Today, Mr. DNA takes you into the world of video games, because a franchise like Jurassic Park naturally has at least as many games as dinosaurs in its expedition baggage.
In advance:
The list would be way too long to really introduce you to all the parts, as there were over 30 games in total on different systems and we apologize if your favorite title is not included.
So let's start at the beginning and begin in 1993 with Jurassic Park (SNES), or a little later, because it's summer 1994.
The editor gets on his bike to be at his classmate's house punctually at 3pm. In his luggage is an inconspicuous and gray cassette - connoisseurs already know that it is a Super Nintendo cartridge.
Although we were not allowed to watch the movie at that time (FSK12), we were exactly in the target group for all the merchandise like toys, clothes and just that mentioned SNES game.
Without having a clue about the movie, we jumped into the game to at least be able to keep up with the big guys. The mix of bird's-eye view in the outdoor areas and the first-person view in the buildings had us directly under its spell. Less cool was the non-existent possibility to save and the limited number of lives.
Together with the constant threat of raptors and other prehistoric creatures, the game became a tough nut to crack - this was even confirmed in 2014, when IGN put the game on a list of the most difficult games.
That it is a classic despite everything is proven by the fact that there is another remake - 30 years later!
A small leap back in time to the year 1999:
The gray SNES has since been replaced by a no less gray Playstation, and memories of the Nintendo times are also fading in the face of ever new graphics and gaming milestones.
Although not a milestone, but still entertaining, of this time was Jurassic Park: Warpath.
Due to the success of games like Tekken, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, somewhere in a developer studio they thought it would be a mega idea to release a beat 'em up with dinosaurs in JP garb.
At various movie locations, you could have a go at the scaly skin with a relatively large selection of dinos, and if the life bar was approaching zero, an NPC was eaten without further ado.
For that time, the dinosaurs looked really good and despite the slightly wooden controls and animation, the game worked quite well, especially because of the license.
So you could finally bring your favorite dinosaur, with appropriate skills on the controller, to the top of the food chain - even if it was perhaps a herbivore.
But the grass wasn't always green in virtual Jurassic Park, and so an absolute negative example in terms of playability saw the light of day, and we're still not quite sure if the developers wanted us kids to be outside more often or help our mothers with the shopping:
We're talking about Jurassic Park: Scan Command.
This game is about fighting against other dinos and using a kind of Tetris elements to create new and stronger dinos.
But how do I make sure that my dinos will win the tough fight? Simple, scan milk cartons, chips, ravioli cans and everything else with barcodes that you can find at home and strengthen your dinos to make them even stronger. Sounds quite good, but it didn't work at all and nobody really remembers the game. It's probably just as well!
A whole raptor claw better - and this is probably where most gamers among you have spent an afternoon or two: Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis.
How cool would it be to have your own Jurassic Park, take care of everything and create the perfect park? It worked relatively well, and ultimately there were no alternatives, as a Theme Park-style game would probably never have been commercially successful without a license.
Let's move away from economies and monopoly positions in the game and meet them in real life. Lego has cooperated with Jurassic Park/World and released a joint game. Here you go through all parts of the Jurassic Park and World saga in the typical childish Lego humor, which, however, was not too short with us. Lego can be meta!
Some characters and a small Jurassic Park also had a small guest part in another Lego game: Lego Dimension.
Here different franchises meet in a common Lego game. You've always wanted to strut through a Jurassic Park with Homer or Arkham City with Blue, no problem!
And speaking of block bricks, Minecraft naturally comes to mind as a gamer. In 2021, two publishers came up with the idea of really milking the cash cow and unceremoniously released a Jurassic Park look add-on map for the best-selling Minecraft game.
And with that, we are almost in the year 2023.
The era of gray consoles has long been history and the number behind the Playstation has meanwhile reached number 5 (not you, Johnny).
Pause for a moment, because 30 years have simply passed since the first JP game was released in 1993. The listener should be told at this point that the editor also feels as old as a dinosaur.
But despite three decades of age difference, the original game and the latest spin-off Jurassic World: Evolution 2 have one big thing in common: both parts take us directly to Isla Nublar, but this time as the park's owner - have we learned from our mistakes and done better than John Hammond?
Clear answer: no!
But that may well be because it was absolutely not a good idea to start directly into the challenge mode without prior knowledge of the game mechanics and by skipping the tutorial.
So first start into the first missions and familiarize yourself with the content and concepts in the game.
After all, you want to do it better than John Hammond.
In conclusion, more than 30 games in 30 years of film history is a staRful number and we can certainly admire many more Pixeldinos. In any case, we still have a few ideas...
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