I have very mixed feeling about this game. Let me tell you the story... My sister and I were going through a stack of my NES games after The X-Files on Sunday. She suddenly decided that she wanted to play Adventures of Dino-Riki. I agreed, and we laughed at how many times she kept dying on world 1-2. at about 11:00 p.m. I took over playing, I was to world 4-1 by the time my sister went to bed at midnight. At 3:00 a.m., I beat the last level, world 4-4.

Adventures of Dino-Riki may look like a kid's game, but it is only for the harden pros of Nintendo. It took me three hours to beat four levels! That makes me wonder what was the programmers' vision of the game. If they wanted it to be a hard game, then Hudson marketed it poorly. But if the programmers' wanted it to be easy, they must be NES Gods themselves! Either way the game is unbalanced.

Oh, you probably want to know what the game's about... The plot: Life is hard for Dino-Riki, a kid growing up with the dinosaurs. Throughout his life, he had many adventures, and now you get to play them! Dino-Riki can jump or shoot weapons (fireballs, axes, bommerangs, and then superfire spread-shot) to kill the various enemies around him. He progresses through three types of worlds (land, ruined city, and mountains) and plays four worlds with 4 stages each. Actually, worlds 1, 2, and 3 are one stage each, with check points, and world 4 has four stages with no check points! Oh, and at the end of each world, Dino-Riki must battle a monster.

I recommend: Pick up this game if it's under $8, but I wouldn't pay more than $5 for it.

The Verdict: A long and hard game, you're dead already if you don't know the continue code. (at the game over screen press right, A and Start together) Plus, this game has no ending, so you're playing for the hell of it!

Graphics B

Sound/Music B+ (you'll hear the tunes so many times you WILL remember)

Play Control A- (it's hard to control Dino-Riki's jumps when he has the speed booster)

Fun B (bring your own fun)

Replay Value F- (I NEVER want to touch this again!)

Overall B+ links