James Bond 007: The Duel, Game Gear

Developed by a company called “The Kremlin“, and published by Domark in Europe and Tengen in Japan, James Bond 007: The Duel is a Sega-only scrolling action game that was released for the Game Gear in 1993. The game was also released for the Megadrive/Genesis and the Master System, but for no other consoles.

The Duel uses Timothy Dalton‘s likeness (if you can call it a likeness) as Bond in the game, which makes this his final appearance as the famous British spy. The storyline revolves around a mad scientist trying to dominate the world, and in doing so he has cloned a number of James Bond‘s past enemies to bring him down. This gives the game a sort of mishmash of boss enemies to fight at the end of each of the four levels. Jaws, Bones, May Day and Oddjob stand in your way between success and failure.

As Bond, you can run, jump, somersault, and shoot, and you can change your currently-used weapon by pressing Start. Various enemies must be dealt with, all of which are styled on Bond enemies from the films. Bond can collect blue suitcases (“Q Cases“) as he explores, for bonus points. The quicker you complete a level, the more bonus points you get too.

The Duel is notable for being the first James Bond game not to be based on a novel or film, but with a storyline of its own. It was also the last Bond game released by Domark, after a string of others.

The Duel is generally ignored when it comes to James Bond games best-of lists, but it’s not a bad game overall. The graphics are excellent, but the gameplay is somewhat standard run-and-gun faire. If you’re a Bond fan – or simply like these types of games – then you’ll probably get something out of it.

More: James Bond 007: The Duel on Wikipedia