Dinosaurs for Hire
From Sega Retro
| Dinosaurs for Hire | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Sega | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer: Sega InterActive | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Distributor: Tec Toy (BR) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Licensor: Malibu Comics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sound driver: GEMS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: Action | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1-2 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Dinosaurs for Hire is a Mega Drive game based on the comic book series of the same name. It was only released in North America.
Contents
Story
The "dinosaurs" are actually intelligent aliens who resemble smaller versions of Earth dinosaurs. After their spacecraft malfunctions in Earth's atmosphere and crashes into the ocean, they are stranded on Earth and become mercenaries for hire.
Gameplay
It is a side-scrolling run-and-gun game similar to Contra but involving a group of dinosaurs who fight crime. The game mostly involves blasting enemies as they pour in, but there are also some platforming elements. The players can choose from one of three dinosaurs, who all play the same. In two-player games, each player chooses a different dinosaur. The dinosaur is moved with 
and 
and lies down with 
. The dinosaur jumps with 
and can jump slightly higher with 
+. The dinosaur has a gun that can be aimed in eight directions with the D-Pad and fired with 
. The gun can be upgraded by finding items. Each dinosaur also has a close-up attack with 
. This is the often the easiest way to attack smaller enemies or enemies that come within the minimum range of the dinosaur's gun. Guns can be fired while lying down or jumping, but the close-up attack can only be done while standing. Both can be done while moving, but the dinosaur stops to do the close-up attack. The dinosaurs can jump off and on platforms and between the foreground and background layers of some stages with + and + and can climb ladders with and descend them with . The dinosaurs also have a "dino smash" attack that can be done by holding and then holding .
Dinosaurs also have a Smart Bomb that can be detonated with ++, which destroys all enemies on screen (except bosses, who are merely damaged). Dinosaurs can find more Smart Bombs within the stages and hold up to four. In two-player games, items effects are not shared and each dinosaur has his own stash of Smart Bombs.
The dinosaur has a health bar that goes down as he takes damage from enemies. Dinosaurs are also injured from falling from heights. When the health bar is emptied, the dinosaur loses a life and restarts the level if he has an extra life remaining, losing any weapon upgrades he may have. If he has no more lives, the game ends but can be continued if the player has continues remaining. There are items that replenish health or give extra lives. In two-player games, the players have separate health and lives but share continues. Players are revived in place (rather than the beginning of the level) when they die. However, if one player dies with no more remaining lives, the player cannot be revived until the other player gets a game over and uses a continue.
Characters
| Archie | |
|---|---|
| The cool-headed leader of the group, a Tyrannosaurus who wears a leather jacket. He likes Jurassic Park and wants to wrestle Shadow Yamoto (from Eternal Champions, also developed by Sega Interactive). His close-up attack is bashing enemies with his rifle. | |
| Lorenzo | |
| A Triceratops who wears Hawaiian shirts like Magnum P.I. He likes Chun Li and dislikes Ryu and Ken (from Street Fighter II). His close-up attack is goring enemies with his horns. | |
| Reese | |
| A one-eyed Stegosaurus and the "loose cannon" of the group. He likes Clint Eastwood and The Terminator. His close-up attack is sweeping enemies with his tail. | |
| Cyrano | |
| A Pterodactyl who appears before boss fights to advise the group. Not a playable character. |
Items
Items are usually found in capsules that must be broken open first.
| Weapon Upgrade | |
|---|---|
| Upgrades the power of the dinosaur's gun, up to five times. | |
| Multishot | |
| Turns the dinosaur's gun into a spread shot. Upgrades it to two streams initially and then three if the item is found again. | |
| Power Field | |
| Gives the dinosaur temporary invincibility. | |
| Dino Juice | |
| Fully replenishes the dinosaur's health. | |
| Dino | |
| Gives the player an extra life. | |
| Nuclear Holocaust | |
| Gives the player another Smart Bomb. | |
| Universal Firepower | |
| Fully upgrades the dinosaur's weapon. |
Stages
| Stage 1 | |
|---|---|
| Stage 2 | |
| Stage 3 | |
| In the jet ski segment, speeds up and slows down.
| |
| Stage 4 | |
| Stage 5 | |
Production credits
- Developed By: Sega Interactive Development Division
- Programmers: John 'Buck' Kuwaye, Steven 'Ski Master' Lashower, Jack 'Le Saboteur' Loh, David 'Mac Man' Chaplin, Mike 'Mr. H-Blank' Terlecki
- LOBSTER Engine Programming: Christopher 'Engine Meister' Warner, Robert 'Elvis is King' Morgan
- Artists: Dave 'The Sprite Master' Russ, Art 'The Background God' Wong, Albert 'Char Master' Co, Todd 'Blood Worm' Tomlinson, Doug 'Dig Dug' Nishimura, Barbara Meyers
- Technical Support: Ala 'Harbinger of Doom' Diaz
- Project Manager: Mark 'Design-on-the-Fly' Nausha
- Music: Paul 'Moto' Gadbois, Dave 'Chick-a-Baugh' Delia
- Lead Tester: Terry 'Tex-T-Bone' Banks
- Testers: Rey 'Multitasker' Alferez, Bill 'Dr. Mastermind' Person, Kurt 'Tindle-Fly' Tindle, Crisi Albertson, Heather Meigs, Lisa Stuart, Maria Tuzzo, Greg Becksted, Joe Cain, Harry Chavez, Marc Dawson, Dave Forster, Roman Greco, Keith Higashihara, Jason Kuo, Tony Lynch, John Russell, Siegie Stangenberg, Paul Walker, Jeff Todd, Blair Bullock, Richie Hideshima, William Emery, Atom Ellis, Glen Cureton, Ivan Fong, Vasily Lewis, Srini Chandra, Tim Spengler, Wesley Gittens
- Dinosaurs for Hire Created By: Tom Mason
- Producer: Stu Kosoy
- Product Manager: Jamie Wojick
- Program Code/Design (C) 1993 Sega
- All Rights Reserved
Magazine articles
- Main article: Dinosaurs for Hire/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
also published in:
- Sega Visions (US) #17: "February/March 1994" (199x-xx-xx)[4]
Physical scans
| Sega Retro Average | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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|
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64 |
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| Based on 14 reviews | |
| Mega Drive, US |
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 Cover
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 Cart  Manual  PCB |
| Mega Drive, BR |
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 Cover
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 Cart |
Technical information
- Main article: Dinosaurs for Hire/Technical information.
References
- ↑ GamePro, "April 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 110
- ↑ GamePro, "October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 74
- ↑ File:Dinosaurs for Hire MD credits.pdf
- ↑ Sega Visions, "February/March 1994" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 97
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 60
- ↑ Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 63
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 50
- ↑ Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 306
- ↑ GamePro, "October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 72
- ↑ Mega, "February 1994" (UK; 1994-01-20), page 46
- ↑ MegaTech, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-20), page 74
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-11-30), page 78
- ↑ Sega Power, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-02), page 72
- ↑ Sega Pro, "Xmas Special 1993" (UK; 1993-12-02), page 50
- ↑ Sega Zone, "January 1994" (UK; 1993-12-23), page 48
- ↑ Todo Sega, "Julio 1993" (ES; 1993-0x-xx), page 30
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 51
- ↑ Video Games, "3/94" (DE; 1994-02-23), page 85
| Dinosaurs for Hire | |
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Main page | Maps | Hidden content | Magazine articles | Reception | Region coding | Technical information | Bootlegs | |
| Malibu Comics games for Sega systems | |
|---|---|
|
Ex-Mutants (1992) | Dinosaurs for Hire (1993) | Firearm (unreleased) | Prime (unreleased) |
 |
Prime (1994) | The Strangers (unreleased) |
 |
The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga (1997) |