I had a portable pirate Sega Genesis as a kid which might not have had enough cartridges to use in it, and without built-in games, my selection was of 8 titles. My brother also had a portable pirate Sega Genesis, more closely looking like a Nomad, he had tons of games for it but the sound quality was pretty off.

This right here was my favourite to play from the 8 titles I had for the little system, and the music was the first thing that came to mind while replaying this as an adult. The other thing was that it was pretty short, but refreshingly so, at only 4 gigantic levels that you had to fully explore to complete the missions, involving a memorable central set piece to each one of them (especially coming from the SMS version, the spaceship you have to climb through the whole level feels properly huge). Of course it's nothing groundbreaking, and it draws a lot of inspiration from one of my least favourites Bond movies (Moonraker) making the settings have a lot of sci fi elements to them, but it's solid as far as retro games go.

The 8-bit version of The Duel has the same level themes as the Mega Drive version, however, the level layout and structure of the game is completely different. Also gone is the requirement of saving hostages as well as setting off bombs in the levels.

As you’re not travelling backwards and forwards throughout the levels, each level now has three stages to work though. The there are hidden paths that lead to Q crates and hostages that improve your score, and it’s fun to explore the little areas.

There are a few oddities with enemies in the boat and jungle stages. The first level has deadly fish that leap out of the water and are a pain to hit, but you can just hang back and fire until you get them (you have unlimited ammo). The jungle level features snakes, which seems logical, but they fire projectiles at you. Most other enemies are goons which have no idea what to do if you crouch, making it east to dispose of them, with robotic turrets and the like in later missions.

The levels are quite fun, and Bond’s jumping feels smoother in this version. From a gameplay and level perspective, I enjoyed this much more than the Mega Drive version of the game. The graphics are obviously not as good, but are really great for the Master System. The sound really lets the game down – you have the option of choosing sound effects OR music. I made the mistake of going with the music. It’s fine for the first minute, but then the same beepy repetitive tune if all you hear for the entire game, I ended up muting it.

After you defeat the third hanger level, you have one more level: as there are no bosses you get a timed final level. The time you get depends on the amount of hostages you save and Q cases you find. I had to (though a bit of trial an error) fund the perfect route to beat the game.

Despite the sound issues, this is a fun little game and and it’s surprising that it’s a better game than the main version.

Developed by an internal Domark development team The Kremlin, The Duel is Domark’s not just final James Bond game, but also their first one not based on a specific Bond film. Instead, this is a new adventure starring Timothy Dalton’s Bond (although I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s never heard of this game, the box just uses a photo from a Licence to Kill poster).

That said, the “story” is just a bit of blurb in the manual: Professor Gravemar is planning on launching a satellite from his secret island base, which will let him take over the world. Expecting James Bond to try and stop him, he fills the island with his goons and creates a cloning device to bring some of his villains back to life. He also spreads hostages across the island to distract Bond. The hostages are all the same women, so perhaps the hostages are also clones – such a concept is far too much of the simplicity of this game’s plot, which is completely absent from the game itself.

Starting off on a boat, The Duel looks very nice, making good use of the Mega Drive’s capabilities, with detailed sprites that are zoomed out enough to not hamper gameplay. The music is also great (including a great rendition of the Bond theme), having a distinct Mega Drive feel but also fitting James Bond. You go you through levels, running, jumping and shooting. I did think the jumping felt a bit stiff and overall the game has a bit of a janky feel to it.

It’s not as simple as getting to the end, though, you need to hunt for the hostages. These are hidden extremely well and most of your time will be tediously backtracking back and forth searching for them. The game loves to make use of covering entrances with foreground objects, and also hides enemies in the same way. Once you find the hostages, you can set off a bomb (which is hidden somewhere near the end of the level) then rush to the exit.

After the initial boat level, you have to explore a jungle and do the same thing. Due to platforms on different levels, you’ll find yourself missing enemies more. Your ammo is limited. While enemies drop more, that’s the only way to get more ammo. If you run out, there’s nothing you can do, as Bond has no melee attacks in this game, which is strange, especially for a game with limited ammo. You can shoot diagonally, but you need to shoot and hold down fire to change the angle of the shot.

Next up is the secret volcano base. There are lots of needlessly large pits and lifts and you’ll spend quite a bit of time waiting for platforms, sometimes having to wait for them a second time as you have to time them with the movement of fireballs. More hostages to find and a bomb to set off.

Next up is navigating the hanger bay for the professor’s oddly shaped shuttle, which features lots of empty areas with nothing going on. The end of this level has a short boss you need to get rid off before activating the bomb and escaping.

After this, you reach level five: which is a boss fight against Jaws in a strange machine. Once you beat him, you’re done.

This is an incredibly short game padded out by hiding some of the paths to the hostages, making you walk and down each level – which aren’t particularly colossal either. The gameplay is fine, but feels a bit clunky. The graphics and music are the only particularly good parts of the game.