Dick Tracy (Genesis)

Years ago, back when I wrote the very first top 100 Sega Genesis games. I said that I will write about Dick Tracy game. It’s formerly ranked at #93, but after revision it gets in higher number. I won’t tell you the exact rank number. Not until the time comes. Without further ado, here it is: Sega of America’s Dick Tracy (1991) which based on SMS game with same name that was developed by BlueSky Software.

That’s some dynamic screen title. Although I question the “Fly In” effect on the city and the cars. Cars don’t move in from bottom like that and city isn’t supposed to move at all!

How much do I know about Dick Tracy? Barely! In fact, this game is the only media where I know Dick Tracy. I didn’t even know there are strip comic and movie of Dick Tracy. All I know is: he has strange yellow trench coat. I mean it looks like raincoat that Japanese kids wear instead worn by badblood detective.

 

As I start the game, I’m presented with the cutscene where Dick Tracy openly against Big Boy Caprice via newspaper. How much he pays for the newspaper company for that declaration? Also how old is this paperboy? He looks like at least 25 years old.

 

As soon as Dick Tracy steps out from police station, he shoots a man in the chest immediately. But not without good reason. This guy in blue suit is actually evil guy who tries to stop Dick’s quest to defeat Big Boy by walking to him and punching. Kind of odd for a member of mafia to just walk to his target slowly in attempt to punch him. At least prepare some proper melee weapon like knife or bat. Anyway, this guy is certainly the easiest enemy type in every video game like Goomba in Super Mario Bros or zombie in Ghosts n Goblins. He’s here to teach you the basic on how to deal with enemies throughout the game. In this case, you have to fire handgun to defeat enemies from afar.         

 

Then there are enemies on background! They aren’t as stupid as that punching goon, they actually want to kill Dick Tracy with gun! For them you need to use Tommy gun. The default control is as follows: D-Pad to Dick Tracy left or right. Pressing down on D-pad to crouch. “A” button to fire his handgun to deal with enemies on the same plane as Dick’s. “B” button to jump. “C” button to fire his tommy gun to deal with enemy on the background. While firing his tommy gun, Dick Tracy will be locked into position and pressing D-Pad will move his machine gun’s aim instead of moving.   

 

Things get more naturally complicated with enemies with gun on the plane and the background. As per usual, the rule of thumb is always crouch to avoid enemy’s projectile. Luckily, the enemies are not bullet sponge. One single bullet or brief barrage of machine gun is enough to defeat any of them.

 

There are some enemies who think slightly wiser than their peers by shooting at me from higher place. Some of them will fall when you gun them down like you can see in any Stunt Show. Soldier_cheers05.wav

 

The first level is done and Dick Tracy is already out of ammo? He should carry enough ammo box. I reckon 100 ammo boxes can be fitted into that huge trench coat of his.

 

Now that Dick is out of ammo, he can only rely on his fist to defeat enemies in this level which makes the game unnecessarily slow. I have to walk up to gunman and crouch periodically to avoid his bullet. Thankfully, the gunman pauses everytime he has fired 3 bullets. I want to say the he pauses because he reloads his gun. But looking at his animation carefully, he looks like he cocks his gun instead. There’s no magazine changing animation or anything like in actual reloading gun procedure. Just cocking the gun.

 

Nice ladder climbing animation there, Dick Tracy.It goes without saying that up and down on d-pad can be used to ascend/descend ladder.

 

Luckily enemies don’t immediately active killing Dick Tracy all the time. Sometime they don’t aware of Dick’s presence. Either he has to be far away or not in same elevation as the enemy’s. This bit of stealth element is quite useful in this section where you have to approach enemies to defeat them. 

 

I manage to punch his ankle and it’s enough to defeat him. Tenchu, bastard!

 

Besides, usual gunmen and punchy goons, this trainyard also guarded by these goons who throw Molotov bombs. The first 2 of these goons lob the bomb at short distance so you have to time your walk. As for the last 2 of these goons, they lob the bomb at far distance. They try to trick you into thinking that they lob the bomb at the same short distance as their peers you met first. You can just walk up to them without pause and you’re safe from harm. If you punch them first that is. They can also throw punch if you somehow stand still near them and do nothing for no reason.

 

Spoiler: a bullet is not enough to kill Dick Tracy, chummer. Just stating a gameplay fact.

 

So, we’re on the first boss fight. True to his name, Itchy will scratch either his elbow or his head before actually firing his pistol. Because his attack has so much delay, he’s fitting to be the first boss that you can defeat relatively easy. Although you need to work really hard to deplete his health bar because each successful hit only depletes his health bar by 5% or so. Plus, he has post-hit invincibility that takes quite forever. Although Dick Tracy also has it too. But his health bar only consists of 6 blocks which is significantly less that what Itchy has. Enemy’s punch will take 1 block of Dick’s health. While gunshot and explosive take 2 blocks of it. Certainly unfair.

 

In this boss fight level, the gunmen have new ability to roll from invisible foreground so they can appear in the middle of level besides from sides.

 

With Itchy defeated, Tracy can interrogate him with the only way he knows: punch the criminals until they speak. I’m complete naïve regarding mafia-era terms. What is roundhouse means? Does Dick Tracy will do roundhouse kick on Itchy after that (rather lame) left hand punch?

 

After interrogating Itchy, Dick Tracy does some relaxing target practice as bonus level. The way it works is: each cardboard target is corresponded with 3 controller’s buttons. “A” button to shoot left target. “B” button to shoot middle target. “C” button to shoot right target. I think there’s slight ambiguity to differentiate between what target that you must shoot and not. Obviously, someone who carries gun in the open is evil and paper boy is innocent. Unless he throws paper around and breaking glasses like what I do when I play Paperboy 2. But the rest of bad guys are just unarmed guy with trench coat or hat which is the trend of its time. Perhaps, they’re based on villains in the comic. But again, I don’t read Dick Tracy comic so it’s pointless to me. 

 

I’m bit rusty. I can finish the first bonus level flawlessly everytime but not this time. You have to take my word for it. The reward of doing bonus level if you’re skillful enough (or lucky enough) are: credits and bonus points. There’s no hi-score table in this game. I assume there’s extra life if you reach certain number of score points but I’m not sure. One thing that I know is your score resets to zero after taking credit.

 

Turns out the train carries explosive chemist. Good thing Dick Tracy stop the train just in time…by walking the entire trainyard, only. Now, he wants to check the train’s destination: a warehouse.

 

You know what to expect from warehouse? Box, box, and even more box! Anyway, the warehouse is filled with knife-wielding guys and tommy-gun wielding guys. These trench coat guys on the background naturally have faster fire rate than their pistol wielding guy.

 

I have the high ground! Those mafias don’t stand a chance against me.

 

After searching the warehouse, Dick spot someone named The Brow and he chases after that guy that I assume villain from the comic.

 

In this level, Dick is on the side of police car and have to shoot anyone who try to shoot him. Not the policeman who drive the car though. Dick Tracy is the main target of gangster, after all. In this section, you don’t have to walk your way to the end of level because this is autoscroll level. You can see your car’s progress on top middle of the screen. When the car reaches the right end of the progress bar, you finish the level. Another thing that difference in this level compared to walking section is, enemies have bigger telegraph before actually attacking you. Most of them, pop their head out of the car’s window then they shoot at you. Like this man in blue suit, he always appears in back seat, pop their head out, open the door, and crouching shoot at you. He takes like 2 seconds before actually firing his gun so you most likely can intercept him with your own crouching shoot. His dead body vanishes shortly after touch tarmac. No 3 second rules for decomposition bacteria in this Mafia Era, apparently.

 

Naturally, there are gunmen on the background too. But you can easily guess where they will come from because they’re obviously come out from car’s window.

 

So, here’s The Brow. With name like that, I expected him to have gigantic unibrow but I barely can see his brow. Maybe the name is sarcasm?

 

So, it’s another boss fight. Most of the time, The Brow throws dynamite from across the street. Dynamite sounds more dangerous than gun but in this game, it’s not. Every gunfire from background is hitscan. Meanwhile The Brow’s dynamite has travel speed and you can easily avoid getting hit by simple jumping away from explosive. The dynamite itself doesn’t hurt you. I like that The Brow once in a while hide behind pillar or car in the front line to sneak dynamite at Dick’s feet. It’s almost look like Looney Toon’s antique.  

 

I must say that The Brow is ironically easier than Itchy because dynamite’s explosion is easier to dodge than bullet. Although sometime The Brow throw dynamite at ceiling to drop steel beam into Dick Tracy’s head which is more difficult to dodge because the falling beam has fairly long duration to hit him.

The Brow confess that Lips Manlis sent him after Big Boy’s Nitro. So, Lips is Big Boy’s rival, then? But Dick Tracy has no other clue to Big Boy other than Lips Manlis. But what’s Lips Manlis look like? I mean you probably know if you read the comic. As for those who don’t know what Lips look like. He’s pictured on the right cardboard target which is new to this bonus round. Foreshadowing, I see. He looks like innocent waiter at fancy restaurant but no. He’s Dick Tracy’s next investigation target. By investigation, I mean Dick shoots the target a lot than interrogate him after a quick punch like usual.

 

On next stage, I encounter this tricky enemy formation. One person fire from standing position while his friend in the back fire his gun from between the front man’s legs. If I crouch, I will get the low gunfire. If I jump, my leg will get hit by medium gunfire. On the bright side, I like that granite palace on the background and there’s no assassin hide behind those antique pillars. No, sire. [Medium sized Sarcasm]   

 

Then there’s this portly fellow who immediately drop at some height with loud thump and unleash bullet barrage from his submachine gun. I’m impressed with his resilience ankle. If I dropped down like that, my ankle would be shattered and I had to be hospitalized for a month at least. However, he has 1 obvious weakness: crouching shoot, can defeat him with no problem.

 

Next stage is another car chase section. Enemies on background, aim at my feet more often now. When I press jump button, Dick Tracy will climb on the car’s roof for seconds. Look at how unstable his position is. So, he can’t do that for long. What baffles me is, how they can shoot Dick Tracy in the leg when he’s behind the car? If they use armor-piercing bullet, I will be more concerned about the police car’s integrity than Dick’s wound on the leg. If the car destroyed, Dick and the driver can die.

 

Here's Lips Manlis on closer look. My Goodness! That lips sure look horrid. I think it involves in that accident where he got mixed up Molotov bomb with a liquor, and he accidentally drink the bomb instead of his favorite liquor.

 

Lips is better marksman than Itchy because he doesn’t waste unnecessary time to fire his pistol. Once you manage to hit him, he will do some strafing either high or low height. During that gun frenzy, Lips is invincible. So, my tips: you retreat to the left as soon as you hit Lips and let him retreat earlier. No use to be on the same screen as him unless you’re locked on single screen which happens in penultimate and final screen of every boss level.

 

On the final screen of this boss level, Lips ditches his pretty reliable handgun to throwing Molotov cocktails. Lots of them. Unlike Brow’s explosion that last millisecond, the Molotov cocktails generate fire that last couple seconds. Be aware of those fire.

 

Next stage takes place in alleyway. Dick Tracy’s friend inform him that the alleyway is too small for guns. That’s definitely bullcrap! The place is thick with enemy’s leads. Maybe what Sam means is the alleyway is not fit for machine gun fight. To be honest, I hate this kind of level. I mean sure, you don’t have to worry about shooters on the background in this level type. But that means the gameplay are cut down to half. Plus, I can’t retaliate enemy’s gunfire with my own. Thankfully, there are some containers that I can use as cover.

 

They have the high ground now. But in this case, it works for my advantage because they can’t aim low and I can defeat them with punch into their vulnerable shin. It’s good idea to lure these enemies to this stack of container first before punching them.

 

I forgot to tell you that the knife-wielding thugs has agility of a ninja because he’s able to jump 4 meters (13.1234 feet) height! The way I defeat him is to walk away from him. That will trigger him to jump high to get pass you then you punch him while in mid-air like this!

 

This gunman has ability to fire his gun in prone position! Even with gun, I can’t hit him while he’s in prone position. There’s a way to defeat him. But for now, I will slip through that gap while he’s reloading.

 

At the end of this alleyway is someone named Shoulder. He immediately throws tire at me and I die. I can understand gunshot deals damage of 2 health blocks. But rubber tire also deals same amount of damage? Rubber tire definitely not as lethal as gunshot! What also baffles me: knife damage only 1 health block? Maybe the knife is made of plastic or something. Anyway, to reach Shoulder safely is I just have to walk closer without pause. The tire will fly just right above my head harmlessly if I do that. But Shoulder can also throw some punch when I approach him. In the end, I sacrifice 1 health block to punch him.

 

How cooperate of you, Shoulder. But I will punch you again because you throw that tire at me.

 

Now we’re on the way to another warehouse. This stage strangely similar to that The Brow’s level. No gunman on the sides but you get bomb-throwing guy in this level. Unlike The Brow, his bomb counted as projectile that can hit you. He cleverly uses cover to ensure you can’t hit him without taking his bomb first. You can use the stealth element to your advantage. Let him lose track of me, then I shoot him from distance. 

 

Pruneface is waiting at the warehouse. Mork’s teeth! What happened to his face? Apparently, being demolition expert increases your aging and dehydration rate by 5 times.

 

Pruneface fights like The Brow except more aggressive. Once you shoot him, he will throw grenades rapidly while being in invincibility blink state.

Oh look! I shoot him in the DICK! [ May or may not be intended]. I like to point out his Looney Tune-ish antique where he hides behind a pillar then he can reappear from another pillar on the other floor of that platform. The crates in this level are more of obstacle from me to avoid his grenade than cover from enemy’s gunfire. So be careful.

What’s the reward for defeating Pruneface? It’s just him saying that Big Boy Caprice put bounty on Dick Tracy’s life. Wow, thanks. [Medium sized sarcasm]

 

Next level is Dick Tracy on his way to exit the warehouse…by walking on the beam on ceiling. Does walking on ground level become too boring for you now, Tracy? I think you need to find other hobby besides slaughtering “wisemen” on your conquest to avenge your father-in-law.

Anyway, here’s how to deal with gunman that in prone position. You have to bump him to make him stands up for awhile because he’s upset that you don’t respect his private space. Then you can hit him.

 

I think the real reason why Dick Tracy walks between steel beam and high platform: so, the game has reason to put instant death pits around. Meanwhile, Dick Tracy’s jump is fairly terrible. The jump height is okay-ish but the jump barely travel far enough to pass these gaps.

 

Next level is the last car section. It introduces submachine gunners on the background. I just realize something. In any car level, I can’t fire my Tommy gun while ducking. I mean it makes sense because the police car obstructs my submachine gun. Though I can fire my handgun while in this position.   

Dick Tracy follows the lead but it was a trap! Flattop ambushes him! Is it just me or Flattop looks like Marvel comic’s villain: Hammerhead minus having very hard head?

 

On first part, Flattop fight like Lips Manlis but more aggressive because he’s armed with Tommy gun. One thing that I notice that he can change the gap in his bullet barrage which no one ever done this before! Bullet barrage with far gap can be avoided easily between gunshot but cover more distance. While bullet barrage with close gap covers less distance but make it harder for you to avoid between gunshot. Naturally, it’s easier if Flattop aims high because you can just keep crouching and you will never get hit. The real problem comes when he aims low because you have to jump his bullet barrage with perfect timing. 

 

Flattop doesn’t have gimmick or special feature like throwing grenade or Molotov cocktail. However, this last screen is super hard. I give up on my attempt Retroachievement for this game because of this particular section. You see. He turns off the light and makes entire screen pitch dark, making you can’t see everything except Dick Tracy himself. Suddenly he opens fire from -I think- 10 random spots on the background either on top floor or bottom floor. You can see him momentarily thanks to muzzle flash from his gun and you can retaliate his attack. But then he strafes as respond to your attack. While strafing he’s invincible the usual level boss’ routine. Got me thinking why Tracy’s gun can’t light the room like Flattop’s gun does? That doesn’t make sense. His initial gunshot is pretty accurate for some reason while you have to guess his position from those 10 random spots that I mentioned. I blame Tracy’s silly yellow trench coat for that. I don’t know is it just me or not. But I feel that on the last part of Flattop’s health bar, it takes less and less damage for each successful hit. I suspect that the damage taken reduced in logarithmic rate. Lastly, I forgot to tell you that there’s no checkpoint on boss level! So, if you fail, you have to redo the boss fight from the beginning! Maybe, I can defeat Flattop with “genuine” way after months of practice but I don’t have time for that. In the end, I assume Flattop is cheating bastard like Valgasu in Fighting Master and I need to use savestate to defeat him.

 

There you go, Flattop defeated. Tracy now uses right hand to punch because his left hand is sored from all previous interrogations.

 

Flattop gives Tracy clue “Down where you’ll never find him”. By that he means sewer, of course. Sewer with pink neon light is certainly suspicious so here we are. Probably, Big Boy Caprice likes pink neon light on his escape route. Anyway, we’re in the final unarmed section and it’s the worst. I mean look at this! How am I supposed to dodge the bullet barrage from the chubby fellow plus gunfire from crouching gunman at the same time, huh?

 

How about this one? There are too many enemies that I have to defeat with just punch. Note that the guys in red suit are the bomb-throwing guy. In this case, I descend the ladder a bit to catch their attention, make it back to high ground, then I walk back to right. That way, I can lure some of them into better place to fight.  

 

The Dick Tracy died of heart attack because his arteries is tied to the timer. When it reaches 0, he dies. You should have more balanced diet next time, Tracy. As far as I know there’s no mid-level checkpoint for this sewer level. Gork damn it! I did as fast as I could yet it’s not enough. No idea why Tracy decides not to use pistol in sewer when it’s very useful in this level!    

 

Eventually, I manage to finish the damned sewer level. “Walnuts! Big Boy must be nearby.” said Dick Tracy. I sure hope so. Although the background filled with assassins, I’m glad to be in the usual gameplay because I can use my gun again. I know a thing or two about onshore structure design and I feel aggravated with these unnecessary canals. What is their purpose? No boat can fit on, not even lifeboat. If their purpose is just for water outlet, they should have lid on them so I don’t have to do precise jump to pass them.  

 

I let out my frustration by shooting these lights on jetty. I feel better. I also shoot the bad guys there. Don’t worry.

 

Finally, I catch up to Big Boy Caprice himself. Because of that small moustache, he reminds me of Dick Dastardly a bit.  

 

This final boss fight is surprisingly fairer than Flattop. I died once because of time out. But that’s because I deal with him whenever he shows up and forget to move forward to the final screen as fast as possible. You have to ignore him quite often and just walk forward. Big boy doesn’t have any gimmick as his advantage. Maybe there’s one. He can aim his pistol at medium height, tricking you into thinking you can dodge his gunshot by crouching like low aim, only to realize you get hit in the head while crouching. Ok. There are two actually. The other gimmick is, he pulls invisible string then a cogwheel drops from random spot above. Kind of like Brow use dynamite to drop steel beam, only faster.

 

Look at this git laughing at me. Probably because of my silly yellow trench coat but this time it works for my advantage. I still baffled with how fair this fight compared to Flattop’s. Maybe the place is dark but Big Boy quite stands out with his green suit. Yeah, still don’t understand what’s the reason Flattop is harder boss than Big Boy himself.    

 

Perfect, Dick Tracy! We will send Big Boy sleeping with fishes. Is that not what you mean? You want to send him to Sing Sing Correctional Facility which is located near Hudson River, is what you really mean. Disappointing, Tracy. But it’s fine. You’re cop and not mafia. So, you can’t just throw him away into the river along with concrete block. Besides, it’s our duty to keep environment clean from any pollution including criminal scumbag like Big Boy Caprice.

 

There’s no credit roll. This ending screen is all you get from finishing this game. Dick Tracy looks very smug showing that newspaper to his wife then they proceed to “Make Love”. Good Ending!

 

Sega of America’s Dick Tracy (1991) is fairly wonderful game but it gets repetitive to the end. The game has 3 types: Walk n shoot, walk n punch, and car chase. I really hate the second ones because of no-gun handicap which makes the game slow and arduous. The handicap also can lead you to time out! The third type probably my most favorite because on that gameplay type enemies have bigger telegraph before actually shoot me, so I have more time to react. Dick Tracy’s walking speed is pretty much sedated. That’s probably caused by his silly overly long trench coat. Whether you realize it or not, you don’t see any pick-up items throughout my gameplay. Not because I forget to take screenshot of it, I mean -like, come on- I have experience in this indie journalist kind of thing for 7 years. No way I’m that clumsy. The real reason why I don’t tell you about any pick-up item because there’s none. I mean given any lesser enemies can be defeated by single successful hit. Tracy’s handgun has fast fire rate while the bullet travels much faster than enemy’s. Thus, any kind of weapon power up is unnecessary. However, the game will be much better or at least feel like more video game-y if there’s some sort of item that Tracy can pick up to enhance the gameplay. For example: temporary move speed boost, temporary invincibility, extra time, health refill or armor that protects Tracy’s health bar for some amount of hit, will be appreciated. Health refill only given after finishing a level. But to compensate that, you will get extra continue. If you can do well in bonus stage. On later stages, there are lots of “Got you now, git!” moments especially with the enemy placement that feels like trapping you. Like in sewer level, there’s the bomb thrower. You will instinctively go after him as fast as you can. However not far from him there’s gunman ready to open fire at you. Not only cruel enemy placement, but also enemies have improvement for themselves like roll from foreground, or they can throw bomb from crouching position. More often than not, I envy to enemies who has ability to upgrade while Tracy doesn’t have any. At least give him forward roll or sliding ability. The game consists of 6 stages x 3 scenes = 18 levels in total. It seems short but that Flattop bastard is big cheater. There’s no saving system or password to select level. I doubt I can finish the game “legit” way. There’s difficulty select. I think on easy difficulty setting, Tracy gets 2 more health block but I doubt that helps much. The music is pretty great. I have some of the OSTs on my playlist, even. The sound effect is pretty alright. The presentation is nice. The graphic is simply wonderful.

 

Dick Tracy (1991) is simple yet engaging walk n shoot game. Although the game can become tedious and repetitive as you progress. The game combines gallery shooter and walk n gun into wonderful yet intuitive mix. Too bad there’s neither pick-up item nor upgrade for Tracy. The 3 gameplay modes don’t stand out much if compared with Vice Project Doom or Alien Storm. I guess I prefer Dead Angle over this game although I have good childhood memory with it. The nameless bloke in Dead Angle is more brutal than Tracy. Tracy has healthier sense to interrogate and send Big Boy Caprice to prison. But not for Dead Angle protagonist though. He throws the big boss mafia through window with gunshot in cold blood. He’s the real menace of gangster. What a badblood!