Adventures of Dino Riki Game Sample - NES/FC
0The Adventures of Dino Riki is a semi-notorious game for the NES in the late 80s (1989) that was developed roughly two and a half years prior in Japan under the name of "Shin Jinrui: The New Type" (where Rix Soft oddly enough published it). It's a game that is loathed by many and is seen as a combination of a shooter like "1943" and a platformer with an Adventure Island theme. The main character, Riki, was inspired by the famous Japanese professional wrestler, Mitsuo Yoshida (or better known as "Riki Chōshū"). This is especially seen when Riki grabs hidden "Super Caveman" power-ups. From my understanding, a Nintendo Power article was particularly critical of this game.
While the game isn't anything special, it's not quite AS BAD as it's made out to be, though the game does prove to be amongst some of the most difficult Nintendo games, and for some reasons that could have been avoided. In order to really give weight to criticism, it helps to have a thorough understanding of how to play this game. Riki slowly moves vertically through levels (though some segments speed up without warning) and after about five minutes, you can tell that this is one of those games that does everything possible to try your patience. There are enemies everywhere, really tedious jumping segments, lots of obstacles, and even when you think you've found one way to clear the level, Hudson thought ahead and confront you with additional challenges. You also weaken each time you're hit. They basically let you know that there aren't many free rides in this game.
There's a reason they went through so much trouble though; the game has only four real levels and has no real point. In that sense, it's a shame that they gave you life in the first place, not to mention so much of it. If you know what you're doing, this game isn't amazingly difficult and I think the game was made artificially harder than it should have been, which isn't the best way to get the bang for your buck. Riki grabs fists to upgrade his firepower (and destroys all enemies on screen after a certain point), diamonds to gain extra points and one-ups, shoes for speed (though it's usually not a great idea to grab more than one, or you'll speed about almost uncontrollably with no means of slowing down), wings which allow him to fly (but the game throws tons of enemies at you in an attempt to force you to land), a Super-Caveman power-up (which is almost useless) and a few additional assorted items.
Once Riki is powered up near max, he becomes your typical "Nigh Invincible" fighter and would be virtually invincible if he didn't have to worry about pits. Lose so much as one power-up however and things substantially change from bad to worse... but really, this isn't so different from many shooters, so I wouldn't solely fault Dino Riki for this-- that would just be absurd. Just the fact that you have health at least means you have a bit of an edge compared to some outragerously tedious shooters. I can say however that Dino Riki is pretty lackluster in the audio/visual department (partially as the result of a late localization but wasn't too special in general). I think the nicest thing I can say about this game is that it's average at best.
This is a video of the first level. Enjoy.