Review of Adventures of Dino Riki (NES)

Adventures of Dino Riki is video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, released in 1989 by noted developer Hudson. This game is a shoot em' up but based on dinosaurs. I can't recall any other shoot em' up that's based on prehistoric stuff, so this game is unique in that regard. But is it worth checking out? Let's find out.

Story : If there's any story to be had in this game, I sure don't know what it is. I guess you're just really pissed off that dinosaurs and decide to throw fireballs at them until you feel better.

Graphics : The graphics aren't bad for the time, but not great either. They're pretty average. The main character is hardly animated and is quite boring to watch, not to mention the sprite has little detail to begin with. The enemies are in the same boat. Hardly any animation, they mostly just fly around the screen to try and trick you into believing they do. The backgrounds are very plain, solid colors that remain static. The enemies all look nearly identical, and the bosses are just bigger versions of the henchmen.

Sound : The music in this game is quite underrated. A lot of it has a nice melody and is composed and arranged well. Likewise the sound effects all fit and are satisfying. There's a good variety of music to be had here, and if you're willing to play the game you'll have a nice time listening to these 8 bit tunes.

Game play : Let's get this out of the way: This game is extremely difficult. In the first level alone you're assaulted with huge waves of enemies and pretty much no way to attack them or dodge them. Unless you're a gaming God, don't bother seriously attempting to beat this game. You'll just frustrate yourself. The controls in this game are also horrible. One thing is you can't shoot enemies to the side, only directly in front of you. Doesn't seem like a big deal for a shooter but there's many times in this game where enemies flank you and kill you. On top of that, there's many instant death traps in this game and many of them are unfair.

There's no password option and what's worse, you only get two lives. Once you die twice, you're going all the way back to the start. The power ups in this game are also nearly useless, considering the amount of enemies pitted against you. Oddly enough, the bosses in this game are a piece of cake. That hardly matters however, as odds are you will never seen anything past the 1st boss most likely.

Re playability : Unless you plan on playing this game through with cheats, there's no replay value to speak of.

Overall : 3/10. Nice music, but pretty much nothing else to offer. Hudson is a great developer, but you can't win em all.