Welcome to a brand new edition of Retro Arena and since its Jurassic World month I have another port comparison based on the first movie. As I already mentioned from the Super NES review, Sega did receive its own Jurassic Park title. However, unlike Ocean Software, Sega's in-house studios would produce this version. In this edition, we will compare the Super NES game to the Genesis title to truly see who will go extinct. Surprisingly, neither game is a port of the other and in fact plays vastly different from the other. Sega would take the traditional 2D side scrolling and produced an action platformer. While on the Super NES, Ocean Studios made a hybrid between an overhead adventure and an FPS. Back then, not every game of the same license got produced in the exact way found in those versions. It's a complete far cry from the porting publishers do today with releasing a license title that has the same stuff on nearly five platforms. Gameplay Super NES Ocean Studio had true ambitious when they decided to develop a hybrid between two genres. It wasn't often to see the over head adventure formula mixed with First Person Shooter mechanics in some sections. At the time, game studios would take chances by mixing two or three genres and would often get bad results. However, Ocean Studios nailed the hybrid format as it flowed together without any issues. The gameplay starts on the overworld in a Zelda fashion as the player's goals are to collect 18 dinosaur eggs and find key items in the buildings. On the overworld, you will navigate through jungles, grass plains and mountains while fending off several dinosaurs. I love the weapon types you can find as they have multiple uses in getting through the challenges. The best ones were the missiles launcher and explosive Bolas as it allowed me to have an edge. Even the popular dinosaurs appear like the Triceratops, Raptors, Dilophosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Another element is how each enemy had a different challenge to overcome when facing them. The biggest surprise came from the Doom style FPS gameplay with 3D graphics. The screen switches to a goggle structure as you walked through the buildings shooting dinosaurs. The best part was exploring an area and of course gunning down any Raptors or Dilophosaurus the player came across. However, no matter how unique the FPS feature was, there are many issues with its gameplay. The challenges are really shallow even compared to Wolfenstein's standards as you can kill enemies with one shot. You walked through a building, shoot dinosaurs, find ID cards and move to the following area. Did I forget to mention there are two enemy types only? After playing Doom, it's difficult to feel engaged especially when the Super NES port of Doom was a lot better. You still have to hand it to the developers for having ambitious ideas of using two genres in this way. Sega Genesis On this system, Sega decided to develop their title as a 2D action platformer. The gameplay mechanics are very reminiscing of games like Prince of Persia as you guild Grant through different obstacles. The player can grab on to ledges, time their jumps between gaps, climb ladders and avoiding hazards like electric wiring. The goal for these seven levels is to get from point A to B by subduing enemies and wielding various tools you find across each stage. The challenges the dinosaurs featured did create diversity as the player had to either use an electric shot, tranquilizer darts, or explosives to fend them off. Unlike the Super NES title, here you are not giving any guns which I find surprising. For the Raptor, it only has claws and teeth, but it can climb ledges the same way as Grant. The only challenge comes from human enemies equipped with rifles and flame throwers. Even though the concept was pretty solid, the fact you can’t even use a gun astounds me at times. Of course, I know you don’t need a weapon in the usual way to have a fun game. However, I felt the gameplay was really boring and Sega should’ve turned this into something resembling Contra. I can’t help but think a Contra style gameplay would work better for Jurassic Park then with a Prince of Persia style. One of the biggest gripes for me is the length which is only seven levels for Grant and five for the Raptor. Each one barely takes thirty minutes to complete so I can’t imagine anyone dropping fifty dollars for this game. There were also a couple of levels that included near impossible obstacles to get through. The sewer stage is a example of that as the developers thought this was actually funny to have so many timed jumps between platforms near a low ceiling. It was even worse for the Raptor thanks to the thing being twice the size of Grant’s own body. I'll give it to Sega for taking a different approach and for creating two different experiences. Conclusion: Both titles saw development in two alternative ways, however, the Super NES game had its gameplay executed better. Ocean took the adventure and FPS gameplay and somehow made it work in a seamless fashion. The overworld resembled a bit of Zelda thanks to the overhead view. You goal was to get across the island trying to complete each goal while fending off a variety of dinosaurs. The FPS mode as mentioned many times is an awesome surprise and every time you entered a building it would switch to this style. It may have come off shallow at times compared to Wolfenstein but exploring each level and shooting enemies still made this fun. On Genesis, the gameplay was a solid experience as it did take some elements from Prince of Persia. However, the overall game was really short compared to its counterpart. With only five to seven levels truly made the game abysmal in terms of replay value. Sega should have turned the gameplay into a Contra style because of the enemies being a little similar. Graphics/Presentation Super NES Compared to the Genesis version, the graphics are a little colorful instead of being gritty. The detail on the overworld had bright and lush environments between grass plains, mountains and Jungles. It's above average to what we are so use to seeing from this genre and the overworld felt close to the film's locations. The sprites also had lush and broad detail as they acted the same way as in the movie. The animation maintained great effort for both the sprites and the environments. The effects brought the sprites to life and came off realistic to how they were portrayed in the CGI. Another decent feature is the soundtrack as Ocean created music that matched every area the player visited. The songs were prehistoric and tribal themed which sounded perfect for the overworld. Probably the unique thing about the building sections is the use of 3D graphics in an FPS mode. The graphics would get a major boost with Ocean taking Id Software's example from classics like Wolfenstein. Even the texture and props matched what appeared in the island's areas. Of course, the detail got scaled down to better fit an FPS level design. Every level can't exactly look like the places of the Visitor’s Center and the Raptor Pit. Due to the limitation of the studio's developers' time, only the Raptor and Dilophosaurus get solely used for these areas. Sega Genesis Sega went a different route for their Genesis game and would choose a 2D side scroller for the graphics. I found this interesting how Sega made it possible to develop near realistic imaginary using only 512 colors. As soon as you begin the game, it starts with the gates of Jurassic Park opening and revealing a dirt path way in a stormy night. The opening was truly a badass way to start the game and got designed a lot better compared to its Super NES counterpart. That’s not even including the Raptor saying Sega before the title screen. I also love the cinematic scenes Sega placed at the start of the game. Its when Dr. Alan Grant gets attacked by the Tyrannosaurus Rex from the famous scene. Even in 16-bits the scene was still fantastic as it captured the mood from the film. The environments for each stage have a gritty appearance reflecting that of the movie in most aspects. The best ones came from the jungle and utility buildings as these areas came across dark. The sprites had more detail than on Super NES and truly felt realistic. I don’t believe these got digitized as they are still 2D sprites, but Sega worked some magic to make each one look realistically. Technically, if you count the Tyrannosaurus that acts as an obstacle then that’s a digitized sprite. Conclusion: It turns out the graphics and presentation for both games got handled so well that this goes to a tie. On Super NES, the graphics had lush and colorful detail from the environments on the overworld to inside the building sections. The 3D FPS mode looked impressive for its time as not many of its kind existed on the consoles in 1993. The music remains as a quality feature as each song added to these environments with their prehistoric themes. For the Genesis, Sega really went out of their way to make the sprites and levels have such high detail. Even the animation for each character saw believable movements whether the dinosaurs attacked or use their idly motions. The presentation felt cinematic with the title screen opening and even the intro at the start of the game had the icon Tyrannosaurus scene. Features/Content Super NES Ocean’s take on this license isn’t known for producing extra content that its Genesis counterpart received. The game will take over two hours to complete with hunting for dinosaur eggs and finding the ID cards in the buildings. Of course, that's great for this studio to create a large overworld with this much gameplay. However, the lack of side quests is a bit jarring especially when this genre is mostly known for more than its main quests. It's true the Tyrannosaurus does appear as an enemy, but it acts more like a hidden Easter egg. There are no hidden bosses, or secret areas that can engage me. When these developers use both genres of adventure and FPS, it would have been ideal to have extra features remain hidden. As I have stated in my review, Ocean really dropped the ball here. They could have at least developed the Tyrannosaurus into a boss considering its sprites was already there. Sega Genesis The Genesis game didn’t fare any better than its counterpart as the content does suffer from a couple of glaring issues. There are only five to seven levels where you can choose between Dr. Alan Grant and a Raptor. Sega even included a password system which Ocean didn’t even bother to put in with their versions. The only thing interesting is playing through two scenarios and each one takes a total of 45 minutes to complete. Unfortunately, the game is terribly short and offers little compared to other action side scrollers. It's hard to say the content engaged me especially after playing games like Mega Man X. Of course, both Grant and the Raptor play differently, however, the player still goes through the same levels. I have no reason to play this version again since the game feels limited. Sega seemed more interested in the graphical detail and the cinematic vibe then adding in extra features. Aside the two scenarios, a password system and a few difficulty modes is the only thing offered. Conclusion: The winner in this area goes to the Super NES as Ocean made a lengthily adventure. The gameplay will take players over two hours to beat and it's thanks to the huge overworld. Of course, it does have some faults with the lack of a save system and no side quests or extras to find. Sega's idea was in the right place on Genesis with choosing between Grant and the Raptor. However, with only seven levels for Grant and a short play through for the Raptor will require the player over 30 to 45 minutes to finish. Sega should've included ten more levels which would have, in turn, created replay value. Final Conclusion In an age where license games had effort placed in them, Jurassic Park for both consoles provided good results. They are clearly not the best games in their genres but both Ocean Studios and Sega still did a reasonable job. Unfortunately for the Genesis title, the game on Super NES was truly superior in nearly every category. Sega's game did have a better cinematic feel to it but the Super NES received 3D graphics portraying that gritty look. Ocean's risk taken ambitious paid off when they combined two genres of adventure and FPS mechanics for the gameplay. Even Ocean's version provided replay value all thanks to its long adventure in a Zelda and Doom manner. It appears the Genesis title just became extinct for good. Winner: Jurassic Park (Super NES)
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Retro Gamer has over 25 years of gaming experience and played many classics since the Golden Age. She has been an avid fan since the day the NES graced her life and changed it forever.
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