical Lucy", but goes unused.

Trivia

 * AM2 later developed Sonic The Fighters/Sonic Championship, which features a character named Bean The Dynamite, a character who was based directly on Bin and Pin, even having a near-identical design to both of them. Official sources and the Archie comics imply that Bin and Pin were related to Bean, thus tying this game indirectly to the Sonic series. Whether it's canon or not to that franchise is unclear, and Sega have never confirmed this to be the case. Interestingly, the Sega Saturn fighting game Fighters Megamix includes Bean as a bonus character, and his alternate costume is that of Bin.