The History of Jurassic Park in Gaming
If you think that the sequels have been numerous, then Jurassic Park has an even bigger gaming legacy you should be aware of. Like many of Spielberg’s franchises, a trick has not been missed when it comes to licensing the movie into other media formats. Luckily, angry dinosaurs are the type of fodder that suit an action-packed game perfectly.
Console Classics
The first movie had two separate developers working on titles. Ocean Software would develop the games for the NES, Super Nintendo, and Gameboy. Despite having already dealt with lots of large titles, namely Robocop, this was the biggest they had undertaken to date. Each game was quite different in its approach, some played from a top-down perspective while others switched between different play styles depending on the environments.
The most interesting title from the early days was the SEGA Mega Drive version. Developed in-house by SEGA themselves, their flagship title let you switch between Alan Grant and a velociraptor. As the decade continued, more titles arrived to cash in on the popularity of the second film, though they seldom added much more than better graphics and improved mechanics.
Jurassic Park Mobile Games
One area in which the franchise has flourished is the casual market for mobile gamers. The most famous of these was Jurassic Park: The Mobile Game. Released in 2010, it proved a successful scrolling action title and opened the floodgates for numerous other endeavours. Jurassic Park Builder, a variation on a classic city-building game, is a much more sedated but cerebral affair that has demonstrated considerable popularity in the past few years.
Another successful outing from the franchise has been in the world of iGaming. Some of the best online slot sites now have a game based on classic movies such as The Goonies. Jurassic Park is no different, with Jurassic Park Slots, Jurassic World, and Jurassic World Trilogy all available on the most popular sites. Many of these franchised slot games can be played using bonuses offered by the casinos, so you do not have to make huge deposits to play. This complete guide to getting the most out of it will help you navigate the offers available.
Jurassic Park Arcade Games
Source: Pixabay
When it came to the arcade, it would seem like Jurassic Park games would be an immediate hit. With increased power and graphical capabilities over their console counterparts, SEGA could not go wrong. Yet they did with their first title.
Despite creating an awesome machine that let you sit in the cabin of a Jurassic Park car; the first cabinet was a flop. The blame can be placed on the fact that the rail shooting title was absent a light gun, making you shoot dinosaurs using the joystick instead.
However, by the sequel, they had learnt their lesson and created what may be one of arcade history’s greatest shooting games. A roof on the cabinet added to a feeling of claustrophobia and immersion for anyone playing. Even the most recent cabinet, created by Raw Thrills, does not stray far from this exceptional formula.
Jurassic Park Gaming Oddities
Like many nineties titles, there were also some real oddities in the Jurassic Park canon. The simple, LCD, battery-powered games created by Tiger Electronics were everywhere during this decade and it was a given that Jurassic Park had one. At one point, this idea found its way to a wristwatch, though the gameplay was limited in its capacity.
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