Developer: Taito Publisher: Taito Released: 1993 Genre: Platformer
I will admit to being pleasantly surprised by Taito’s various licensed Hanna Barbara titles. These fairly innocuous licenses would normally be farmed out to a bottom of the barrel developer to make a quick buck. To some extent they were. But under Taito’s guiding hand they cranked out solid title after solid title starring cartoon characters I stopped giving a damn about years ago. The Flintstones for the Genesis is not on the same level as their 8-bit counterparts but is still pretty decent all around.
Technically there is no overarching story to this one. The various members of the Flintstones cast have lost some piece of memorabilia and it is up to Fred to help them out. The final level tries to tie it all together but it is flimsy at best. Not that it would have made a difference mind you but the plot in the other games gave an excuse for those games to take weird detours like traveling to the future for some added variety.
The Flintstones is very similar to the two NES games. As Fred you have a massive club to bash enemies over the head. You can charge it up for a more powerful overhead smash as well. Honestly most enemies die in a single hit so it isn’t useful, especially as you walk slower while charging. Fred does not look like he would be the most nimble protagonist but is very spry on his feet. He moves at a decent clip and can pull himself up on platforms to compensate for his meager leaping ability. The game calls on this skill heavily.
But where the mechanics are largely the same other areas have regressed. In the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy there were various sub-weapons like a sling shot and throwing axe. These have been removed as well as the ability to call on Gazoo for his different abilities. The loss of these elements does make the game a bit simple but at least you can control a fire spitting pterodactyl occasionally like Joe & Mac.
While the gameplay is simple the level design is generally pretty good. This is a pure platformer that pulls out all the stops in the genre. There are all manner of traps like bottomless pits, spike traps, and rising lava to keep you on your toes. Checkpoints are spaced out pretty well and usually come after tricky sections. While you do not get something as fun as a stone age basketball minigame stage four puts you behind the wheels of the Flintstone car for a fast auto scrolling segment. The final boss battle comes out of left field and almost feels like it belongs in a different game but I will allow the developers a little deviation for gameplay sake.
The only problem? The short length. At six levels, and with a low challenge you will blow through this one pretty quickly. Once it is over there is no reason to go back no matter how enjoyable the first run is. Even bumping the difficulty does not do much. The Flintstones brevity is especially notable when compared to its NES counterparts that have an overworld and various minigames. With a few more levels this could have been a great game.
As this is a licensed title it should come as no surprise that the difficulty is low. While you start with three hearts initially you can expand that to six quickly. Even if you die the game practically throws extra hearts at you left and right. Most enemies show no interest in your presence with most damage coming from the various traps and such. There is a nice bump in challenge toward the end but nothing most gamers will not see coming. The boss battles are where the game shines and I wish there were more of them. They strike a nice balance between pattern based timing and execution.
In Closing
The Flintstones is solid all around and better than it has any right to be. I think the NES titles are better but for such an unlikely license this could have turned out worse. There are other games I would recommend first but it is worth its cheap price.
