Three Dirty Dwarves

n/a

Saturn Windows PC
Three Dirty Dwarves
System(s): Sega Saturn, Windows PC
Publisher: Sega SegaSoft
Developer: SegaSoft, Appaloosa Interactive
Distributor: Ecofilmes (PT)
Peripherals supported: 6Player
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-3
Release Date RRP Code JP 1997-05-30 ¥5,8005,800 GS-9137 US 1996-09-27 $44.9944.99 14002 EU 1997-04-03 MK81033-50 DE 1997-04-03 DM 99.9599.95 MK81033-50 PT 199x UK 1997-04-03 £39.9939.99 MK81033-50 PL 1997 AU 199x US 1996 $19.9919.99 11002

Three Dirty Dwarves (スリー・ダーティ・ドワーブズ) is a 1996 belt-scrolling beat-'em-up by SegaSoft and Appaloosa Interactive for the Sega Saturn and PCs.

Story

Four children genetically engineered by the army grow up to be child geniuses instead of perfect soldiers, prompting General Briggs to use them to manufacture weaponry. To escape, the children play their favorite role-playing game and lead the party, a trio of slow-witted but heroic dwarves, to a gateway into the real world.

The dwarves' equipment burns up during atmospheric entry. They land in a sporting goods store and make use of the equipment inside for their weapons and armor. The monsters from the role-playing game world have followed the dwarves into the real world, and the dwarves must battle their way through them to find the children and confront General Briggs.

Gameplay

The game is a beat-'em-up that can be played with up to three players. Players take control of the three dwarves Greg, Taconic, and Corthag and lead them to the end of each level, battling orcs and other fiendish creatures and avoiding obstacles along the way. Each player controls one dwarf at a time. In three-player games, each player controls the same dwarf for the entire game. In games with fewer than three players, the dwarf or dwarves not under player control follow the others around, and players can switch to one of the inactive dwarves with or . Some of the levels diverge from this and solely involve a boss fight, and some of them are only played by a single player even in a multiplayer game.

Dwarves walk with or and move in and out of the plane with and . They jump with . Each dwarf has a short-range attack, performed with , and a long-range attack, performed with . The speed and responsiveness of each attack varies according to the dwarf. The ranged attack can be fired into the background with +. The dwarves can also pick up enemies and other objects, such as trash cans, by walking into them and pressing while holding the D-Pad in their direction; they can be thrown by pressing again.

In addition, the dwarves can spend Power Skulls to activate special attacks. Power Skulls are acquired by picking them up from fallen enemies or breaking open boxes. Each dwarf has two unique Power Attacks, one mapped to that costs one Power Skull and one mapped to that costs two Power Skulls. There are also two special group attacks that cost three Power Skulls and can only be done if all three dwarves are conscious. The dwarves can also combine into a single large "Morph Dwarf" with . The Morph Dwarf attacks enemies before transforming back into the three dwarves. There are three different Morph Dwarves, depending on which character is the lead dwarf at the time it is used. The dwarves can also brawl with each other, harming enemies that get caught in the way, by tapping or five times. They can be moved with the D-Pad while they are brawling.

If any dwarf takes a hit from an enemy or obstacle, the players lose a Power Skull (which are shared amongst all the players). If the players do not have any Power Skulls, the hit renders the dwarf unconscious, and the player gains control of an inactive dwarf (if there is one). If another dwarf is still in action, he can revive an unconscious dwarf by hitting him. In multiplayer games, players can revive their own dwarves by pressing and rapidly. If a dwarf is not woken up, he can still be revived by breaking open a crate. The game ends if all three dwarves are knocked out, but it can be continued from the beginning of the current level.

There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard). In Easy mode, players only play levels 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 15.

Items

	Crate
	Break open to release an item or revive a dwarf.
	White Skull
	Collect 7 of these to earn one Power Skull.
	Game Die
	Collect one of these to earn 5 Power Skulls.

Levels

	Streets of Bronx
	Pit Bully
	Hills of Bronx
	Gymhouse
	This stage is only played by one player.
	Bronx by Day
	Bouncing Bed
	This stage is only played by one player.
	Garbage Hills
	The Stadium
	This stage is only played by one player.
	House of Fire
	This stage is only played by one player.
	Trolley Ride
	This stage is only played by one player.
	Man of a Thousand Swords
	Riker's Island
	Taconic Parkway
	This stage is only played by one player.
	Laser Research
	Barney's Machines

History

Development

SegaSoft had tentative plans to release the game for the PlayStation, but SegaSoft ultimately never published any game for a non-Sega console.

Production credits

Saturn version

• Original Story & Game Concept: E. Ettore Annunziata
• Art Direction & Character Design: Bevin Stone
• Screenplay: Merle Kessler
• Senior Animator: Szórádi Csaba
• Marketing: Greg Chiemingo

Cast

• Greg: Eddie Annunziata
• Taconic: Bevin Stone
• Corthag: Marlowe Keffley
• Laura & Kyle: Deborah Salc
• Gregory & Billy: Beth Kaufman
• General Briggs: Alan Bruce
• Barney: Marlowe Keffley
• The Lawyer: Marlowe Keffley
• Orcs: Szenttornyai László, Tassonyi Kadocsa, Makó Balázs, Jutasi Tamás

Szórádi Csaba

The Cartoon

• Directed by: Bevin Stone
• Music Composition & Sound Design: Rotation Corporation/Andy Armer
• Cartoon Animators: Szórádi Csaba, Jurij Serulov, Eugenia Serulova, Horváth Tamás, Herényi Mihály
• Cartoon Painters: Rátkai Kornél, Számel Endre

The Game

• Directed by: Szenttornyai László
• Appaloosa US Producer: Jason Friedman
• Project Manager: Tassonyi Kadocsa
• Programmers: Makó Balás, Jutasi Tamás, Tassonyi Kadocsa, Szungyi Lásló, Staengler Ferenc
• Stage Editing: Mezei Sándor
• Music: Magyari András, Héger Attila, Dobos Attila, Sallai Tibor, Bikics Tibor
• Game Artists: Markó Gabór, Orbán Nándor, Nagy Zoltán, Csige Tamás, Adonyi Gabór
• Backgrounds: Farkas Bea, Salfai Tibor
• Audio Post-Production: Gordon Lyon
• Video Post-Production: Eric Caplain
• Talent Coordinator: Adam Sevillia

Testers

• Lead: Steve Bourdet
• Assistant Leads: Amy Albertson, Erin Fritz, Zac Fuller
• Testers: Jason Bartholomew, Karen Brown, Matt Cogley, Jon Dejano, Atom Ellis, Arnold Colman, Tricia Gray, Ryan Hurth, Aaron Montera, Scott Matt, Ty Johnson, Lloyd Kinoshita, Jeff Silveira, Mike McCullom, Ian McGuiness, Fernando Valderrama
• Manual: Merle Kessler, Neil Hanshaw, Carol Ann Hanshaw
• Special Thanks to: Joe Miller, Steve Payne, Debbie Annunziata, Randy Link, William Davis, Reas One, Bob Burke, Gyorfi Zoltán, Stephen Friedman, Andras Csaszar, Brudnyak Mihály, Don Walters, Larry Loth
• Produced by: Ed Annunziata, Crisi Albertson

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Three Dirty Dwarves/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Game Informer (US) #42: "October 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
also published in:

• EGM² (US) #29: "November 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #89: "December 1996" (1996-xx-xx)

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1997-19: "1997-19 (1997-06-13)" (1997-05-30)

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1997-20: "1997-20 (1997-06-20)" (1997-06-06)

Physical scans

Saturn version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GamesMaster (UK) 42

	42
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Consoles + (FR) PAL 89 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 75 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 60 Fun Generation (DE) PAL 80 Gambler (PL) 82 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 88 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 83 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 78 Intelligent Gamer (US) NTSC-U 83 Joypad (FR) PAL 80 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 52 Mega Force (FR) PAL 88 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 76 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 66 Next Generation (US) 50 Player One (FR) 78 Playmag (FR) PAL 87 Sega Power (UK) PAL 64 Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL 65 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 67 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 80 Ultra Game Players (US) NTSC-U 71 Video Games (DE) PAL 74

	75
Based on 23 reviews

Three Dirty Dwarves

Saturn, JP
Cover

Saturn, US
Cover
Disc Manual

Saturn, EU
Cover

Saturn, PT
Cover

Saturn, AU

PC version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score

	N/A
Based on 0 reviews

Three Dirty Dwarves

PC, US
Cover
Manual Jewel Case

Technical information

Main article: Three Dirty Dwarves/Technical information.

External links

• Three Dirty Dwarves on SegaSoft.com (archive)