Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy
Download Dick Tracy and step into the shoes of the iconic detective! Solve puzzling cases, fight notorious criminals, and restore justice to the city. Grab your fedora and play now!
a game by Sega, Bandai, and BlueSky Software, Inc.
Genres: Action, Adventure/RPG, Shooting Games, Platformer
Platforms: Sega GenesisGenesis, Sega Master SystemSega Master System, NESNES, GameBoy
Editor Rating: 6.3/10, based on 12 reviews
User Rating: 6.0/10 - 3 votes
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See also: Movie-Based Games
Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy
Dick Tracy

"I'm on my way." If you can identify that quote, we can't promise you a spot in the hall of fame, but we can promise that you're in tune with one of the hottest, hippest characters in town. The name's Dick Tracy to be exact, and this mild mannered crime-stopper turned star via Bandai is up to his Fedora in trouble. Faced with five major cases, Dick's going to need more than the average safe cracker to bust this game open wide and make a clean sweep of the city crime-grime.

Mellow Yellow

A thriving metropolis filled with an impressive gang of hoodlums forms the backdrop for all D.T.'s cases. The saga begins with a case called "The Bogus Bucks" (could this be counterfeit?!), and it sends Dick on a mad dash through the city in search of pertinent clues. Before peeling out in his Dick Tracy mobile, he needs to take a quick breeze through a book of mug-shots, which contains a brief history on their criminal past as well as the name and address of the last place they were seen.

ProTips:

  • Rooftop snipers take pot-shots at the D.T. mobile while he motors through the streets. Although Dick can shoot from his car, unfortunately it isn't impervious to gunfire, and it win almost certainly be "curtains" for Dicky boy if he stays behind the wheel. The best move is to get him out of the car (by pressing Select) and over to the protection of a corner or side of a building. Now, D.T. can run out, lire, and then return to the relative safety provided by the buildings.
  • Watch out for safes that mysteriously fly out of windows while you're inside the 7th and E nightclub.
  • If Dick's health meter is riding on near empty (half a badge or less), duck into a police station for up to one whole badge of fresh energy.

Watch Out for the "Stoolies"

Seedy dockyards, warehouses, factories, and sleazy nightclubs are a few of the joints Dick must scope-out for clues. Stay alert, these places are infested with more than just wharf-rats. Make a thorough search of the building and you'll eventually come across a clue or the ugly mug Dick's been lookin' for.

  • You may mot to keep a pen and paper handy to jot down information you get during an interrogation as Dick doesn't record any of it in his notebook.
  • Avoid a belly lull of lead by simply learning the hoods' shot patterns. Some will squat as they fire (they won't alter their stance), while others stand. Once you know that much, you can simply have him jump over or duck under the bullets.

Stewed Pruneface

If all goes well and Dick collects the necessary clues plus avoids making one too many false arrests, he'll be able to nab the culprit, put them in the slammer, and then move onto one of the four remaining cases "A Bang Up Job," "Torchsong Tale," "Bank's A-Lot," and the "Kidnap Caper."

Three false arrests will lose you the game. Hint: Guilty people give great clam imitations. Press on for more evidence before you let Dick make an official arrest.

Dick Tracy is quite a colorful character, indeed. Though this game isn't feverishly high on the action gage, it keeps in sync with Dick's true-blue non-violent personality, and it really makes you use your noodle during your investigations. So, if you like a game with a blend of shoot'em-up and thinking, hit the town with Dick Tracy.

Download Dick Tracy

Genesis

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • Game modes: Single game mode

Player controls:

  • Up, Down, Left, Right - Arrow keys
  • Start - Enter (Pause, Menu select, Skip intro, Inventory)
  • "A" Gamepad button - Ctrl (usually Jump or Change weapon)
  • "B" button - Space (Jump, Fire, Menu select)
  • "C" button - Left Shift (Item select)

Use the F12 key to toggle mouse capture / release when using the mouse as a controller.

Sega Master System

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
NES

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • P-200, 32 MB RAM
Gameboy

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP

Game Reviews

As Dick Tracy sits quietly at his desk in his office, the peaceful silence is rudely interrupted with the familiar voice that he has heard so many times before over his wrist radio. It's the sound of trouble - the radio dispatcher is calling Tracy back to work. This time he senses that it is real bad news and in an instant he hears that all his fears have been turned into reality! Big Boy Caprice is our on a rampage with his gang of thugs - Itchy, Flattop, Cueball and all the rest. You know what to do, get the scoop from Breathless Mahoney and hit the streets with your tommy gun in hand. Blow away the bad guys so you can get to, then eliminate, the gang leaders at the end of each round. Rest during the intermissions between levels and build up points by shooting the targets during the bonus rounds.

Sega puts you in the shoes of the comic book detective as he fights his way through the underworld to locate the big name Bosses of big time crime. Scrolling action comprises the bulk of this title, with the goons split between two streets for both side-to-side and straight-on gun fights. In between levels you can refine your skills in the shooting gallery bonus rooms.

People say:

5.0

Dick Tracy didn't really live up to my expectations. The game is repetitive, with the side-to-side shooting become pretty boring from the start. Being able to interact with everything is cool, but that gets old after a few plays as well. Bonus rooms don't save this big name game.

6.0

For a while Dick Tracy is fun to play but that fun turns to more of the same thing way too soon. It plays well but there should have been more variety. Decent graphics and great machine gun sounds are offset by a shallow game covered up by a big name movie.

7.0

A bit more colorful than the movie and a lot more fun. What the Genesis needs is more action games and Tracy delivers. It plays a lot like E-SWAT, but the similarities end when you pull out your Tommygun and mow down the thugs across the street. Slightly repetitive, but good.

7.0

Dick Tracy is welcome surprise to the Genesis. Watching the animation sequences and bonus rounds makes me feel like I'm right there in Tracy's shoes. The only thing Dick Tracy lacks is variety to compliment the excellent graphics and great sounds. Nice try, gang!

Rogue police detective Dick Tracy has a problem and that problem is crime. This is no faceless villain either, but instead a well organized group of misfits out to stop the police force no matter what the cost.

Led by a ruthless mastermind and his group of oddball mobsters such as Flat Top, Itchy and The Brow, Dick Tracy's peaceful surroundings have been turned into a war zone. Gangsters roam the streets, spraying machine gun fire in all directions, while their Bosses hideout in different parts of town.

Dick Tracy uses elements from several different types of games to bring the comic book action to life. Each round features interaction on two separate levels. Not only does Dick Tracy fight, with pistol in hand, against crooks walking the same streets as himself, he can also open up with his Tommy Gun to take out bad guys shooting from the opposite side of the road. This dual interaction helps break up the action between two different locations on the screen, adding a new type of challenge to the typical side-scrolling action/adventure theme.

Besides boasting an intriguing new play concept, Dick Tracy on the Sega Genesis also retains many of the conventional features of action titles. Among these items you'll quickly discover common round definition that has Tracy venturing through a scrolling playfield of danger right up to a face-to-face confrontation with one of the Bosses that populate the game. New strategies must be employed at these junctions in the game to overcome stronger opponents to gain the right to move to more difficult stages.

Action fans may find the assortment of special power-ups to be few and far between, but the game makes good use out of the script that it is given. The level of interaction that Dick Tracy enjoys is much higher than in most games of this type, with nearly everything in the backgrounds capable of being blown away by the detective's fierce firepower. Dick Tracy takes its comic book material and turns it into an intense blast-em-up free-for-all!

Based on the popular summer movie set in the roaring 20's you, as the machine gun toting peace officer, must singlehandedly take on all of the gangs which are trying to control the city. Shoot your way through this side scrolling action as you encounter thugs and gangsters who are after the money from the contract put on your head by the mob!.

  • Manufacturer: SEGA
  • Machine: Sega Genesis

It's more than just a game, it's a piece of history. Over 50 years ago, little boys ran around playing Dick Tracy on their front steps, flashing their official Dick Tracy wrist radios and pretending to shoot up Flattop, Itchy and other creepy, grotesque characters. Now the little boys have become fathers and grandfathers, and the front steps have been replaced by the TV screen.

Sounds charming, doesn't it? But hold everything, this is not the Dick Tracy of 1931. It's not even the Dick Tracy of 1990's comic strips. In fact, Chester Gould might not recognize his square-jawed flatfoot at all. Why? Because this game is not based on the comic strip, it's based on the movie. It's so far removed from the genuine item that those who remember the real Tracy will be shocked at how bland, violent and unimaginative he's become - not to mention the fact that he now looks like Warren Beatty. Even fans of the film version may be disappointed, since the villains in the game are nothing like the larger-than-life weirdoes of the film version.

The name of this episode is "a dynamite case". Big Boy is the mastermind behind the operation, and all the other villains guest star as the various bosses of each level. As Tracy, you're equipped with a killer pair of fists, a pistol and a machine gun. You walk or ride shotgun through each level, jumping over the obstacles as the streets, warehouses, railyards and other Chicago scenery scrolls by. Your mission: kill everything that moves (there are no innocent bystanders). If your foe is ahead of you or behind you, use your pistol; if they're across the street, your machine gun is the weapon of choice. Run out of ammo and you simply punch them to death. Simple.

Oh, there are a few little twists, like extra points if you avoid breaking windows (a very difficult task). In fact, one of the coolest things about the game is your ability to do some serious rearrangement of the scenery with your machine gun: shattering whole building facades, reducing phone booths to rubble, turning hardtops into convertibles and more. Between levels there are bonus rounds that give you practice distinguishing friends from enemies, but since there are no friends in the rest of the game, file that information away in your Crimestopper's Textbook. You also have to learn how to jump and duck to dodge enemy fire, knives, falling beams and so on.

The bosses are definitely persistent. They run back and forth across the street. You shoot one with a machine gun, he plays dead for a few seconds, gets up and runs around some more. Eventually, you wear his life line down and he dies. But wait - there's a brief cartoon panel showing you packing him off to the Big House. Apparently your 25 bursts of machine-gun fire just injured him a little!

The graphics are colorful, simplistic and at times repetitive (Level 1, Area A looks exactly like Level 3, Area A, and so on). The non-animated cartoon panels are primitive. Tracy's animation is also stiff and without style, but the car sequences are nicely done, with large, smoothly animated cars and nary a flicker anywhere. The music is average, but the sounds of gunfire, breaking glass, explosions and so on are solid and realistic.

Though the game has some interesting sequences and a few challenging areas, it's unimaginative, uninventive and not up to the standards of the better Genesis titles. Give it an "R" for rental.

  • Machine: Nintendo

Crack crime-fighter Dick Tracy is certain that Big Boy Caprice is behind the city's current crime wave, but proving it and putting him behind bars is going to be tough.

In Dick Tracy, loosely based on last summer's movie, you don the ace detective's yellow trench coat and hit the streets in search of bad guys. If you can solve a series of five crimes, you'll have all the cold, hard evidence you need to put Big Boy away.

The game has three different kinds of screens: overhead views of the city streets, side views of buildings, and information screens. The info screens include a notepad and a mug book, and you can call them up from any police station in the city.

When the game begins, the notepad lists the crime you're currently investigating and any clues you've uncovered. When the notebook is full, you've collected enough evidence to arrest the prime suspect and advance to the next investigation.

If you're having trouble with a case, open the mug book for profiles on Big Boy's known accomplices and the locations where they were last seen. It might help you analyze a clue or find a criminal.

When you're ready to hit the pavement, the game shifts to an overhead view of the city. Sometimes you'll find yourself pursuing criminals' cars through the streets. You have to riddle the cars with at least two dozen shots to stop them, but be careful. If your car is hit by too much return fire, you'll be pulled off the case.

The game switches to a side view when you enter a building. You'll confront hostile dogs, rats, and bad guys. You can fire on the gun-toting criminals, but if you blast an unarmed bad guy, you'll lose one badge of energy. You begin each case with four badges.

When you clear an area of thugs, you'll find evidence pointing to a suspect you must interrogate. When you arrest the guilty criminal, he's locked behind bars and you get the first clue for the next crime.

Dick Tracy is an action-adventure game that's a step above the average shoot-em-up. The graphics are crisp and clean - if a bit repetitious - and the crime-solving puzzles add a nice twist to the usual kill-or-be-killed cops and robbers game.

  • Levels: 6
  • Theme: Action
  • Players: 1-2
  • Difficulty: Average

Based on the movie, Dick Tracy is out to defeat the mobsters Flattop, Pruneface, and the other criminals who are planning to take over the city. Use your machine gun for protection.

Tess Trueheart has been kidnapped! It's up to you, Dick Tracy, to rescue her! All of the original enemies and character are back in this GameBoy version.

Ever wanted to join your favorite comic heroes am cartoon characters in their wild and crazy adventures? Here's your chance! Check out these rad video games featuring famous dudes and dudettes from comic and 'toons.

Dick Tracy made his debut on newspaper funny pages way back in the 1930's when "Pretty Boy" referred to a gangster named Floyd not Warren Beatty. Although this good-looking, single-player Genesis copper game from Sega is closer to the 1990 movie than the comic, it still pits Tracy against his classic criminal counterparts including The Brow, Itchy, and the infamous Big Boy. You get six stages, three scenes each, of take-no-prisoners shoot-em-up action. However, if you're gonna walk around in a yellow coat with matching hat, you'd better be tough, and although Tracy's definitely no pushover he isn't going to knock you outta your socks either.

Scene of the Crime

Tracy features a unique gameplaying perspective that makes you shoot long distance as well as up close. The action scrolls horizontally as Tracy marches along the sidewalk or drives through the streets. Mobsters sneak in from the left and the right of the screen, but some open fire from "across the street" that is, towards the top of the screen.

ProTip: During the car chase, shoot mobsters as they peer out car windows before they lire back.

To fend off the mobsters you've got standard issue weapons, a knockout punch and a pistol. But to hit the goons across the street, you whip out an awesome tummy gun with unlimited ammo. Hold down the fire button and you see bullet holes rake across the buildings, shatter windows, and pop fire hydrants. The high degree of interactivity makes you want to blast everything in sight just to see what happens.

When you run into a crowd, know who to shoot first. Mobsters dressed in yellow are more accurate than those in blue. Snipers in elevated positions pull the trigger before gunmen on the ground.

The gun fighting gets heavy but just short of intense. The downside is Tracy's poky-paced walking; it'll drive the impatient crazy.

Listen carefully during Stage 3 and you'll hear the Brow set his bombs before he appears.

Survive the shootout and you get a fun Bonus Stage shooting gallery where you try to hit the hoods and not the civilians.

An Open and Shut Case

Dick Tracy seems simplistic at first, but give it time and it grows on you. However, hardcore fans of lone lawman shoot-em-ups might prefer to step into the future with ESWAT. It's more challenging with snazzier graphics, rougher bad guys, and tougher boss stages. And, no, Madonna doesn't make an appearance here.

Things are looking pretty sticky for old Tricky Dick. Dick Tracy that is, the slick detective of comic strip -- and soon to be movie star-(via Warren Beatty) fame. Now, the saga has gone one step further and Old D.T. is on top of everything else, game for the Nintendo. No joke! You as detective Dick Tracy in this one player, multi-level game have got to rid the city streets of the notorious "Big Boy" Caprice and his slimy mobster counterparts before they eliminate D.T by framing him for murder! Flattop, Pruneface, The Rodent, Itchy plus that mysterious newcomer, the Blank, are all there in full force. Will the streets ever be safe again? Keep your eyes open for this game and help Dick "take a bite out of crime."

It's time to clean up the streets as famed comic book character Dick Tracy. Your mission? To wipe out crime lord Big Boy Caprice and his five evil henchmen: Itchy, The Brow, Lips Manlis, Pruneface and Flattop.

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.

Dick Tracy game spans six stages consisting of three rounds each. Move from left to right blasting thugs with your revolver, but watch out for attacks coming from the background! To defeat mobsters across the street, you'll need to whip out your trusty tommy-gun and aim a cursor over anything that moves.

Tracy can also use his fists for close-range combat and jump to avoid obstacles or enemy shots. As you fire your machine gun, bullets will even damage surrounding fire hydrants, phone booths and parked cars! The second level of each stage has you crouched behind Tracy's squad car as you shoot down as many crooks as you can before cashing in your chips.

In between rounds are bonus levels offering three targets that pop-up simultaneously in the background: shoot the villains while avoiding innocent victims for extra points. Confront a boss character in the third round of each stage and teach the underworld that crime doesn't pay!

Snapshots and Media

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Screenshots

NES/Famicom/Dendy Screenshots

Sega Master System Screenshots

GameBoy Screenshots

See Also

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True Lies
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    Andy said on Forum:

    Oh now this takes me back!, I had this game and i was hooked as soon as i found the the fact you can fire your guns in two totally separate ways!, A must try!, It might not grab everyone but worth a go...