Retro Corner: Jurassic Park (Super NES) Review

A new edition of Retro Corner is up and since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is out, I wanted to check out a game based off the series. Back in the early 90s, Jurassic Park was an instant block buster success. It got directed by Steven Spielberg who produced classic films such as ET and the Indiana Jones series. Even John Williams known for his work in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter to name a few signed on to compose the soundtrack. It was an excellent team up to develop an adventure style movie that we have seen so many times from the duo. Universal capitalized on the pop culture during the 90s which oddly was into dinosaurs. I never understood why the craze for it blew up back then as Jurassic Park wasn't the only film to come out and involve dinosaurs.

Of course, like any license based off other Medias, Jurassic Park saw many game publishers try to capitalize on the film's success. Sega was among a few publishers able to get the license and would get its own release on the Genesis and even the Sega CD. That now leads me to a studio called Ocean Software, and they would develop the NES and Super NES versions. For this edition, I will be reviewing the Super NES version that came out the same year of the movie. The Super NES title falls into the adventure genre as the game stars Dr. Alan Grant who tries to get off the island. The gameplay is often reminiscent of Zelda as you explore an overworld filled with many dinosaurs. However, the most surprising element of the game is the FPS mode when entering buildings. You heard that correctly as there is 3D graphics being used in a Doom like fashion. Ocean Studios sure came off ambitious with mixing both adventure and FPS together. It's especially true when first person shooters were still young and haven't reached its peak yet. In fact, FPSs didn't reach its peak until the early 2000s with games like Perfect Dark and Halo.
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Jurassic Park (Super NES) Review