Dino Land (Genesis)

Dino Land is what John Hammond's ideal dream of creating zoo full of Dinosaurs and fun. Basically Jurassic Park with zero problem. That doesn't sell well as movie but i like to have normal peaceful Dinosaurs zoo. That's not really what Dino Land is. It's pinball game made by Wolf Team, released in 1991. 

The font on the title looks futuristic. There's jigging armadillos and they're quite adorable. Here's another game with 2 alternatives title screen besides Kuon. One where these 2 armadillos dancing on the spot while the other is endless chase between the pair and round triceratops. Much to my surprise, there's difficulty setting for Pinball Game! The difficulties are: Beginner Biginner, Intermediate, and Expert. I have no friend right now, let alone those who want to play pinball game together with me. So i play the game solo as per usual.

 

You know what to expect from the start of pinball game. don't you? You have to launch the ball at the right bottom corner. You do so by pressing "A" button. In other normal pinball, the ball is launched with spring. In this game, the ball is launched by other armadillos with catapult. Oh, yes. The ball is armadillo who is curled into ball. I forget to tell you that. "Okay! Let's do it!" as the ball placed on catapult. Demoman_battlecry05.wav  

 

You also got another pair of flipper on top part. To raise the left flipper, you press any button of D-Pad. While to raise the right flipper, you press "C" button. 

 

The protagonist may not dinosaurs but there's lots of them around here. Those circling grey Allosauruses, green ones as right switches, and  yellow dimetrodons. They're all target for your ball. So give 'em hit. A fine hit.

 

Somehow i get stone that block the gap between the flippers. But the ball slips as i raise the left flipper. I say that i still suck badly at pinball game if you didn't know about that.

 

My ball keep banging on that whack-a-mole type dinosaurus from above. Everytime they get hit, the pop bumpers move to different spot randomly. Scout_sf13_magic_reac03.wav

Much much later...

 

I assume the way to make those "Dinoland" lit up is to hit those small dino on the holes on the most top right corner.    

 

The dino switches can only be killed if your ball hit the one with the blinking crown first. In my entire playthrough, i find it very difficult to hit the grey dino on the left of that group and...

 

...most of the time i hit the slot section. But i don't complain as i get 10,000 score almost everytime i activate the slot.     

 

I somehow manage to put the ball into that center hatch until all lamp around it all lit up then it turn into armadillo and walks away to boss arena!    

 

No way you can't identify that big dinosaurs as other than boss in the game. He has lifebar and such for God's sake. There's also hint: "Boss" word near the hatch. But it's not so flashy for important part of the pinball game. Anyway, i manage to hit the boss few times before the female armadillo get kidnapped by that dino that rides lizard . He moves along that line on the side of arena. Once  she 's kidnapped, the ball falls and returns to the pinball table. It's not i can't hit it with my flippers or anything. It becomes intangible and just ignore every surface. Nothing i can do about it. Also, i can't stop the kidnapper dino by hitting him with the ball. No matter how many time the damsel in distress shouts "Help!" at me, i can do nothing to save her.

 

On the bright side, the Brontosaurus decides to open his mouth somehow. Let's see if i can throw the ball at gaping maw of his.

 

The ball went to most right corridor and there's nothing i can do about it. Game over. Heavy_jeers03.wav

 

And i can't even reach top score! Engineer_jeers02.wav

 

Oh, what's this? There's continue menu. Let's hit it!

 

The game resets all the condition on entire pinball table but i get 3 balls back. But it doesn't reset my score. So what's the point? Reaching high score by using unlimited continue feels unsatisfying. High score should be reached only with 1 continue. Nuff said. 

 

Somehow, the Brontosaurus open his mouth again. Gah! I miss because of that circling one and only git. Scout_negativevocalization04.wav

 

I get another game over. And on next try on very first ball, it slips between the gap as i raise left flipper. Again! I really suck at pinball if you can't tell.

 

Suddenly, lightning strikes the pinball table. There's no survivor in this game. The end. Not really. The game still goes on. Funny thing is i don't know how to trigger this and it only happens once in entire my playthrough.

 

From the spot where the lightning strikes, another armadillo and dinosaurs appear. I don't what they do next because i'm about to go to boss fight again.

 

I still can't win this boss fight. I can't whittle the health bar fast enough before the lady armadillo kidnapped. At least i get to see the funny expression of the dino boss when get hit.

 

Finally i feed the Brontosaurus with the ball and the gives me 1,000 point, only? I take it anyway.      

 

The ball slips under right flipper. *sigh*. I should stop embarrass myself.

 

On the slot machine, there's the picture is bird which is not significant character because he doesn't appear anywhere else.Maybe it's related to theory that dino evolve into bird but i don't believe that theory. Well, except the dino is specifically Archaeopteryx.

 

I keep hitting the grey dino with no crown. With either my flipper. I have no clue how i can hit the crowned one in first place. Maybe i need to hit those dino in the hole so the pop bumpers change in formation that more helping me to hit that dino.

 

I get into the boss fight again and i make big discovery! By pressing "B" button, the ball can turn into armadillo and vice versa. While in armadillo form, you can control him by using d-pad. Also he can make the kidnapper dino turns around by touching the bastard. Turns out that bar is not boss' health. It's time indicator of Armadillo form's duration. It will be drained if the ball become armadillo. With that i have enough time to defeat the boss before the lady armadillo kidnapped. I just have to remember to hit the kidnapper with proper timing and method.

 

Finally i manage to hit the boss until he floats slowly into embarrassment and defeat. I mean seriously. He levitates when he's defeated. My reward is one million points! Demoman_positivevocalization04.wav

 

Suddenly my ball stuck in the middle of slot's corridor. But don't worry! By pressing "B" button, i tilt the pinball table that can free stuck ball like this. Professional pinball players tilt the pinball table to manipulate ball into hitting part that yield big score or so i heard. I can't do so because i'm not skillful player. By the way, everytime i tilt the pinball table, giant stomp can be heard like in Jurassic Park movie. Sniper_cheers02.wav

 

Yeah, i can sea that, game.  :)

Take aside of that stupid pun, i have no idea what that sea can do as i already punt the ball to top part of the table. When the game gives me new feature on the gap, i denies it by throwing the ball away from it. On the other hand, i clumsily make the ball slips pass the flippers when there's nothing on the gap.

 

Once i defeat the boss, there's nothing more to it. I think now the boss begins to block my ball with his huge body in order to protect the kidnapper dino. So i have hard time to prevent him from stealing the lady armadillo.

 

At least i get to see the boss laugh smugly every time i reach the arena. I can say that the smugsaurus have the charm. I think i'm done here.

 

Wolf Team's Dino Land (1991) is digital pinball game with such simplistic to it and Dinosaurus theme! Can' argue with that. I really enjoy it because i'm big fans of dinosaurs. The ball's physic is okay. The flipper's control is responsive and it hits the ball fairly hard. I suppose in other pinball game, there's more than one direction to tilt the pinball table but in this game you only have one: up/forward direction. I can mention some of the inconvenience: the moving pop bumpers, and those dino on the hole at flipper's corridor that can bounce your ball into the gap. The sound effect is pretty good. The music is kind of rocky which appropriate with prehistoric theme. I assume that to unlock special feature such as sea, brontosaur open his mouth, and the thunder, i have to hit enough score. If that's not the case, i feel sorry for Wolf Team who crafted the pinball table systematically only for me to assume "just hit more things" and something special will happen. This may or may not be related. Once i clear the sequence of that dino group that i have to hit the crowned one first, they just instantly revive and i get no reward. At least not in apparent way.

 

Dino Land (1991) gets my recommendation because i really like dinosaurs. It's definitely better than Dragon's Fury even it has significantly less content. But that means you can enjoy the game in shorter time. Give it a go if you are truly dinosaurs fans! Or at least you like cartoon armadillo or Wolf Team.