Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones

n/a

Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Brian A. Rice, Inc., Waterman Designs
Distributor: Tec Toy (BR)
Licensor: Lucasfilm Games
Sound driver: GEMS
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1994-03 1048 BR 199x AS 1994 1048

Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones is a side-scrolling action game based on the The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles television series. It was released exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. A European version was planned, but failed to see release.

Story

A young Indiana Jones, working as a spy for Belgian intelligence during World War I, undertakes a number of missions around the world to prevent the German army from constructing a "Doomsday Zeppelin" that will strengthen the German war machine.

Gameplay

Map

The game is an action platformer played as a young Indiana Jones, who must prevent German agents from buying advanced weapons from four scientists in different countries around the world. Each mission has a time limit that indicates how much time Indy has to prevent the Germany spy from meeting the contact and completing the weapons sale. Indy faces numerous enemies, including guards, construction workers, monks, and various animals such as monkeys, birds, and snakes.

Indy moves by pressing or . He walks initially, but he sprints if the player continues to hold a direction or presses or . He crouches with and jumps with . He can jump extra high with +, which lets him jump onto higher levels (such as onto background objects like chests or onto awnings or rooftops). He can jump down from some platforms with +.

Indy is equipped with three weapons: a whip, a pistol, and grenades. Indy swings the whip with . The whip can be lashed in eight directions by holding the D-Pad while pressing . In addition to its use as a weapon, Indy can attach the whip to ledges, railings, posts, and other objects. Once the whip is latched onto something, Indy can hang off it by continuing to hold , then climb it with or or swing on it with or . Indy shoots the pistol with . The pistol has limited ammunition, but it is deadlier than the whip. It can be fired while crouching with + or aimed in any direction but down by holding the D-Pad while pressing . Finally, Indy lobs grenades with + (or , or if using a Six Button Control Pad). The grenades are limited in supply. They can be used to destroy machinery such as pulleys and chains.

An ankh shows how much health Indy has remaining. The ankh incrementally turns from gold to white and then to red as Indy takes damage from enemies, traps, or high falls. He loses a life if he takes too much damage or if time runs out and restarts the mission from the beginning if the player has extra lives left. Otherwise, the game ends. There are three difficulty levels (Easy, Normal, and Hard), which affects the starting ammunition and the time limits for each mission, and the player can change the number of starting lives (between 1 and 9).

Items

	Crate
	Destroy to release an item.
	Red Cross
	Replenishes some of Indy's lost health.
	Poison Tip
	Imbues Indy's whip with poison so it does more damage. The whip icon in the top of the screen flashes while this effect is active.
	Bullets
	Supplies ammunition for Indy's pistol.
	Grenades
	Supplies Indy with more grenades.
	Clock
	Increases the amount of time left to complete the mission.
	Hat
	Makes Indy invincible for a duration. The ankh icon in the top of the screen flashes while this effect is active.
	1-Up
	Gives the player an extra life.
	Mystery
	Crack open with Indy's whip to reveal a random item.
	Bomb
	Explodes and harms Indy if he does not get out of the way quickly. The explosion also harms enemies caught in it.

Missions

The first four missions can be played in any order. Indiana Jones has a contact in each country that provides him with intelligence. The Germany mission can be played after the others have been completed. Each mission is divided into multiple acts.

	India
	Ali notifies Indy that a spy is seeking the ball-bearing bomb inside the dungeons of a temple near a Bombay marketplace. In the first act, "The Marketplace," Indy must make it through the bazaar to the temple at the end, then climb to the top and cut down the counterweights with his whip to force the massive door open. In the second act, "The Temple," Indy must ride the elephant and use his whip to topple the small idols holding jewels, which causes the giant idol in the center of the temple to move and reveal a large passageway. The elephant moves faster for a short time if it is whipped. In the third act, "The Temple Dungeon," Indy must run through a gauntlet of traps. He can survive the trap rooms with the moving spike walls by swinging his whip into the rotating mechanism. The lava pits instantly kill Indy. In the fourth act, "The Lava Room," Indy must defeat the German spy while avoiding the lava.
	Egypt
	Habib reports to Indy that a German agent is arranging to buy the plans to an advanced Gatling gun in the basement of a pyramid in Cairo. In the first act, "The Desert," Indy must cross the desert and reach the pyramid. There are periodic sandstorms that blow him back, but there are pits that Indy can duck into to wait them out. In the second act, "The Pyramid," Indy must ascend to the eye at the top of the pyramid. The pyramid is filled with deadly traps and consists of sixteen floors, eight floors above ground and eight floors under ground, with Indy starting on the ground floor. Every floor has an idol guardian with a locking mechanism that Indy can disable by hitting one of the pulleys with his whip. Once this is done, Indy can move to the room in the center of the floor and climb the stone blocks to the next floor. Since it is a pyramid, the floors become shorter as Indy climbs higher. Upon reaching the top, Indy must destroy the eye by attacking it when it is open. When it is destroyed, Indy can descend back to the base floor of the pyramid by pressing + when standing on one of the openings between floors. Indy must make it to the lowest floor of the pyramid by again destroying the locking mechanisms on each floor. These floors become shorter as Indy climbs lower. At the lowest floor, Indy must fight the German spy.
	Tibet
	Cheng informs Indy that he must travel to a temple in Lhasa to prevent a Tibetan scientist from supplying the enemy with their mustard gas device. In the first act, "The Lake," Indy must cross the lake without falling in (which costs a life). Some of the ice floes break apart when Indy stands on them, and he can also be knocked back by fish. In the second act, "The Mountain," Indy must scale the mountain to reach the temple at the top. In the third act, "The Tower," Indy must use his whip to climb to the top of the tower, where the German spy awaits. The sides of the tower are open, and Indy falls to his death if he is knocked out one of them.
	England
	Ian alerts Indy to the presence of a German spy in London trying to acquire flamethrower technology from a treacherous English scientist inside Big Ben. In the first act, "London Bridge," Indy must cross the Tower Bridge and destroy two gearboxes at the top of the towers. Then Indy must return to the deck of the bridge to fight an "axe-wielding goon." In the second act, "Big Ben," Indy must ascend twenty floors of the clock tower using his whip, being careful not to be crushed by the clock mechanisms or knocked back down to the bottom of the tower. At the top of the tower, Indy fights the German spy.
	Germany
	Once all the other missions have been completed, Klaus, a German double agent, instructs Indy to infiltrate and destroy a prototype zeppelin in Berlin. In the first act, "The Zeppelin Base," Indy must climb up to the zeppelin and enter it through its door. In the second act, "Inside the Zeppelin," Indy must destroy the hydrogen regulators inside the zeppelin by hitting their valves with his whip. Each valve takes multiple hits; gas escapes from both sides when one is completely destroyed. In the third act, "The Escape," Indy must exit the airfield from the same spot he entered it as the zeppelin crumbles.

History

Development

During development the game was known as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (or just Young Indiana Jones), tying into the television show of the same name. All references to the (then cancelled) show, and its owner Paramount Pictures are missing from the final game. The project seems to have been troubled, with initial plans to release in late 1992, however the final builds of the game are dated January 1994, suggesting a delay of more than a year.

Instruments of Chaos was once planned for release on the the Sega Mega-CD, being shown at both Winter CES 1993 and Summer CES 1993 with a view of being released in June, later July 1993). This version would have had "18 tracks of studio recorded CD music".

Production credits

• Developed by: Brian A. Rice, Inc, & Waterman Design, Inc.
• Programming: Brian A. Rice, Robert M. Birmingham, Joseph M. Guagenti, Chuck Batson, Rob McCool, Patrick J. Simmons
• Graphics & Animation: Mark Waterman, Tom Brophy, Pascal Saint-Clair, Dennis Swiec
• Graphics Management: Charles Wiltgen
• Other Artwork: Mira Ross, Dave Pasciuto
• Music & Sound Effects: Rolf Weber, Cliff Falls
• Lead Testers: Julio Martinez, Wesley Gillens, Ben Szymkoviak
• Testing: Rey Alferez, Michael Baldwin, Greg Becksted, Dusty Bedford, Blair Bullock, Joe Cain, Srini Chandresekara, Harry Chavez, Glen Cureton, Jason Epps, Dave Forster, Rich Gangwish, Joe Ganis, Casey Grimm, John Jansen, Lawrence Jeung, Darin Johnston, Jason Kuo, Wing Kwan, Vasily Lewis, Jeff Loney, Dermot Lyons, Tony Lynch, Simon Lu, Mike Madden, Ryan McLaughlin, Vy Nong, Adam Ornsted, Mike Palser, Mark Paniagua, David Perkinson, Andrew Podesta, Loran Pudinski, Kirk Rogers, Sam Saliba, Tim Spengler, Lisa Stuart, Conan Tigard, Kurt Tindle, Jeff Todd, Maria Tusso, Erik Wahlberg, Chrstine Watson, Katherine Weathers, David Wood, Cliff Falls, Ron Rydin, David Leszczak, Todd McClure, Russell Eberts, Tommy Hallahan, Ashley Nyhard, Charles Wiltgen
• In-House Director: Charles Wiltgen

Source:

In-game credits

File:Instruments of Chaos MD credits.pdf

---

• Developed by: Brian A. Rice, Inc.
• Designer & Producer: Michael Latham
• Programming: Brian A. Rice, Robert M. Birmingham, Joseph M. Guagenti, Chuck Batson, Rob McCool, Patrick J. Simmons
• Graphics & Animation: Mark Waterman, Tom Drophy, Pascal Saint-Clair
• Graphics Management: Charles Wiltgen
• Other Artwork: Mira Ross, Dave Pasciuto
• Music & Sound Effects: Cliff Falls, Rolf Weber
• Lead Tester: Julio Martinez
• Testing: Ben Szymkowiak, Wesley Gillens, Casey Grimm, Joe Cain, Lisa Stuart, Greg Becksted, Kurt Tindle, Blair Bullock, Mike Palser, Conan Tigard, Harry Chavez, Erik Wahlberg, Vy Nong, Katherine Weathers, Tim Spengler, Michael Baldwin, Srini Chandresekara, Rich Gangwish, Glen Cureton, Dermot Lyons, Kirk Rogers, Rey Alferez, Joe Ganis, Adam Ornsted, Vasily Lewis, Mark Paniagua, Dave Forster, Lawrence Jeung, Wing Kwan, Jeff Todd, Tony Lynch, Jason Kuo
• In-House Director: Charles Wiltgen
• Marketing: Pamela Kelly
• Manual: Mike Yoffie

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in AS Magazin-Video Igrice (YU) #13: "Jul-Avgust 1995" (1995-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 40 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 15 Mega (UK) NTSC-U 50 Mega Force (FR) PAL 30 Power Unlimited (NL) 25 Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U 39 SuperGamePower (BR) 66 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 54 Video Games (DE) 28

	39
Based on 9 reviews

Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, BR
Cover

Mega Drive, AS†
Cover
Cart Manual Chinese Manual

Technical information

Main article: Instruments of Chaos Starring Young Indiana Jones/Technical information.