Domark "James Bond 007: The Duel" (1993)
"Goodbye, Mr. Dalton!!!"
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James Bond 007: The Duel (aka 007 Shitou--not what you think it means -- in Japan) is a video game released for the Sega Master System, the Sega Game Gear and the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. It is loosely based on the spy films featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, 007. The game was developed and published by Domark and released in 1993. There is also a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis cartridge version which has Tengen logo and credits instead of Domark.
Armed with a pistol, the player controls James Bond through various side-scrolling enemy bases to rescue female hostages and arm a bomb placed at a strategic point to destroy the base. Along the way, Bond must battle numerous thugs and familiar bosses. The game is often compared to Namco's Rolling Thunder series, although it was much less popular with the critics.
The Duel is notable among Bond games for a number of reasons. Although it was released four years after Timothy Dalton's last outing as James Bond (in Licence To Kill), his likeness is used in the game, most notably the opening screens (presumably as Dalton was still under contract to appear in future films), thus making it Dalton's last official appearance in a Bond game or film to date. It was also the final Bond game to be released by Domark, who had released a series of Bond themed games beginning in 1985 with A View to a Kill.
The game is split into five levels (despite the back of the box claiming only four): island docks, jungle, volcano, space shuttle, and escape. It was also the first Bond game not to be directly based on a movie or novel (not counting the Operation Stealth con-job). Instead it featured an original storyline (so to speak), albeit one featuring familiar villains including Jaws and Oddjob. The concept of using past villains from Bond films, resurrected thanks to the villain's cloning device.
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