Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D

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Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Piko Interactive (World)
Developer: Loriciel
Sound driver: A.U.D.I.O.S. Wave Slave MD
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 2021-02

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Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D, also known as Jim Power: The Lost Dimension, is a 1993 action game created by Loriciel for the SNES and IBM PC, based on its 1992 game Jim Power in Mutant Planet released for the Amiga and other home computers. A Sega Mega Drive version was fully developed and previewed in magazines, but was not released due to Loriciel's financial troubles. While an almost finished prototype titled Jim Power: The Arcade Game surfaced for quite some years, the 100% finished version of the game was picked up by Piko Interactive in 2014, finally publishing the game in 2021 as an aftermarket release.

It is especially notable for featuring a soundtrack created by noted Turrican series composer Chris Hülsbeck.

Gameplay

Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3D is essentially a later and fully finished build of what was once known as Jim Power: The Arcade Game, with all the missing content such as the ending sequence, music tracks and sound effects being restored, together with some minor tweaks like a slighty more expanded options screen. The game packaging claims to support anaglyph 3D glasses to have the game displayed in pseudo-3D, however, no such glasses are bundled with the game like it was with the Super NES version. Also, probably because of technical limitations, the overhead SNES stages that used rotatory "Mode 7" effects are still missing from this final version of the game, replaced with the same simpler 2D shoot-'em-up stages of the prototype, despite the fact that the IBM PC presented non-rotatory versions of the SNES overhead stages.

The player controls Jim Power, who can jump, shoot and wipe out all enemies on screen, provided you have enough bombs. There are a number of weapon upgrades too. Standard controls are still the same as the prototype, with making him shoot, making him jump and using bombs, but unlike the fixed controls of the prototype version, they can now be customized in the option screen and a sound test has also been added.

History

Development

The game was cancelled in circa 1993-1994 due to Loriciel having financial troubles. However a prototype surfaced on the internet by the name Jim Power: The Arcade Game, showing that the Mega Drive version was very close to completion despite the fact there is only one music track in the game, the one intended for stage 3, and the presence of placeholder Mega Turrican sound effects. All the levels could be played and the game could be beaten, even though there was no proper ending sequence implemented yet.

In 2014, Piko Interactive made a licensing deal with Jim Power creator, Fernando Velez, acquiring rights and assets for the game in order to create a NES version from scratch. In the process, they also got ahold of a fully finished build of the unreleased Mega Drive version, with further plans to releasing it in a physical cartridge along with the brand new NES version and subsequent re-releases of the game. But due to the demise of Fernando Velez in 2016, plans had to be halted until 2019, when Piko finally managed to completely purchase the Jim Power intellectual property. A Kickstarter campaign was then set up in early 2020 to fund the production of different re-releases of the game, including the long lost Mega Drive version, which was finally released in 2021.

Magazine articles

Main article: Jim Power: The Lost Dimension in 3-D/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Game Players (US) #0612: "Vol. 6 No. 12 December 1993" (1993-1x-xx)
also published in:

• GamePro (US) #54: "January 1994" (199x-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Mega Drive, World
Cover
Cart Manual Soundtrack (disc) Soundtrack (front sleeve) Soundtrack (back sleeve)

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1			Cartridge (World)

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Jim Power in "Mutant Planet"