Welcome to another edition of Playing With Power. The review article that looks at all things Nintendo Entertainment System. PWP is no stranger to reviewing video games based on classic franchises, and this week is certainly no exception. One of the most famous old school cartoons, the first animated sitcom, and pusher of pebble-shaped fruity cereals everywhere. I’m of course talking about The Flintstones. Can Fred and the gang provide for quality video gaming? Or is this an adventure best left in the stone age? Let’s find out with The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy.
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1991
PUBLISHER: Taito
GENRE: Action Platformer
If you don’t know at least a little about The Flintstones, you’ve easily been living under a rock for 50 years. The Flintstones was an animated comedy by Hanna Barbera in 1960, and lasted until 1966. It chronicled the modern stone-age adventures of Fred Flintstone, his best friend Barney Rubble, and their wives and kids. Despite borrowing heavily from popular sitcom The Honeymooners, the show proved to be a massive hit with both adults and kids. The Flintstones would be a pop culture dynamo, and they would market themselves on everything from cereal to vitamins, to the most infamous of all, Winston Cigarettes.
Interestingly enough, the Flintstones didn’t immediately lend their name to video games for a long time, until the 90’s when Taito, the company best known for arcade games like Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble, would acquire the rights to make games from the Hanna Barbera library. These would include games for The Jetsons and Yogi Bear, but they especially milked The Flintstones for all it was worth. They made games on multiple consoles, however most barely sold, and are often some of the rarest games on their consoles. The NES has two Flintstones game, one being rather common, and the other one of the rarest on the console. Suffice is to say, this is the common one.
The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy was the fist Flintstones game they would release in mid-1991, which I’ve often praised as one of the NES’ finest final years. It was a year that brought some high quality games, and was pushing the graphical abilities of the console. This game was definitely one of them. But is it a good game? Let’s continue.
COVER STORY
I’m a sucker for covers like this. I love this one. Official art, features all of the important Flintstones characters, with Fred getting the most room, and it gives you a bit of a feel as to what the game is about. I also really like the leopard print boarder on the box, it gives a bit of a stone age feel to the box. It’s a really nicely done game box and a definite eye-pleaser for any Flintstones fan.
STORY
It seems like another ordinary day in Bedrock for the Flintstones and the Rubbles. However, all of a sudden a mysterious man from the 30th century arrives by the name of Dr. Butler. He has come to the past to find animals to put in his intergalactic zoo, and has his eyes set on the pets of the Flintstones and Rubbles, Dino and Hoppy. He zaps the two dinosaurs and captures them, and heads back to his time. He also destroys the time machine of The Great Gazoo, to ensure that Fred and the gang wouldn’t be able to follow him. It’s up to Fred, Barney, Wilma, and Betty to find the scattered time machine parts, and head to the 30th century to save their beloved pets.
GAMEPLAY
The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy is a one player action platformer. You control titular character Fred Flintstone as he goes from level to level collecting pieces of Gazoo’s time machine in order to head into the future to save Dino and Hoppy from the evil Dr. Butler. Yo move Fred with the D-Pad left and right, and can duck with the Down button. The A button will have Fred jump, or allow him to cling to ledges, which you will be doing a lot in this game, while then pressing up to climb said ledges. The B button is your attack button. Mainly used for swinging your club. Holding in B will charge the club, while tapping will result in easier attacks.
Fred can also shoot different weapons that can be found in the game with the pressing of Up+B similar to Castlevania. There are stone axes he can toss, slingshots he can shoot, and an all powerful egg bomb. Also similar to Castlevania, it requires currency to use the weapons, in this case, coins you find by beating the enemies in the levels. You can hold up to 100 at a time. But if you should die in a level, your coin stack drops in half, and you lose your weapons. You can also hold all three weapons at one time, and cycle through with the select button.
Other items Fred can find include brontosaurus burgers, which fill the club power meter. Cactus coolers will add a heart to Fred’s count (He starts with three, but can fill it to five), and hearts will fill up Fred’s health. There are also Fred face icons which give you a 1-up. These are all scattered throughout the levels in barrels that Fred must break.
The game is broken into about six stages. Each with their own unique level designs. You’ll go through the streets of Bedrock, head through an icy land (complete with slippery controls), brave the jungle, battle a haunted castle, go underwater, enter a stone age version of the orient, and finally head into the future. So, mostly stock video game levels, but each have some heavy challenge, ahead of them. In each stage you will find a different Flintstone or Rubble member. Wilma, Barney, and Betty will give you tips on how to deal with the bosses or brave the challenges ahead of you. One you complete a level, that family member joins you on the map screen. You even meet up George Jetson in the future stage.
Also shown on the map of the game are three basketball courts. These aren’t just avoidable bonus stages, they actually give you valuable items to help you advance in the game. Each of these stages in a one on one basketball match. If you can beat the opponent, he will give you a prize. You move Fred with the D-Pad, can shoot with the B button when in possession of the ball, and jump with the A. When you are on the offensive side, you can use the A as a butt bump to knock the ball away from your opponent. Timing your dunks and throws can be tricky as the bird hoops open and close their mouths and can often lead to you missing your shot. Survive a minute with the highest score and you win.
Each victory will earn you a special item you can use when you summon Gazoo with the start button. These include a high jumping dinosaur that can get you to hard to reach areas, wings that can help you fly for a short period of time, and flippers to help Fred swim. By the end of the game, these will be come essential in successful victory in this game.
The game has several bosses to deal with. You’ll face a fire breathing dinosaur, a giant caveman, a sasquatch, a mammoth, a stone age vampire, and other foes before the final fight with Dr. Butler. Each boss has patterns that can be somewhat tricky to master, but if you have a solid weapon supply, and good timing, you should be able to survive. You have unlimited continues, but you lose all your items, coins, and power ups if you get game over.
The difficulty in this game is certainly tough, and the platforming for the most part can be a bit slippery. Hit detection is also a mixed bag, often your shots will phase through, and not hit an enemy. Fred’s main attack range can also be annoying to try to get a decent shot in on the enemies. Those issues aside though the game is pretty fun once you get the hang of some of its downsides.
GRAPHICS
The game has great graphics, and does a fantastic job trying to recapture the feel of the Flintstones cartoons while dealing with the console’s limitations. Backgrounds all look lush and vibrant, stages have the feel of the show, and every character is designed near flawlessly to look like their cartoon counterpart. It’s definitely some of the best graphics in a Taito game and should appeal to the fans of the show.
MUSIC
The game has a decent soundtrack. Every song is sorta catchy, and most try to incorporate the classic Flintstones theme into them, which is a nice touch. I especially enjoy the 8-bit version of The Flintstones theme used in the game. It’s vibrant and energetic, and really feels like a close enough version of the actual theme song. The future level even uses The Jetsons theme, which is also a really nice touch. All in all, a fitting soundtrack, despite the lack of many super catchy original tunes.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy is by no means a perfect game. It has its fair share of hit detection issues, and some mild control flubs. But for a game based on The Flintstones franchise, it does an incredible job. With graphics and sound that perfectly fit the classic cartoon. It’s definitely a decent licensed game in a time when decent licensed games were certainly more common. If you can find the game, this is definitely one worth playing, especially if you are a fan of classic Hanna Barbera. This is a game that you should Yabba Dabba Do.
RATING: Thumbs Up