Rise of the Dragon

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Description

The year is 2053, and Los Angeles has turned into a grim place ruled by crime and corruption. William 'Blade' Hunter is a private detective who once was a police officer. He is asked to investigate a horrible murder of the mayor's daughter, whose body was mutilated. As Hunter begins to search for clues that would help him solve the crime, he uncovers a conspiracy involving a deadly drug and a powerful criminal syndicate behind it.

Rise of the Dragon is a futuristic first-person adventure game. The game's visuals are reminiscent of a comic book, with digitized photos of actors and hand-painted backgrounds. Unlike most other adventure games of the time, it relies less on inventory puzzles and more on specific choices made by the player. The game has an internal clock and requires the player to plan the protagonist's moves ahead in order to be in the right place at the right time. Dialogues with multiple choices are utilized as a gameplay tool; a wrong choice will often lead to a premature end of the adventure.

There are two side-scrolling action sequences in the game; both can be bypassed without penalty if the player character dies several times in a row. The Sega CD version does not allow the player to skip these sequences. In addition, it uses a different color palette with a greenish tint, and has voice-overs for the dialogues.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "RoTD" -- Common abbreviation
• "Rise of the Dragon: A Blade Hunter Mystery" -- referenced on the manual cover
• "Blade Hunter: Rise of the Dragon" -- Working title

Part of the Following Groups

• Dynamix Game Development System (DGDS) games
• Gameplay feature: Multiple endings
• Physical Bonus Content: Comic
• Setting: City - Los Angeles

User Reviews

Hey, have you forgotten your key again?!..	DOS	Unicorn Lynx (181593)
Dark Sci-Fi Crime thriller with some mature content	SEGA CD	Dbchannel (118)
Tech-Noir	DOS	Zovni (10638)
Novel story-telling technique + clichéd story = above average game.	DOS	RussS (819)
You're so... green	SEGA CD	Katakis | カタキス (41332)
One interactive Sci-Fi novel that wont leave you untouched	Amiga	Birjer Rosenkrantz (4)
The future doesn't look good for LA	DOS	Katakis | カタキス (41332)
An immersive world that completely captures your interest without frustrating your intellect.	DOS	Trixter (9114)
Not as good as it claims to be	DOS	Boston Low (93)
Better and Worse than the DOS version	SEGA CD	Jessie Cook (24)

Critic Reviews

Amiga Format	Amiga	Oct, 1991	86 out of 100	86
ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)	DOS	Mar, 1991	850 out of 1000	85
Sega-16.com	SEGA CD	Oct 13, 2005	8 out of 10	80
Play Time	DOS	Apr, 1991	79 out of 100	79
Game Informer Magazine	SEGA CD	Mar, 2003	7.75 out of 10	78
Game Players	SEGA CD	Jun, 1994	77 out of 100	77
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)	SEGA CD	Jun, 1994	38 out of 50	76
Mega Play Magazine	SEGA CD	Jul, 1994	72 out of 100	72
HonestGamers (Staff reviews only)	SEGA CD	Jan 20, 2007	4 out of 10	40
Mega Fun	SEGA CD	Apr, 1994	35 out of 100	35

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Trivia

Development

Rise of the Dragon appears to have been coded in Turbo C++.

Messages

Messages hidden in the main executable:

Boy, am I tired. Better get some sleep in about an hour.

You have chosen to run the game with only %s bytes of memory! You are on your own! (this is presumably when the user has decided to run the game without enough free DOS memory available)

References

• One of the patrons in the Pleasure dome is named "FU BAR".
• David Wolf makes an appearance outside the Pleasure Dome--he strolls past in a tuxedo if you wait long enough. (David Wolf was the main hero of Dynamix's earlier game David Wolf: Secret Agent.)
• In Heart of China, another game from Dynamix, if you talk to some people in Ho's bar, some people will say "Bahumat lives!". A reference to the main villain in Rise of the Dragon.

SEGA CD version

The Sega CD has automatically-converted graphics from the 256-color originals, but (probably due to the Sega's limited color palette and palette restrictions) everything has a green cast. Check screenshots for comparison. Also some things were cut from the game: an ammo clip besides a telephone, all but one strippers in the bar and a sequence in which the protagonist has sex.

Versions

Rise of the Dragon was released in two separate packages for the PC: A 256-color VGA/MCGA version that took up about 7 megabytes, and an EGA/CGA version that, understandably, took up half that size. The 16-color EGA version, on the other hand, has mostly redrawn graphics based on the 256-color originals.

Awards

• Computer Gaming World
  • November 1991 (Issue #88) – Special Award for Artistic Achievement
  • November 1996 (15th Anniversary Issue) - #83 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
  • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #12 Most Innovative Computer Game

Information also contributed by PCGamer77

Related Web Sites

• Game Nostalgia (Provides extensive background info for Rise of the Dragon, pictures of the cast, full credits with shots and info about the design team, specific details about the game, various goodies, all musical themes, shots of every location in the game, saved games, a list of reviews, including a "nostalgic "review and tech specs.)