On the Third Day of Die Hard, My True Love Gave To Me...

After two solid games in the Dynamite Deka series – both Die Hard Arcade and Dynamite Cop if you want to go with the English titles for them – Sega let the series take a break for a time. Although it’s hard to know the exact reasoning for why the company paused after two official games, there was a nearly ten year gap in the series after the first sequel came out. Possibly the second game didn’t meet their sales expectations, or the team simply wanted a break before putting out a third game. Whatever the case, it wasn’t until 2007 that a third Dynamite Deka title came along to delight fans in arcades.

Although, calling it a sequel would be a bit of a misnomer. While it certainly dresses the part, putting the action in Japan and letting the player pick from three characters (two of whom were new to the series), the game itself plays, for huge stretches, like a carbon copy of the second title. Dynamite Deka EX: Asian Dynamite is more like a remake-quel, part sequel and part remake, although it does lean heavily on the remake side of the equation if you’re paying attention.

At first glance, though, this does seem like a new game. Hero cop Bruno Delinger (our Bruce Willis stand-in from the first game’s Japanese release, as well as its sequel) is joined by Caroline Powel and Jennifer Genuine in a mission to take on Wolf Hongo once again. Hongo and his men have taken over a building in Japan (the exact location isn’t noted, but we can assume it’s some fictionalized version of Tokyo), and the three cops have to bust in and save the day. And while they’re at it, they need to save the President’s daughter once more (maybe the same girl, maybe a different one, but she still needs saving). The fate of Japan is in the hands of these cops, and they’ll stop at nothing to get the job done.

Like with the second game, Dynamite Deka EX: Asian Dynamite opens with a choice of approach. You can parachute into the building, attack it from the ground (via rickshaw, of all things), or you can get into the building by scuba diving in through the sewers. Each mission sets up a different early section of the game to explore, with differing encounters and zones to work through. But once you get deep enough into the game, the paths converge and you head into a fairly linear back half that, for fans of the second game, is going to seem pretty familiar.

This game is, in large part, a carbon copy of the previous title. I have no doubt that the development team at Sega had the source code for the second game and reused it, touching up the graphics some (although not a lot as this game doesn’t seem as pretty or polished as a title from 2007 should) but keeping the levels almost exactly the same. It’s hard to notice at first since the stage graphics are so different, but certain set pieces will stick out to you as the game progresses, and once you see it you can’t unsee it.

As one example, there’s a section in the second game where you battle some dudes in the deepest level of the ship, fighting them with rockets and missiles. This then leads to a battle against a kraken, which is followed by a quick time event where you have to dodge boats while you swim in the water. Eventually you make it to an island and have to rescue the boat’s captain, who then is revealed to be a terrorist all along when he tries to kill you. All of this happens in the EX version, just with a slightly different look to it. The kraken, for example, is replaced with a giant statue, but it attacks the same and it even summons little minions (snakes instead of squids) as well. There’s then a swimming section after where you go through the sewers and avoid boats. Hell, there’s even a fight to save a random captain and then he tries to betray you. Beat for beat, the games use the same set pieces.

Which is fine enough, I guess, since that second title was pretty good. Doing it all again, with maybe some slight tweaks and changes, doesn’t really ruin the gameplay experience. It does leave you feeling like things are maybe a little too familiar, and that keeps the game back from true greatness, but it doesn’t make it an entirely terrible experience. Plenty of games play like their predecessors and we still like them. Sega was maybe just a little too blatant about the reuse this time around.

There are some things that are changed up, though, and that makes the game feel like more than just a warmed over redo. Aside from the graphics, which are different this time around, we also have new upgrades: character costumes. Each of the three main characters has their own fighting style and set of moves, but they also can pick up suitcases with new costumes in them. These costumes change how the characters fight and gives them new powers and move sets. Each character has three costumes they can get, each specific to them, ranging from demons to hopping vampires, goddesses and American wrestlers, and more.

If this all sounds incredibly ridiculous, well, it is. That’s kind of the point. The first game in the series was a very loose, pretty silly interpretation of Die Hard, and the games have only gotten weirder and sillier from there. Dynamite Deka EX: Asian Dynamite simply cranks that silliness even higher up, not only having weird setpieces and strange enemies to fight, but now also letting the heroes get in on the campy action as well. Honestly, I appreciate it, as much for giving the players variety as for simply not taking anything too seriously.

If there is one thing this game does take seriously, though, it’s the difficulty. It doesn’t start off too bad, with the enemies coming in ones and twos and the heroes able to handle them easily enough. The costumes add to the relative lack of difficulty as, at the start of the game, the costume changes also give characters back their health, leading to very few deaths if players are judicious about their costume pickups. As the game goes on, though, the enemies get tougher, showing up in larger packs, and the costume changes stop bestowing health refills. By the time you get to the (admittedly reused) final boss fight, you’re getting utterly destroyed any time the enemy lands an attack, and your costumes barely last at all before they’re discarded. It’s a rough and tumble game meant to do one thing: steal your money once you get invested in seeing it through.

But that’s the arcade experience. Dynamite Deka EX: Asian Dynamite is exactly what fans of the game would want: more action and silliness, all piled onto a (somewhat) fresh package. Sadly the title didn’t seem to do well during its initial release as Sega never bothered porting it from arcades to home consoles. It also never left Japan, making it the rarest game in the series, and the hardest one to play now. But that doesn’t stop it from being something of a charmer. Sure, it’s a bit of a redo of a game fans already had played, but it’s got style and silliness and just enough new ideas to make it feel somewhat interesting again. It’s a shame it was left to rot in arcades, but if you can find it (or emulate it) you’ll find a lot to love in this remake-quel’s package.