Defenders of Dynatron City (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
206A playthrough of JVC's 1992 NES game, Defenders of Dynatron City.
I have to admit, I was shocked when I first played Defenders of Dynatron City (years after its release) at how poorly it played. Having been not just been developed by Lucasfilm Games (it wasn't LucasArts yet), but having it lead by Gary Winnick (co-creator of Maniac Mansion) and Steve Purcell (wrote the Sam & Max comic and worked on graphics for many of LucasArts hits) really did instill a fair amount of excitement and expectation.
It looks fine - the backgrounds are all well detailed and clear, everything is defined well and some of it looks pretty cool, and the storyline behind it was alright (even if the comic and show fell flat on their faces), but after that?
Ugh. The hit detection is hit-or-miss at best and the controls are sloppy at best. It's not a terribly difficult game, and it has a lot of style. I still dig it, but the experience with controller in hand leaves a bit to be desired. I still like the game quite a bit for the really good ideas at work here, and I find it pretty enjoyable, but this should have been so much better.
And what's up with the music? It sounds initially a fair amount like the music in the NES version of Maniac Mansion, but it's.... not good. Maniac's music was pretty damned good, but this one tends to grate. Especially at that awful noise in the sewer stage when the Leatherhead-wannabes start beating their chests. Did it really have to sound so much like an emergency alarm?
So, all in all, I'd still love to love this game, but I can really only muster like. It's not bad, but it's obvious unfulfilled potential does leave a bit of a sour taste.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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