AVGN: Dick Tracy
September 17, 2008
Oh yeah, it’s like there’s a video every day this week. I’m on maximum overdrive! (that’s another movie that could be reviewed.) But for today, it’s AVGN time! Dick Tracy on NES, one of the most frustrating games I remember from my childhood. I bet you feel the same. I got carried away with this one, like I often do, it’s about 14 minutes of Nerd madness.
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Comments (52)
Uh yeah… like I said… the last part scared the shit out of me, man! XD well done!
I barely remember the movie, but sadly never heard of that game…. and that’s for the best I think.
Good job, James! I’m also a HUGE fan of the film.
Another great video, this game pissed me off so much. This is the game that made me buy a Genesis!! Love the drill and hammer bit, is that a shout-out to Vomitsaw’s Nintoaster video? just curious… Keep it up James, we all appreciate it! Cheers mang!
I liked the home video footage at the beginning; it was a nice touch.
What can I say James, I’m impressed, this is just what I was been waiting for, an oldskool AVGN review, no bullshit just pure spit-on-that-game-without-mercy review, and I love it. And I bet many people like this way and I think you shoud keep it up.
Anways, about Dick Tracy game you were reviewing, maybe this can help :
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/game/587227.html
Keep up the good work!
I remember that game. Fuck it to hell. I don’t remember getting anywhere in it, and it was just as bad as Roger Rabbit. Ugh.
Yeah, this game sucks monkeyballs x10.
But for the snipers and powerups, when you kill the sniper they don’t spawn back and the health packs and items can be found by punching anything and everything on the stages.
I bet James already knew this but JUST in case..
I actually liked that game, but only with the aid of the game genie. It was hard as hell, a real bowlcoater.
Great stuff James, and some really funny quotes in the video.
Thanks.
My God!!! I laughed untill I thought I would die!!!!!! I love the ending!!!
Finally!
Truly awesome once again!!! Really enjoying the variation between ‘oldschool’ and ‘newschool’ reviews, if there is such a thing. Epic ending too!
Thanks for the comments, but no, I honestly have no clue where the powerups are in that game.
ReiKo, I was actually looking at that same walkthrough while I was playing and it doesn’t tell you where the powerups are, but oh well, it’s just a video, and thanks anyway for the info. I appreciate it.
Pure genius, Mr. Rolfe! You rock!
daaaamn.
You went insane at the end. XD
Good work.
But I wonder what would you do if you saw the end of the game by using Game Genie or some code that’ll take you to the end of the game.
Great video James. Never played the game, but I’m wondering if you can’t shoot the snipers from the car, why not just walk everywhere? Probably takes way too long.
Man, I remember playing this game when I was younger, such a horrible game. It doesn’t help any that I used the power glove either…
Love your work dude! Keep going…
“Dick this and Dick that” xD Richard and Dick… hmm like Jimmy and Bimmy xD hehehe, awesome video ^^ THX
that was fucking hilarious
Maximum overdrive rocks, please review it, everybody wants it, ain’t that right, bubba!?!
Hey James I a new guy.
I just wanted to say great job but you forgot to post the next godzilla review.
And your right what F*cking horrible controls.
Great video. I have this game and I did the exact same thing when I first played it, yelling “why are there no continues?! Why only 1 life?! Why would they do that?” The game itself is fine but they seriously should have included more chances, and the snipers are just ridiculous. I like that you were drinking Rolling Rock again, because it kind of has a nostalgic quality to it believe or not, since it reminds me of the very early Nerd episodes. I love it when you include home video footage, it really adds something special and shows that you really do have some history with this particular game. Also, I liked when you referenced the April O’neal banana raincoat line. Good job!
I was waiting to see if you were going to run through it with game genie like you have in other games just to skip over the impossible parts. I haven’t played the game before, but for some reason I want to see it for myself now.
I remember those good old days when you would stay at home, ruining your whole weekend with a bad game. I eventually caught on and started looking to see who made the games before renting them.
Anyways, awesome vid as always.
I remember packing up my nintendo and bringing it to my grandparent’s house in the country for the weekend. They would always let me hook it up to their big-screen TV (a projection unit via 1988) and play all night ling, as long as I kept the volume down. The best part was that we always went to the video store and got two movies and two nintendo games! I know exactly what you are talking about when you say that the game was your weekend! I used to get an arcade game and an adventure game that I was interested in buying/asking for.
/ramble
Hey James, those hearts actually are power-ups. You store them like energy tanks in Mega Man and you have to press B and select (or something stupid like that) at the same time.
Awesome video.
Great review James. I have this game and it’s horrid. I was happy to see you did this because I remember that I bought this a few years back because I remember playing it at my friend’s house and thought it was good!
…
playing things as an adult is different man
AWESOME MANNNN, THIS ARE THE VIDEOS I LOVE 14 MIN IS LIKE HEAVEN, PLEASE KEEP ON DOING LONG RANTS. IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO DRESS UP TO MAKE A GREAT VID.
I may have to take back what I said about liking your movie reviews more than game reviews. I hope this review sets the trend for future ones; it was really great. I could tell the anger was genuine. I think that comes from replaying an old game that you played as a kid. I find it hard to hate some of the shitty games you review because I never played them until now. I think you should do more reviews of games from your childhood. Those old memories can really get the anger juices flowing.
Also, you got the Knock Out Punch! That was why those bad guys kept spinning around when you hit them. It doesn’t make much sense, considering that they only take one hit to kill in the first place.
In any case, this review, combined with the Godzilla movies makes for the best Halloween ever.
I see a lot of comments after each of James reviews telling him what to do in the game, or a link to a walkthrough, or a cheat code, etc. but do you think he really can’t type “wtvgame walkthrough” or “wtvgame cheats” on google? Come on… -_- he’s trying to play the game as a 10 year old kid would try to play it and show that its a SHITTY game. Also, games aren’t supose to be made to find walkthroughs or cheats, if u need to it’s that the game is way to hard to be fun… it’s suposed to be fun to find your way to the end of the game, not frustrating. cya =D
Mike said this review was a long way off, but I guess James had other plans.
Well that’s great. I already planned to do this game when I get back to reviewing, but now I have some peace of mind knowing exactly what James did and didn’t cover. I was pleased to see that there was only ONE part of the game that he did in the exact same way that I was planning to do. With almost everything else, I plan to cover it but in a significantly different way, so that’s good. There’s a TON of room for me to expand. Especially with the powerup. I’m surprised you missed that James. One of my biggest complaints about the game IS the fact that they’re so hard to use even when you do find them. So don’t worry a bit about missing that. It may take several months, but once I take on this game, all will be wrapped up and you’ll have all the loose ends taken care of.
I’m also glad that you covered the film and stuff, because I had no knowledge of that at all and was worried about dealing with it. But now that you did a much better intro that I ever could have, I can skip over it in good conscience and say “The Nerd did all that already”, so it makes it easier for me. I don’t have to feel pressured to go in depth about that at all.
Love the fast-cut screaming fit toward the end. Funny stuff.
This was classic AVGN, I love it!
RSD, you’re right. I downloaded the game, and it is B and SELECT. I should say that it actually isn’t half bad. It’s maybe 25 to 30% bad, but not half. The driving is retarded even if you do it right. You’re supposed to go really slow, spot the snipers, get out, and then shoot them, but it’s still a pain in the ass. It would be easier if you were allowed to just walk to your destination. But it’s easy once you know how to use 1st aid and that it respawns. Overall, I’d say it’s a mediocre NES game. Not shitty at all if you know how to play it, but I agree KFAx. You shouldn’t have to look at guides just to figure out the controls.
Heh, I liked the Dick/Richard comparison in the beginning.
I’ve got one for you — I’m Greek, and the name Constantine is a Greek name. You know what the short version of Constantine is? Gus. Nope, not kidding.
Hehe, and did you know that Gus means Ass in Bulgarian!
never thought i’d see you put Dick in the NES.
i don’t care how bad that sounds, i think you know what i ment.
I knew that those hearts where actually First Aid Kids, but I didn’t figured out how to use them. How stupid is that anyway? Everything else I use with B and the First Aid Kid I have to use with B & SELECT?
Damn…
Anyway, another great video, James! I enjoyed it pretty much and I like your “going back to the roots”. While it’s nice to have some special appearances from Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, I didn’t enjoy those shows as much.
At the ending the nerd was just MAD! I guess James has made the character more insane and angry. He screams more than in the early videos.
I think this ep. was okay. No special guests, nothing suprising, just an ordinary game review. Good stuff. Loved to see more!
I WAS suprised that you didn’t comment on the freaking backrounds of this game! At some stages they give you a fucking headeck!! THEY’RE HORRIBLE!
I love that game, actually. RSD is right about the powerups. It took me a while to figure out how to do it. The REALLY annoying thing is that only a few locations have them (Tramp’s Flophouse being one), so if you are running low on energy, you have to go BACK to one of those locations, play through the stage again, just to get that power up.
Big Boy is also way too easy
Also anyone ever play the Genesis Dick Tracy? It makes the NES one look MUCH better.
I liked this one too. No more acting than the nerd and he isnt using too much of any childish cursewords like previous ones… Just old plain amazingly great AVGN where the game and how bad it is brings most of the amusement. Rolfe just tells this better than anyone else. Please, no more fucking around with acting & shit. (okey maybe little on event specials)
Awesome review, like I said, I almost killed my self with laughter. but where’s godzilla thon part 3???
Yay! A longer episode again! Loved the ending!
Does anyone remember if they ported “Dick Tracy” to Game Boy, like they did with “Roger Rabbit”? I mean, that’s the worst part, in those days, these shithole companies would buy a license, program up some garbage and then freaking put the same crap on like, four different systems.
Anyone remember “Krusty’s Funhouse”??? That was shoveled into all the consoles. UGGGGhhhhhhh. Worst use of the Simpsons license ever– poor man’s Lemmings!
Dickard Tracy and fucking Madonna
He should review the Legend of Zelda games for Phillips CD:i… they are the most shitiest games in the fuckin world!!!
(besides: I love the legend of Zelda ^^ )
Ha, Thor, I guess that Guru Larry guy was faster, he already did a review of that game
[...] Click here to choose how to watch the full version! [...]
@Haitani
ok, but he isnt the nerd!
so Fuck that guy!
Only James should review the most fucked up games in the goddamn wolrd !
dont take it personal xD
Well okay XD The guru is doing a unny job there too, but I also really would like to the the Nerd going nuts on that piece of crap
The AVGN Dick Tracy review is particularly funny because James really drives the whole “Angry Nerd” joke home. He rants on how much of a disappointment the game was as a child, implying that the experience scarred him deeply for life. The Nerd tallies the Dick Tracy NES game as another series of disappointing experiences in his unhappy childhood, like getting a rock in his Trick-or-Treat bag for Halloween (and not coincidentally referencing Charlie Brown!). “I was laughing then, but I’m not fucking laughing now!”
Being a virtually 100% retro-gamer, I actually had Dick Tracy on NES for a few years. Until I wised up I didn’t think it was that bad. The driving sequences are obviously flawed (creep slowly along the streets to spot snipers, then exit the squad car to shoot them). They were tedious, to make an understatement. The side-scrolling scenes were okay but I didn’t like how Dickard jumped; he jumped like Mario, but so was the plight of the NES: Attack Of The Super Mario Clones. The other big irk was the weapon/item selection. It’s fine if you have just your fists and a gun, but when you have Medical kits (the hearts), and/or Tear Gas, that is a lot to juggle with the Select button. It’s especially bad since you’re constantly switching from your gun to fists to deal accordingly with armed and unarmed thugs. I got to the final case (didn’t finish) but only largely with the help from a strategy guide which told me to take it easy while driving (since the guide was current for 1990, and the game was so new, the passwords were not printed). Overall, the game’s not the worst, but it’s definitely not memorable except for the comic brand name and movie tie-in.
The Genesis title was overall better, but that’s not saying much. It was a pretty standard side-scrolling jump and shoot affair, with a tommy-gun shooting gimmick ripped off from Cabal. Just one level to the next. The driving scenes, ironically, were actually kind of neat, in contrast to the NES Dick Tracy driving! The boss fights were really tedious, though. Jesus, how many fucking rounds of .45 ACP from your Thompson model 1929 does the Brow need just to run out of breath so Dickard can cart his ass off to the big house?
I don’t own those games anymore, since I don’t consider myself a collector, unlike the AVGN. If I don’t like or play a game, what’s the point in keeping a copy? They’re going for prime dollars these days anyway, what with a resurgence in retro-gaming interest. Anyway, I’ve really gone on here. I basically think Dick Tracy for both NES and Genesis are “okay” (a “C” or “C-”). That’s not saying much, as any other average period game sans a movie/comic brand name would be just as worthwhile, if not more so, to pursue. That’s the secret to making a “successful” movie-tie-in video game: copy an existing formula, dress it up with the movie’s trappings, ideally make it play “okay” and there you go. The movie/brand name moguls make a quick buck for the shitload of fuck, the public eats it up, and everybody is happy…
…except for the Angry Video Game Nerd!