Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja - Ports and Related Releases

Ports and Related Releases

The game was ported to several home systems, including the Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX and PC DOS in 1988 with the help of Imagine Software. On July 14, 1989, a NES/Famicom port was developed by Sakata SAS and published in Japan by Namco as DragonNinja. In North America, the same version was released the same year by Data East USA simply as Bad Dudes. In Europe, it was released in 1990 by Ocean Software as Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja. The arcade version is also featured, along with several other Data East arcade games, on the Wii title Data East Arcade Classics, produced by Majesco Entertainment with permission from G-Mode.

The 8-bit versions, including the PC version which was technically 16-bit, lacked the two-player cooperative mode, instead having an alternating two-player mode. The title screen of the Japanese version became different, while the English version's was unchanged. The Secret Service agent's quote at the intro screen to the NES version was phrased slightly differently as "The President has been kidnapped by ninjas. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the President?", while the Famicom counterpart's quote was slightly similar to the international arcade and NES quotes. The reference to President Ronnie was removed because Nintendo of America did not allow political content in games. In that version, the President bears a resemblance to George H. W. Bush, who was president when the NES version was released. The endings of the Japanese and English language versions of the NES port are based on the international arcade version; however, the Japanese version, does not show the credits but only shows "The End" at the White House scene and lasts a shorter time than the English version. The 8-bit home computer versions lacked the intro from either the arcade or the NES versions. The "I'm bad!" speech was only present in the NES version; however, it does not sound identical to its arcade counterpart.

Karnov, the titular character of another Data East arcade game, made a cameo appearance as the game's first boss. The background music during the fight with him pays homage to the main theme in Karnov as well. The NES instruction manual claims the reason Karnov is working with the "ninjas" is a mystery. The titular character of another Data East arcade game Chelnov can be seen being transported in a frozen container on a freight train in the arcade version of Bad Dudes Vs. Dragon Ninja.