DinoCity
Super Nintendo
Irem
Genre: Action Platformer
1992
During the days of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, a number of games thrived on the idea of normal people- usually kids to identify with the target audience- being transported into fantasy worlds and situations. In a meta-sense, this doubles down on the purpose of the game itself and proved to be effective in games like Comix Zone, Monster Party, and a variety of other works. DinoCity was a lesser known work that hasn’t garnered the same cult status as the previous two titles, but it is a game I remember vividly from my personal collection.
Heading up the dinosaur craze set forth in the 1990s, DinoCity is based on the made-for-television movie, Adventures in Dinosaur City, another lesser known film that you may have run across on a cereal fueled Saturday morning. As a rarely referenced video game based off of an obscure kids’ film, DinoCity doesn’t seem to have left the same impression as a number of other film adaptations, but that could be for the best given the reputation of games based on movies. How does the game stand up in the general spectrum of the Super Nintendo’s library of adaptations and platforming innovators?
![Dino City (U) [t1]031](https://3pstart.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/dino-city-u-t1031.png?w=351&h=307)
While there’s not much variety in the Rockeys’ gang, they sure do show up to party.
As stated before, the plot goes about as meta as it can (you’re playing the video game based off of a movie about some kids who are sucked into a television show) and it sets up for hijinks nicely. Traveling through six locales, the player chooses one pair- Timmy and Rex or Jamie and Tops- to proceed through the game. If you choose to ride the dinosaurs, Rex can punch enemies while Tops can throw daggers or darts of some sort to defeat the Rockeys. By pressing a button, you can control the respective child who can fit into smaller areas and freeze enemies with their remote control device. This also leaves the dinosaur in a perpetual crouch until the human comes back, leaving them to be used as platforms for the player to reach higher areas.
![Dino City (U) [t1]022](https://3pstart.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/dino-city-u-t1022.png?w=351&h=307)
Okay- even I can admit that this is pretty much torn from Super Mario World.
DinoCity is deceptive in its simplicity. Aside from health restoration and extra lives, there is no sign of extra power-ups. Your characters’ abilities and your personal skill are the only way to get through the game, and it makes the game feel even more stressful as the levels progress. One of the common comments on the game is that despite the bright cartoon slanted graphic style, the game becomes much more difficult than one would imagine. I can throw my hat in with that opinion. The game has a steady increase in difficulty, which is less common than one would expect in the age of Super Nintendo platformers. The increase is steep, though, and it does indeed sideswipe the player due to the cheerful gloss over the game’s presentation.
![Dino City (U) [t1]036](https://3pstart.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/dino-city-u-t1036.png?w=350&h=306)
Boss designs are fun, interesting, and easy to decipher objectively.
The presentation of the game is exceptional, if not a bit disjointed from its marketing. Sticking with some of the usual SNES packaging, DinoCity’s box art depicts what one might expect to be more realistic and detailed sprites and artwork. The environments and sprites are great to look at, but as mentioned earlier, they are more cartoon-like than may have been presented. Apparently, the graphical designers purposefully made the game’s characters look in more of an anime style to deviate from the tone of the film. After the initial expectation shock, the game’s vibrant palette and clean art style feels much more appropriate for the plot and the Super Nintendo library in general. The visual presentation is by far the strongest aspect of the game.
![Dino City (U) [t1]014](https://3pstart.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/dino-city-u-t1014.png?w=350&h=306)
Classic representation of how one can progress in a number of ways.
Honestly, if you’re a fan of the Mario series and you’re up for a challenge, DinoCity should be on your short list to hunt down. It’s a gorgeous game, even by today’s ‘retro sprite’ standards, and it won’t take up so much time that if you don’t like it, you’ll feel unsatisfied. I can’t speak much to the movie, as I saw it in passing once when I was too young to recognize that it was connected and, to be honest, the scene I saw was pretty goofy and didn’t particularly hold my interest. If you want to check that out, it appears to be available in full on YouTube.
If you want to get a copy of DinoCity– that may be tougher by normal means, as it did not have the honor of being released on Virtual Console or any other digital means officially. Physical copies don’t appear to be terribly expensive from my recent research, if that’s to your taste, though. Given the ratings I’ve seen and my personal recommendations for the game, it’s a tragedy that DinoCity seems to have gone all but extinct since its initial release.