Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Cheats & Cheat Codes for NES, Nintendo Switch, and More

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja is a 1988 side-scrolling beat-’em-up developed by Data East and published by Imagine Software, Namco, Ocean Software, and Majesco Entertainment worldwide. The game was originally released in arcades but made its way to homes via a host of platforms, including the Commodore 64, NES, and DOS, among others. In later years, it would eventually come to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

The home release of Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja released mixed reviews when compared to the positive reception of its arcade alternative. However, it remained a broad financial success across all platforms, although again, it was the arcade version that led the pack here.

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Premise

The main appeal of Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja is that it allows cooperative play, allowing two players to take on the role of the “Bad Dudes” at the same time. Both characters, Blade and Striker, have the same moveset, mostly comprised of basic punches and kicks. However, you can charge some moves, resulting in more damage toward enemies, although most are defeated with one or two hits. Throughout each level, you’ll pick up power-ups, each having a different effect on combat. Whereas some will be new weapons, others will give a boost to your health or the time remaining.

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja has a bunch of different enemy types, giving each combat encounter a unique flavor. Some charge straight at you, others jump, and some are even on fire. They approach from all directions on the screen, so you’ve got to keep your wits about you to ensure you don’t get a nasty surprise. Each level has boss encounter, too. Again, these bosses have methods of attack to ensure that players are approaching it differently from the rest of the combat encounters in the game. They’ve even got unique special attacks that you won’t see anywhere else in the game.

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Main Characters

Above all else, Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja is incredibly tongue-in-cheek. You can’t take it seriously at all, and that much is obvious from its first cutscene. After all, in what other game can you share a hamburger with President Ronald Reagan?

The characters in Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja are very much caricatures. There’s no effect made to actually characterize them in any substantial way, and that’s okay! It’s just not that type of game at all. Importantly, it keeps its main cast small, so you’re never deviating away from the important characters.

• Blade and Striker: Blade and Striker are the main duo in Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja. They’re a pair of street brawlers who are enlisted by the Secret Service to save President Ronnie from the grasp of the Dragon Ninja.
• President Ronnie: President Ronnie, who, for legal reasons, is absolutely not the 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan, has been kidnapped by a team of ninjas, and The Bad Dudes must team up to save him.
• Dragon Ninja: The evil Dragon Ninja is the leader of the ninjas who has captured President Ronnie. He’s the main antagonist of the game, as well as the final boss players have to face.

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Titles in the Series

Despite the financial success of Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja, the game never received a sequel. Developer Data East was a studio that specialized in arcade machines, focusing on pure volume above all else. For context, in the year of Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja‘s release, Data East released six other titles, with only one part of a franchise (RoboCop). Franchises just weren’t really their thing, instead with a heavy focus on original titles.

It just seems as though the franchise potential of Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja was drowned out in the sea of releases, which is a huge shame. With Data East closing its doors for the last time back in 2003, it isn’t even clear who owns the rights to it at this point. Because of this, it just seems like it might be too much of a hassle to revive the franchise at this point, especially as we approach the 40th anniversary of its release.

• Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja (1988)

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Cheat Codes

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja has a small selection of cheat codes that you can enter, and some are only specific to a certain platform. You can enter these using the codes below:

But that’s not all. If you’re playing the NES version of Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja on an emulator, you can also enter Game Genie codes. This set of codes is much more versatile than the base game codes, opening up a world of possibilities for cheats in Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja.

You can enter these codes by finding the Cheats section of your NES emulator. Again, it has to be the NES version of the game, as the other versions won’t work.

Here are the Game Genie cheats for Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja:

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Game Genie Cheats

Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Cheat Code FAQ

What is the Invincibility Cheat in Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja?

The invincibility cheat in this game can only be done via a Game Genie cheat. To use it, simply enter the code “APEETPEY” into the Cheats section of your emulator.

How Do You Get Infinite Time in Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja?

There’s two ways that you can do this. The first way is to enter the code “POKE 33357,173.” However, this can only be done on the Commodore 64 version of the game.

If you’re playing on an NES emulator, you can instead enter the Game Genie code “SGVYOUVK.” Both of these codes will give you infinite time on every level in Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja.

Does Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja Have Achievements?

It does, but only on one very specific version. If you picked up the PlayStation 4 version, then there’s an extremely small set of trophies you can earn in Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja. Strangely, the Xbox Arcade version that was released near the same time didn’t feature achievements.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Screenshot from Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja..