Before we start playing the game, let's talk about the attract mode.

Oddly, the game never shows any gameplay when no-one's playing.

Instead it shows the intro movie, starting with TAITO FILMS PRESENTS...



... Then it establishes rather clearly when and where the story is set...

(As we'll find out, though, this is wrong- the events of Dead Connection are wrapped up by August 24th, 1953. Whoops!)



When it zooms in on Not-Marlon-Brando-Honest, he says "You can regret it in HELL"

I don't have much to add to this. It's just perfect.

And it keeps going. What happens when evil power steals on?



Oh. Damn.



"Christine! CHRISTINE!"

This intro is my personal yardstick for the categories of holy shit that was an intro and whoever translated this needs a medal.



Once you insert a coin, you'll hear "We're counting on you, don't let us down" and you can pick a character.

The only differences are the colours of their clothes- Green (Philip), Red (James), Yellow (Eddie) and Blue (Gary).

(I usually play as Gary, 'cause if you're gonna crush out the crime, you gotta do it in a swish blue jacket.)



Before each stage, you get a journal entry detailing the place you're about to wreck.



You also get to see the place for a few seconds

It's a peaceful hotel scene, until...



"Hands in the air! Everyone, freeze!"

'Freeze and put your hands up' is hardly fair, is it?



And so our adventure in serious mafia property damage begins.

Once everyone's startled, the game begins, and the same basic pattern for the rest of the game emerges- gangsters will stream on-screen, usually shooting at you- kill 'em all and the next set comes, and so on. Each one killed takes another notch off the gangster count at the bottom of the screen, and once it reaches 3, you fight the 'boss'. As this is the first stage, Taito made sure to throw in as many interactive objects as possible, to ensure that the player gets used to the idea of using the environment to waste these mafioso scum. For a start, the three dining tables can be shot to tip the candle over and make them burst into flames- they can hurt you too, but they're good for changing the lighting and setting enemies on fire. There's also that statue at the top of the stairs- hit the Dodge button next to it and you'll send it rolling down the stairs, always good for a laugh. There's also the bannisters which you can leap from, and the wall at the top you can lean against. Finally, the picture on the first floor hides a safe- shoot it to find the Book item. (That tip courtesy of arcade-history.com's page on Dead Connection, from a mysterious player).

Now, you see that chandelier? Once there's 10 enemies left...



Yes.

The chandelier usually leaves a Shotgun in its wake, if one hasn't appeared in the level already. I suggest you grab it, then mop up any remaining enemies with your dive attack until there's only 3 enemies left. At this point, the 'boss' shows up. It's a similar thing on every level- one big fat guy with two cronies tagging along. On this stage, the fat guy has a quick-firing pistol, but his cronies pack machine guns, and are easily more lethal. The fat guy also has this odd routine where, when shot, he drops his gun and shouts "Help me!", before picking it up again and shouting "Kill you!". Hmm. He also announces his entrance with "Don't return them alive!" which might just be my favourite video game sound-bite of all time. When they arrive, pump 'em full of lead- the Shotgun will tear them to pieces and has enough explosive range to hit them hard even if you only wing 'em. These boss encounters really aren't much to write home about, so slaughter them with the Shotgun and you'll be good.



"Talk if you don't want to die!"

Note that they spell Nerozzia's name differently here. Taito English, everybody.

Also, this accountant guy is in the stage the whole time- he's behind the counter, hiding like a punk.



Stage 2 is the junkyard, and amusingly you're never told what their 'transaction' is for...



Not much of an intro here- your character interrupts the transaction from the top-left- so let's get to it.



Weapons carry over from one stage to the next, so if you picked up the Shotgun at the end of Stage 1, you might have a few shots of it left. I'm mostly pointing this out because of what happens when you're out of ammo- your character throws the empty weapon to the ground (if your discarded gun hits an enemy, it will kill them!) and shouts "Dammit!". Beautiful. Another thing that carries over between stages is your health- you've got one life and one health bar, so if you want to one-credit this game, you'd better be practising. Anyway, there aren't as many interactive elements here in the junkyard, but there's still some bits and bobs to play with. For a start, we get two new enemy types- fat guys with shotguns, and fat guys with machine guns who, upon death, spray gunfire wildly into the air before collapsing. Nice. Well, technically the machine gun fat guys appeared briefly on Stage 1, but here they're en-masse and harder to miss. As for environmental stuff, there's a car that will keep trying to run you over- shoot it enough times and it'll explode. There's also some oil drums you can kick over like the statue on Stage 1, but do it fast because the enemies can do it too, and they're tough to avoid. Finally, you can get to higher ground on the massive pile of junk on the left where you start the stage, and dive back to the bottom quickly if you want. As for the Book, it's hidden in the top-right corner, kick the gap inbetween the two piles of junk.

The 'boss' is the same as it was on the last stage, soundbites and all. It doesn't help that you might not have the Shotgun this time. Hope you picked up one of the pistol upgrades, or at the very least you're now used to the idea of ploughing into bad guys with the roll (players of Crime City won't struggle with this concept). Dodge the machine gun fire and get shots in when you can, and that'll end the round.



"Where's your boss hiding?"

Personally, I prefer the snappier "TAKE ME TO YOUR BOSS" from Strider, but never mind.



Are you ready for this next stage intro? I promise you, you are not.



Yes. Your band of maverick cops enter the mafia-filled restaurant by throwing their car through the window

You might think Dead Connection will never reach this kind of insanity again, but it will.



The restaurant sees the the arrival of a new enemy type (fat guys with rifles that take their time aiming), the return of the tables that can be set on fire (if you want, you can walk on top of them for the same effect) and also brings back another car (your own- feel free to blow it up for an item). There's also windows to destroy at the back (you can still lean against them when they've been blown up, though?), curtains to hide behind (although they're not great for cover, and can be destroyed) and watch out for the grass, as it'll slow you down (use one of the fences to the side to hop over- the fence behind you only works one way, down). You'll find the Book hidden in the patch of grass behind the statue to the left- kick around to find it.

The boss encounter here has two machine gun cronies with a new big guy- this one carries a massive machine gun and probably fancies himself as a tough guy. Really, though, he's not- it's his lackeys that'll give you grief. Make those guys your priority (I recommend lots of rolling) and once you take them out, you'll notice the big guy takes his sweet time lining up his machine gun. Shoot him and he'll fall to the floor (dropping his gun- if the gun hits you, you'll be hurt), wait for him to line up his sights, shoot him, and so on. He has a lot of health, so if you can get the timing right, you can dive into him repeatedly without getting hurt. Once his health's down to minimum, things get strange- he'll start lurching around, arms outstretched, like a zombie! He'll follow you relentlessly, and shooting won't kill him- you need to wait for him to approach then dive out the way as he collapses. It's... Unusual, for sure.



"It's time for you scum to pay."

Looks like they got us this time.

It might seem that destroying this restaurant was in vain, but I'd do it again, I tell you!



Fortunately, we're not alone in our burning quest for justice. Someone's come to bail us out.

Good ol' non-playable Andy. Let's see what his plan is...



With a cry of "We came to help you!", Andy opens fire on the mafia cars... And bites the bullet, hard.

You murdering scumbags! It's time for revenge!



Not an especially busy stage, but one with lots of options for hiding. Two of them are a bit awkward to get to, though- the ladder on the left and the stairs on the right can be tough to actually climb up if enemies are shooting at you, as getting shot will send you tumbling down again. There's another enemy type introduced too, the big guys with massive sticks- they take a few shots to kill, but they're basically a non-threat as they take ages to line up an attack. They'll soak up some bullets, but that's it. The best strategy here is to try and get in the top-right corner as soon as it's safe, take out whatever enemies you can from your hole, and alternate between the street and the top-right balcony. You might also find the doorways handy for taking a breather, but eventually you'll have to make it to the top-left balcony as enemies hide there- climb up when it's safe, take out the sign while you're at it. The Book is hidden in the top-right ledge- kick around the left corner to find it.



Once you're down to three enemies, the car from the beginning of the stage will come back, with its female hostage screaming for help. Shoot the car enough times and it'll explode, letting the hostage go and revealing the bosses. It's the same as on the last stage, including his odd little routine at the end. Don't bother getting to higher ground, though- it's not worth the effort, as you'll probably get shot down while trying to climb. Just dodge a lot and take 'em out.



"Don't die, Andy! Please, open your eyes!"

If Andy died, I don't think you can call your escape 'plan' a success.

Also note that this voice clip has the same amount of emotion as Leon's MIIIIIIKE from Resident Evil 4.

We won't forget you, Andy! We'll keep on fighting. Just four more stages to go.

The best animated GIF of all time is on the next page.