Dick Tracy

Moby ID: 17434
SEGA Master System Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/24 3:57 PM )
See Also

Description official description

This is one of the games based on the Dick Tracy movie. You are Dick Tracy, a police detective who enjoys a peaceful life with his wife. But his wife's father is murdered by a local gangster named Big Boy Caprice, and Dick Tracy is now out for revenge. The game doesn't follow the exact plot of the movie, but simply lets Dick Tracy fight his way through several levels until he faces his archenemy.

This is a platform shooter/"beat-'em-up" game. Plenty of gunmen will attack our hero from all the sides. Dick can only move to the right or to the left. He can use his pistol gun to take out enemies who are in front or behind him. Since he can't approach enemies who attack from the depth of the screen, he can dispose of them using his machine gun. When the enemy is too close, Dick will punch him instead of shooting.

Spellings

  • ディックトレイシー - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Credits (Genesis version)

Programmer

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 70% (based on 25 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.1 out of 5 (based on 24 ratings with 2 reviews)

Shoot first, ask questions later.

The Good
First of all, the graphics are pretty descent so there are no complaints there and they really shine during the enjoyable one-frame comic book style cut-scenes. The music is o.k. but it can get old after playing for a little while. Dick Tracy has got probably one of the more enjoyable 2-D side scrolling shooting interfaces I've played, once you get used to switching from your side-scrolling pistol to your "shoot the background" machine-gun. It gets quite fun as you go crazy with the "Say hello to my little friend!" style machine gunning. Not to mention a great "ahead of it's time" background and scenery destruction. If you get bored of killing off Big Boy's henchmen then you can always go nuts on shooting out windows, blasting hundreds of bullet holes into cars and plenty more gun-toting mayhem.

The Bad
When I switched on Dick Tracy I was looking for some good ol' fashion Detective work, well, you'll find none of that here in this game. It's just another linear side scroller. Another disappointing feature is the bland bonus round - it's fun the first time but gets old really quickly. Probably my biggest beef with this game is the fact that Dick Tracy cannot run. Hurry up Dick, Hurry! But really, it can make the game seem really slow at times. Run, Dick!

The Bottom Line
If you like side-scrollers or old-school shoot-em-ups or even if your into Double Dragon-esque beat'em ups then I would recommend this to you. It's a descent game.

Genesis · by smelly_fish_fart (5) · 2007

Guns Don't Kill People, Dick Tracy Kills People!

The Good
Dick Tracy for the Sega Genesis (or the PAL Mega Drive) successfully recreates the sights and sounds of the 1930s, as imagined in the Dick Tracy comics as well as the Dick Tracy movie that had been theatrically released a year earlier in 1990.

The player takes control of famous, trench coat-wearing, plainclothes detective with one basic goal in mind; find and bring down the nefarious criminal kingpin known as, Big Boy.

Forget about cerebral, sleuthing or Constitutional due process! This detective has been given a license to commit widespread vandalism and mass murder in order to uphold law and order.

To accomplish this goal, Dick Tracy has to shoot and punch his way through several, colorful, urban levels, each with an army of number of heavily armed, criminal thugs.

Sprinkled throughout the game are some familiar comic book criminals acting as end-of-the-level bosses; Itchy, The Brow, Lips Manlis, Pruneface and Flattop. After bringing these big name criminals down, you find the location of the Big Boy himself.

Naturally, the city's police would never dream of sending their top notch detective on such a dangerous mission without the proper weapons.

Dick Tracy can take out bad guys with his trusty fists and a nice little pistol. For enemies and property in the background, Mr. Tracy has access to a Tommy gun.

In addition to high body count, Dick Tracy also has the ability to vandalize property, i.e. windows, fire hydrants and street lights.

If you avoid hitting any of the property, you can earn some bonus points, which, along with a shooting gallery bonus round help to break up the side-scrolling action.

Most of the time Dick Tracy is slowly walking from the start to the finish of a level. Luckily, a few levels switch up the action by having you take control of the detective during a high-speed police chase.

The game play mechanics are responsive and easy to pick up.

Hit detection in the game seems reasonable and, yes, there is certainly something undeniable fun about waging a one- man war against crime, albeit colorful comic book crime.

The Bad
Dick Tracy – the video game – much like the 1990 feature film of the same name choose to set everything in the colorful, Hollywoodized 1930s.

To some extent this makes sense, and I can see the rationale behind it, but it does mean that the video game and feature film have little to do with the Dick Tracy comic book franchise as it had developed in the 1960s – 1980s.

Dick Tracy befriended, hi-tech extraterrestrials in the 1960s, got a hippie sidekick in the 1970s, and worked with a top-notch, black, female police officer in the 1980s.

Tracy and his diverse group of friends had marriages, dealt with triumph and tragedy in their own lives and were much more developed characters – by 1990 – then was seen in the video game or the film feature.

Don't get me wrong. Dick Tracy is a fun, action-packed game to play on the Sega Genesis. However, much like the Dick Tracy movie, it is presents a narrow, somewhat dated, window into the popular franchise.

The game has nice intermissions sequences to help move the story along, but their just isn't much in the way of story to use, much less move around.

The bosses in the game are, generally, well designed. Although, one end-of-the-level bosses was incredible wimpy and went down with one punch.

Last, but not least, Dick Tracy is one of the slowest moving video game character around. If their was every a game that needed the ability to walk and run, this is it.



The Bottom Line
Dick Tracy recreates the colorful, comic book sights and sounds of the franchise, albeit in its early days.

It is set in the 1930s, much like the feature film. Although the game borrows little from the film's plot, except the final battle with Big Boy, and is a pretty straight-forward, side-scrolling, arcade game.

Dick Tracy is fun to play, which is probably the most important thing in any video game. It is easy to pick up the game's controls and, did I mention that you got a kick-ass, Tommy gun at your disposal? Heck, where else can you play a detective armed with a Tommy gun and a license to destroy property and kill anything that moves?

Genesis · by ETJB (428) · 2014

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Dick Tracy: The Crime-Solving Adventure
Released 1991 on DOS, Amiga
Dick Wilde
Released 2017 on Windows, PlayStation 4
Moby Dick
Released 2010 on Browser
Moby Dick
Released 1983 on Commodore 64
Dick Wilde 2
Released 2018 on Windows, 2019 on PlayStation 4
Moby Dick / Diver
Released 1984 on VIC-20
Dick Marcinko: Rogue Warrior
Released 2009 on Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
PAIN: Andy Dick Pack
Released 2009 on PlayStation 3
The Chronicles of Quiver Dick
Released 2018 on Windows

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 17434
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Unicorn Lynx.

SEGA Master System added by Игги Друге.

Additional contributors: j.raido 【雷堂嬢太朗】, Jo ST.

Game added April 20, 2005. Last modified January 27, 2024.