The Dudes were huge in 2003-2004. According to the archived X-Concepts website, they had sold 45,000,000 Dudes by 2003-2004. That is impressive for a toy that was not based on any IP or brand. Twice as impressive if you remember at this point, X-Concepts LLC/Tech Deck was not a subsidiary of the big companies (Mattel, Bandai, Namco, Jakks Pacific, Spin Master, Hasbro).
X-Concepts and Tech Deck decided to make a video game featuring the dudes because it ain't a hit toy line if it doesn't have a tie-in video game, baby!
Main Menu Screen:
Original 2004 X-Concepts LLC catalog promo image:
There were four different computer games to collect, and each disc came with 2 bendy arm G3 versions of G2 dudes (except Rap Masta Thumb and Rozz who came out as G3 initially, these are the same).
But, the paint jobs on these are lackluster when put next to their Evolution Crew counterparts.
The TV ad for the game broke down the premise.
Each disc came with a unique set of characters so that you collect them all. If that doesn't make sense, don't feel bad, they made an additional 90-second promo to explain how it works.
Kinda sleazy to send out a game with a quarter of complete maps and missing characters to make the consumer buy more copies... Wait, is this where EA, Ubisoft, and Activision got the idea for more DLCs and microtransactions from?!
There were four discs or "Digital Playsets":
1. DownTown: Features Rap Masta & Dr Digit :
2. Far East Town: Features Nick & Brad:
3. FreakTown features Norman & Jack:
4. SpaceTown features Tek & Rozz:
If you watch it all the way to the end, the post-credit VisionScape Interactive clown is terrifying!
BKG animations were recycled on a FREE DVD that came with G3 era shirts:
A lot of G3 era shirts came with the DVD you see below:
When you put in this DVD, the screen reads "T-Shirt" before playing the computer-animated cutscenes from Tech Deck Dude Bare Knuckle Grind.
Since the game released in 2004, this disc was packaged with shirts released around the same time.
It features Billy and Stevie J on the disc.
This confirms TDD BKG for the PC is an incomplete game, which explains why it feels so lifeless.
Heck, that explains why 6 of the 8 dudes were just packaged G3 bendy arm versions of G2 dudes from the prior year. The other 2 of the 8 dudes are just Rozz and Rap Masta Thumb from that year. That also explains why the Bare Knuckle Grind dudes have such substandard paint jobs compared to their original Evolution Crew single-pack releases. They probably just churned out these dudes and the whole "Collect all 4 Discs" gimmick to make some money back from a failed game, hence why there's also that Xbox demo I linked above!
Here's the promo from X-Concepts LLC's old home page, see the second to last paragraph:
BKG animations were recycled on a FREE DVD that came with G3 era shirts:
A lot of G3 era shirts came with the DVD you see below:
When you put in this DVD, the screen reads "T-Shirt" before playing the computer-animated cutscenes from Tech Deck Dude Bare Knuckle Grind.
Since the game released in 2004, this disc was packaged with shirts released around the same time.
It features Billy and Stevie J on the disc.
An Unreleased Console Version?!
While putting together this website, I've been scouting everywhere to fill in any gaps.
Turns out, there's an unreleased demo of an Xbox version of the 2004 game! It looks the same, but the menu shows press A and B with an Xbox button. Not sure why this console version never hit the shelves. In fact, there were also ads promoting a PS2 version (which you'll see below) that also never hit shelves.
Bridging the Gaps in Bare Knuckle Grind from the X-Concepts website (2004):
Turns out there was going to be a PS2/Xbox version of Bare Knuckle Grind that would have featured the Dudes fighting The Creatures in boss fights (who I guess in-canon were the villains of Dudesville). This was not the case for the game that was released in Spring 2004. The Creatures don't even appear in the released and incomplete-feeling PC game.
If you've played it, you know it's basically half-finished, there's no clear plotline, no mention of The Creatures in the game, and each disc you see above is cheap cause it only comes with some of the characters.
This confirms TDD BKG for the PC is an incomplete game, which explains why it feels so lifeless.
Heck, that explains why 6 of the 8 dudes were just packaged G3 bendy arm versions of G2 dudes from the prior year. The other 2 of the 8 dudes are just Rozz and Rap Masta Thumb from that year. That also explains why the Bare Knuckle Grind dudes have such substandard paint jobs compared to their original Evolution Crew single-pack releases. They probably just churned out these dudes and the whole "Collect all 4 Discs" gimmick to make some money back from a failed game, hence why there's also that Xbox demo I linked above!
This "game" was probably a beta for a final product that ended up getting canned or couldn't be cranked out in time due to contract disputes between VisionScape Interactive, another dev, and X-Concepts LLC.
Here's the promo from X-Concepts LLC's old home page, see the second to last paragraph:
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