Developer: Taito Publisher: Taito Release: 12/91 Genre: Action
Of all the licensed titles on the NES the Flintstones and Jetsons games from Taito are some of the best. Capcom worked magic with the Disney license yet other publishers were not as fortunate. Sure fire movie licenses like Predator, Die Hard, and Robocop wound up middling to outright awful games best left forgotten. And we do not need to go into Acclaim/LJN’s catalog. Yikes. Yet Taito were able to consistently create enjoyable platformers out of goofy old cartoons that are better than they have any right to be. The Flintstones: the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy is a solid adventure and one I have no trouble recommending.
While the Flintstones takes place in prehistoric times it did get pretty wacky toward the end of its run which sets the stage for this adventure. A man named Dr. Butler travels back in time from the 30th century and kidnaps the two pets Dino and Hoppy for reasons unknown. To make they cannot follow he destroys the Great Gazoo’s time machine and scatters its parts. Now Fred must piece the machine back together to save his dino pals from an unknown fate.
In the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy you control Fred only even though the rest of the cast make cameo appearances. Fred has a large club to bash enemies over the head. You can charge it up to produce a more powerful overhead smash but to be honest I did not notice a difference. There are a variety of subweapons like an overhead throwing axe, slingshot, and egg bomb that all use coins collected from enemies to power, sort of likes hearts in Castlevania. You can also use coins to let Gazoo transform Fred to either fly briefly or dive underwater.
The overall mechanics are solid but the controls will take getting used to. Fred builds momentum as he moves without holding a button. It is not significant but noticeable and he slides before coming to a complete stop. The most important move is the ability to grab onto and pull up onto ledges. This move is sees use almost immediately and the game leans on it heavily. Luckily the game is very forgiving; so long as you hold the jump button if you are reasonably close to a ledge he will grab on. The overall platforming is not as precise as I would have liked but is still overall good nonetheless.
Part of what makes the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy so good is that it is essentially a licensed version of Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania in both its mechanics and level design. You use subweapons exactly like those two titles and smash barrels to find items. There are plenty of secrets in every level for those willing to explore although most amount to items you already have. Generally the level design is pretty good, varied in its themes and even offering a fun mini-game like prehistoric basketball. Actually the level themes can be a bit goofy; the obligatory water level is silly considering Fred is breathing underwater. You travel through a Japanese village (!) and even a pirate ship as well. The show jumped the shark toward the end so this is par for the course. At least the final level has an excuse as it is in the future.
Although the game has its frustrating moments (the rising lava in the castle especially) the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy is very accessible for players of all skill levels. The game is extremely generous with items to the point of absurdity. You won’t find extra lives all that much but they really aren’t necessary. Outside of the occasional troublesome platforming segment you won’t have much trouble breezing through most of the game. If you try to follow the mechanics of most boss battles you will end up frustrated. Bum rushing and clubbing them to death works better. The final two levels put up a bit of a fight, as they should. I cannot stress how much I enjoyed this one, license be damned. More games need to be this well balanced.
In Closing
The Flintstones: the Rescue of Dino and Hoppy is a great platformer on a system with plenty of classics. Forget the license; this would be a good game under any circumstances. After you are done with Mario and Metroid give this a try.
