Dinosaur Planet Rare Retrospective

One of Rare’s most ambitious projects to date, Dinosaur Planet has now reached its final year of development and we’re understandably excited about unveiling it to the world at large. It’s a truly epic game following the exploits of two new heroes, Sabre and Krystal, as they find themselves embarking on a journey that will lead them from their native world to the far-off Dinosaur Planet itself, where they’ll join the battle against an ancient evil bearing power enough to destroy the entire universe. And from the breathtaking airborne galleon raid that forms the opening sequence right through to the thunderous final showdown, the cinematic pace and intensity of their adventure doesn’t let up for a second…
A game for all ages, Dinosaur Planet weaves a timeless tale that will draw young and old alike into its stunning landscapes and the interlinked dealings of its characters, blessed as they are with extensive facial animations and hours of speech. Ranking highly among these 50 or more characters are pesky dinosaur sidekicks Tricky and Kyte, one a CloudRunner Princess, the other an Earthwalker Prince: these two take an active role in the adventure alongside their respective partners, opening up a whole new set of commands vital to continued success. They can dig holes, uncover secrets, retrieve objects, distract enemies, even play games – just make sure you keep them well-fed or you’ll never hear the last of it!

Exotic locations such as Warlock Mountain, Swapstone Hollow and Discovery Falls hold their own clues and subquests, and between them Sabre and Krystal will visit all of these places and many more during the course of their parallel (but entirely separate) adventures through Dinosaur Planet’s seamless game world. The intuitive situation-based control system makes light work of everything from frantic battle scenes to puzzle-solving and exploration, allowing easy access to the range of magic spells, collectable items and sidekick commands. Throw in a real-time environment complete with day/night system and weather conditions, some truly nefarious enemies to hunt down (including a number of colossal boss encounters) and a stirring, evocative soundtrack to draw you deep into the game’s many mysteries, and you have one of the N64’s major milestones and a gaming event that you certainly won’t forget in a hurry.

As this 512MB, Expansion Pak-only Rare original made its grand debut at E3 2000, we made the very first official video footage available to you through the Downloads link at the bottom of the page – along with this pant-wetting batch of screenshots. And there’ll soon be plenty more where that lot came from…