003 – The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino and Hoppy

Year: 1991 | Publisher: Taito | Developer: Taito
Action Platformer | Video

The Flintstones was an animated series that aired from 1960 – 1966. Six Years! And Hannah Barbera created one of the first expanded universes that I can think of. There are so many crossovers between their different series that it leaves no doubt that they all exist in the same universe on the same timeline. Maybe it was just The Jetsons and The Flintstones, but there were so many series that came out of them, for a while it felt like they ruled Saturday mornings. Now, they say they’re a modern stone-age family… but this game has all the makings of an opening for Star Wars. A long time ago… with technology beyond your wildest dreams. For starters, we’re talking about The Great Gazoo.

The Great Gazoo was a character introduced midway through the final season. Because of that and the absolute absurdity of the character, I would say this is their shark jumping moment. He was in a total of 11 episodes.

In the game, Mr Butler (from the 30th century) kidnaps The Flinstone’s and the Rubble’s pet dinosaurs for his intergalactic zoo and then destroys Gazoo’s time machine so that he can’t be stopped. First, this is just malicious. Being able to travel back in time and having a way of capturing and transporting dinosaurs but using that to take two obviously domesticated animals that are under the care of two human families? Why would you do that? Ostensibly, the world is FULL of other dinosaurs that might be more appealing. Like ones that are used as slides, or work whistles, or lawn mowers, or busses. You know… weird things like that.

So he takes the dinos, breaks the machine, and now Fred has to travel all throughout the WEIRD NEVER BEFORE SEEN parts of Bedrock. Like… The other villages… or the castle dungeon… or the asian village(?) to reassemble Gazoo’s time machine and rescue Dino and Hoppy. I get it. But if Gazoo is so great and magical/advanced, why can’t he just zap himself around and get the parts himself? Why does Fred have to do it? As absurd as it sounds, it did not stop it from being a fun game, though. So let’s get in to that.

Title Screen: The most notable and almost overlook-able thing here is that there is also a registration mark for the Jetsons. That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. Gazoo + Time Machine + 30th Century Villain = Jetsons Appearance at some point. Yeah, that checks out. This is also the most complex the music gets in the entire game. Everything else from here forward is a 4 bar pattern repeated over and over and over…. and over.

Bedrock: Right away you’re dropped right in to what I can only assume is Bedrock in front of the Flintstone Residence. However, it is such a distinct residence, and where you start is pretty generic, that maybe it isn’t? I don’t feel like it would have been that difficult just to create a one time use sprite/graphic for the house. I mean, it’s used in cut sequences, why not here? The level does well to allow you to get used to the mechanics of the game. Jumps aren’t that taxing. And the boss is pretty easy. The level does well to introduce the combat system with the club or a special weapon as well as jumps and hanging/clmbing. Threat level is pretty low. Enemies are simple. And extra items. It does everything a tutorial level does without actually being a tutorial level. Learning the game through actual advancement (as opposed to other games where the tutorial means nothing to the game). That’s a pretty good start.

Overworld Map: This is our first look at the world of The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy. Now, we’re not there yet, but this is NOT the map for another other Taito title: The Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak. But we get a really good idea of what we’re in for and we have a little choice in the directions we want to go. It looks liek there are a few villages, an ice level, jungle, castle, Mt Fuji, and… sports ball? Let’s see what that is about.

Basketball: There are three places in the game where Fred decides to take a break from rescuing his family pet to play a little one on one with some stranger that might have something for us if we beat him in a game. Sounds fishy. Each location offers a different tool (which will HARDLY be used) but they never tell you what. You really have to just stumble upon it. Each field you go to has the same guy, he just plays a little more aggressively and is a little faster. But once you figure out a couple basics, you’re good. The Jump Shot is a good way to score. Also, after each score, the ball (pass me the rock?) goes immediately to the other player. You can very easily get the ball away from your opponent because after the whistle blows, he always moves towards the top of the screen first. Hip check him and the ball is your every time.

Village: Here is another village/town. Could be a part of Bedrock. Might be somewhere else. It’s not given a name. It takes all the principles of the first level and turns them up. Higher vertical climbs. Harder opponents. More challenging jumps or falls. And a section of the level that is a forced scroller jumping from platform to platform as the screen scrolls whether you like it or not. We’re introduced to a couple new special weapons. We have the axe from the first level, a slingshot, and a dino egg. The slingshot is great for straight shots that don’t cost a lot to use. The dino egg destroys everything on screen, but costs a lot to use. The ax is a medium cost weapon, but works well if you want to hit something on the platform above you.

Moving left to right and up and over, the level doesn’t feel that complicated. It’s after you pull a TMNT and race through the sewer that things get more complicated. A forced scroll with tiny platforms and moving enemies make this section difficult the first couple times you attempt it. But nothing changes on each run, so if you can get the timing down, you’re. After leaving the sewer, you have a very large neanderthal just bouncing around. Staying under him and striking after he lands is the best way to defeat him. Just don’t get overzealous or impatient. It’s easy… if not repetitive.

Ice Village: What platformer would be completed without a level where you had very little control over walking around? The Ice level also starts to introduce us to a couple other crazy obstacles. Spiked ceilings control how much we can jump. That’s fine if you got a little practice in the last level with the fall/catch to get to a couple oddly placed platforms. Otherwise, you’re getting good at it now. Because there’s a whole section where that’s all you can do. Especially with spinning platforms like the one you see above. Why is this even here? What purpose does it serve the ice village? But, combined with limited mobility, fast moving platforms, ground ice, and an enemy you can’t kill, this level can seem almost impossible. But it’s not. Again with the patience and you should be fine. The end boss is a mammoth that just charges over and over again.

If you have the dino egg, you can probably wipe him out in just a couple drops. Otherwise, power hit by holding attack and then releasing when the mammoth is near. And try not to move more than necessary. The sun might be shining, but the ice is slippery.

Jungle: This is the first time you’re not in an actual village. Just running through the jungle. Opponents get more difficult here and the complexity of moving from platform to platform is pretty intense. We see a couple of video game water level tropes here as well as jungle tropes. Logs on waterfalls that fall so you have to move quickly from log to log… frogger style. There are also swinging vines, platforms, and dino birds carrying logs. All of which move in some fashion. Timing and patient win this level again. And there are a few not quite hidden items that require a little fancy footwork to get around to. Sadly, many of them are not as rewarding as the sense of accomplishing a jump or two in succession for the 50th time and finally nailing it. To get to the end, you actually get to break the laws of physics. Not uncommon in video games. But this is pretty spectacular. Barney will tell you that you are riding the log up stream. In reality, you’re riding the log up. Vertically. To an entirely different platform. Where there isn’t any water. You know… up stream. Here we’re faced with another jumping boss. but instead of a neanderthal, it’s a yeti. Who also happens to be throwing coconuts. Same as before… hide in his jumping arc and nail him when he lands.

Dungeon: This level surprised me. Nothing about this level anywhere says prehistoric. It says Castlevania… not Flintstones. Here we are introduced to trust falling: video game edition. There are several spots throughout the level where you have to leap into and hope that there is a platform down there to catch you. Or… have died through missing often enough to know where they are. Here we get another forced scroll. This time vertically… because the floor is lava. Timing the jumps perfectly will get you to the top. You can also try and use one of your Gazoo functions and fly… but I could never get that to work. And if you died and lost your coin, there is no way to make it all the way to the top. Because this is a castle/dungeon level, there are bats… skeletons… and the boss is a Dracula character. Of course. Avoid the thrown bats. Jump and smash. Move on. This boss requires the most technique and moving around of any of the bosses before.

Water: If we were introduced to the trust fall before, now we get the leaps faith. Many platforms are out of sight or they look unreachable. Because we are (breathing just fine) underwater, our jumps are higher and longer. But that also means that there may be villains that show up mid-leap. And that’s where I first got hung up. Learning to strike n the air becomes very handy here. Another skill that you would have had time to practice in the last level. Luckily, everything here moves just a little slower so it’s easier to pick up on timing. Rather than a forced scroll, there is a section where you have to jump from tiny scrolling platform (air bubble) to tiny scrolling platform. Thankfully, there is no boss at the end of this level, so once you’re through, you’re good. There’s not a lot technically complex about this level. It’s mostly avoiding the enemies and landing safely.

Asian Village: I might be wrong, but this level seems totally out of place here. In all my watching of the Flintstones, I had never seen anything like this. It feels out of place. REALLY out of place. I know they were looking for variety in the levels. And they definitely achieved that. But I wasn’t very thrilled with the look of this level. The level itself was challenging. The obstacles well placed. And a couple items designed as traps. Vertical and horizontal scrolling. And even some boat jumping. This is a really fun and challenging level that utilizes everything you’ve learned at this point. As any final level should. The boss this time… a kangaroo. I discovered at the end of my attempt, that there’s a very easy way to defeat this Roo without taking any damage. As long as you have the dino egg and enough coins for 4-5 uses. Above you is a platform. Just jump up there and drop some egg bombs. All done.

The Future: But that’s not the end of the game. We have all the pieces to reassemble Gazoo’s time machine. But now we still have to rescue Dino and Hoppy. So it’s off to the future. We first run into George Jetson, but he offers very little advice except that he believes we can do finish this. Thanks, Bro. Elevator up and the level starts. The stakes are much higher. The level is much more complex. Spiked pulverizers, treadmill platforms, and enemies that don’t die with a single hit. This gets much more complex. That and there aren’t that many of them. SO trying to earn enough coins for your special attack gets very difficult. But thanks to video game respawns, not impossible. In fact, that is the best and easiest way to take on Mr Butler. Towards the end of the level, there are two robot walkers. Destroy the both of them, run up and back without leaving this part of the level, and then head back to where those two enemies are. Respawned. More Coins. Repeat. Once you’re up to 100 coins with the dino egg head on to the next screen. Make it through the floating platform maze and you’ve made it to the end of the game. From here, just dropping dino eggs, 4-5 each time, and the game is over.

The ending is classic if not disappointing. There’s the reunion. A splash screen with all the heroes. And a happily ever after. The simplicity with which to finish off Mr Butler (not even Doctor… that just keeps bugging me) made the whole thing underwhelming. But it was still a fun game.

I’m not sure about the replay factor for this. There really isn’t anything to improve on. There’s no completionist satisfaction. There’s no ultra hidden special… whatever. But it was fun. The mechanics are a little awkward, but by the 3rd or 4th level, it seems natural. They never discuss or teach how to accomplish certain feats (it took at least two attempts before I realized you could climb up to higher platforms) like the fall/catch. Especially since they are utilized throughout the game. Maybe that’s just the coddling of modern games walking you through all the different things your character could do. Here, you just have to figure it out. And maybe that’s why I like it more.