James Bond 007: The Duel

by Domark Software · published by Tec Toy · James Bond series

1993 · Genesis/MegaDrive, Game Gear, SMS

The Duel is a James Bond video game released for the Sega Master System, the Sega Game Gear, and the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis. The game was developed and published by Domark and released in 1993. 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 notable among Bond games for a number of reasons. Although it was released 4 years after Timothy Dalton's last outing as James Bond, his likeness is used in the game, most notably the opening screens, thus making it Dalton's last appearance in a Bond game to date. It was also the final Bond game to be released by Domark. It was also the first Bond game not to be directly based on a movie or novel. Instead it featured an original storyline, albeit one featuring familiar villains including Jaws and Oddjob. Though the game's storyline was not its strong point, it did blaze a trail for future licence-holders EA, half of whose Bond output would be based on original storylines. One previous Bond game, Operation Stealth, included an original storyline but the game was originally based on a generic Bond-style character named John Glames and only had the licence added for its North American release.