Jurassic Park Unleashed on Super Nintendo - October 6th, 1993 - Today in History

triverse (66)in #games • 6 years ago

What do you do when making a game based on what is surely going to be a blockbuster release? If you are Acclaim you phone in the development then hope for sales based on name alone. Ocean Software on the other hand took another approach to their acquisition of the Jurassic Park license. They allegedly beefed up their development team with personnel and finances. What resulted is a mixed bag but still better than any movie licensed game by Acclaim. Fans of the original Jurassic Park movie that picked up this game got two games in one, well two game engines anyhow.

Controlling Dr. Alan Grant, players must use their wits to stop Jurassic Park from becoming a bigger disaster than it already is. Initially armed with a cattle prod, you can gain five other weapons throughout the game, you must first fend off seven different dinosaurs as well as giant dragonflies (fans know why).

There are two parts to Jurassic Park - overhead, outside, scenes and First Person scenes, inside buildings. The overhead scenes are mostly made of trees and foliage while the First Person scenes are industrial, office type, areas that require different tactics to clear.

Interestingly, Jurassic Park is one of the few games to support the Super Nintendo mouse accessory. Don’t worry, you are not required to have it available, it is only used for operating panels and some portions of the First Person scenes. The default controller works fine in these areas as well.

For a licensed game based on a book and a movie, Jurassic Park is in the upper leagues of licensed games during the this era. If you have memories of playing Total Recall (NES, Acclaim), Warlock (SNES, LJN/Acclaim), or Wayne's World (SNES, THQ) then wipe those thoughts from your mind before playing Jurassic Park on Super Nintendo. While not perfect, it is head and shoulders above other licensed games from this era.

Sega acquired the rights to Jurassic Park as well and created a 2D side scrolling action adventure for Super NES and a point and click style adventure for the Sega CD attachment.