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Defenders of Dynatron City

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Defenders of Dynatron City
Cover art
Developer(s)Lucasfilm Games
Publisher(s)JVC Musical Industries
Designer(s)Gary Winnick
Composer(s)George Sanger
David Warhol
Platform(s)NES
Release
  • NA: July 1992
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player

Defenders of Dynatron City is a video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System by JVC Musical Industries and Lucasfilm Games (later, LucasArts) in August 1992.[7] This was Gary Winnick's first project as sole designer after co-designing Maniac Mansion with Ron Gilbert.[8] It was supported by a brief media franchise consisting of an animated TV pilot and a six-issue comic book series.

Video game

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The game centers on a team of superheroes who protect a futuristic metropolis from Dr. Mayhem and his robotic henchmen. The Defenders are:

  • Ms. Megawatt (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg in the animated special), who can generate electrical energies.
  • Jet Headstrong (voiced by Pat Fraley in the animated special), who can fire his head like a rocket.
  • Buzzsaw Girl (voiced by Candi Milo in the animated special), who has a buzzsaw blade instead of legs and feet.
  • Toolbox (voiced by David Coburn in the animated special), a robot with a smashing hammer head and a litany of useful tool options he can use in combat.
  • Monkey Kid (voiced by Brian Stokes Mitchell in the animated special), a blue monkey armed with exploding bananas and leader of the team.
  • Radium Dog, who can fly and has jaws strong enough to pick up cars with his mouth.

Critical response

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The game won praise in its preproduction by many video game magazines for the creation of an original superhero team, but when the game was released it was widely panned by video game critics for, among other things, having a notoriously poor hit detection that required extremely precise aim for attacks to hit enemies.[9]

TV special

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The animated pilot was produced by DIC Animation City and was aired on the Fox Kids block on February 22, 1992.[10][11] It featured the voices of Whoopi Goldberg and Tim Curry. Originally, Doctor Mayhem was voiced by Christopher Walken. Steve Purcell recalled that the producers at the last minute replaced him with a more cartooney voice.[12] It failed to be picked up as a series, but was subsequently released on VHS.[13][14] No DVD or digital download release has surfaced as of yet.

Comics

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The comic book adaptation was published Marvel Comics. Written by Steve Purcell and penciled by Frank Cirocco, it ran for six monthly issues, dated from February through July 1992.[15]

References

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  1. ^ Harris, Steve; Semrad, Ed; Alessi, Martin; Sushi-X (January 1992). "Defenders of Dynatron City". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Vol. 5, no. 1. p. 20. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  2. ^ Groovy, Feline (June 1992). "Defenders of Dynatron City". GamePro. No. 35. pp. 34–35. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  3. ^ George; Rob (June 1992). "Now Playing". Nintendo Power. No. 37. pp. 102–105. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  4. ^ Steve (December 1992). "Defenders of Dynatron City". Total!. No. 12. p. 108. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  5. ^ Wen, Howard H. (June 1992). "Defenders of Dynatron City". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. No. 41. pp. 38, 42. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  6. ^ "Full Force: Your NES Game Directory". N-Force. Vol. 2, no. 2. August 1993. pp. 62–65. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  7. ^ "Games". Archived from the original on 2006-06-23.
  8. ^ Smith, Rob (2008). Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts.
  9. ^ "Defenders of Dynatron City for NES (1992) MobyRank".
  10. ^ Lenburg, Jeff (2009). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (3rd ed.). New York: Checkmark Books. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-8160-6600-1.
  11. ^ "Whoops, looks like something went wrong".
  12. ^ "SPUDVISION: Cartographer's Cabin". 16 June 2009.
  13. ^ Defenders of Dynatron City. ASIN 6302878470.
  14. ^ Defenders of Dynatron City at AllMovie
  15. ^ "Centaursite.com - Defenders of Dynatron City". Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
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